Paleoenvironmental reconstitution of Motuca and Sambaíba formations, Permian-Triassic of the Parnaíba Basin in southwest Maranhão state, Brazil

Abstract

The interval between the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic was marked by paleogeographic and paleoclimatic global changes, partly attributed to catastrophic events. The intense continentalization of the supercontinent Pangaea of End-Permian propitiated the development of extensive deserts that succeeded the coastal and platform environments of Early Permian. The records of these events in northern Brazil are found in intracratonic basins, particularly in the Permo-triassic succession of the Parnaíba Basin. The facies and stratigraphic outcrops analysis of this succession allowed the individualization of 14 sedimentary facies grouped into four facies associations (FA): FA1 and FA2 related to deposits of Motuca Formation and, FA3 and FA4, representative of the base of Sambaíba Formation. The FA1 - Shallow lake/Mudflat consists of red laminated mudstone with lenses of gypsum, calcite and marl, besides lobes of sigmoidal sandstones. The FA2 - Saline pan consists of lenticular bodies of laminated gypsum, nodular gypsum and gypsarenite, overlapped by greenish mudstones with dolomite nodules and palygorskite. The FA3 - sand sheet and FA4 - dunes field are formed, respectively, for orange cream sandstones with even parallel stratification and medium- to large-scale cross-bedding. In the contact between Motuca and Sambaíba formations occurs a deformed interval, laterally continuous for hundreds of kilometers. Brecciated and contorted bedded siltstones and mudstone (Motuca Formation) and sandstone with sinsedimentary faults/microfaults, convolute lamination and mud-filled injection dykes (Sambaíba Formation) are interpreted as seismites triggered by high magnitude earthquakes (>; 8 according Richter scale).