Cretaceous Research (1985) 6, 3 1 l-3 15

Mid-Cretaceous Inoceramids from Sergipe, Brazil:

a Progress Report

The Cenomanian-Coniacian Cotinguiba Formation of the Sergipe Basin in

northeastern Brazil (Figure 1) contains the largest and most diverse as-
semblage of mid-Cretaceous Inoceramidae (Bivalvia) yet known from the
Southern Hemisphere. Preliminary studies of material collected suggest that
at least 5 late Cenomanian, 25 Turonian and 29 early Coniacian species and
subspecies of this biostratigraphically important family are present in the
formation. We present here a status report of a long-term project on the
Brazilian inoceramids initiated in 1970 at Uppsala University. The project is
currently focused on taxonomic (E.G.K.) and biostratigraphical (E.G.K. &
P.B.) studies of the Sergipe inoceramids; in addition, more detailed biostrati-
graphical work based on bed-by-bed collecting from the Retiro area in
Sergipe, and revision of mid-Cretaceous inoceramid material in Brazilian
institutions, are being carried out by M. H. R. Hessel as part of a Ph.D.
project at Uppsala University. For details of the geology of the Sergipe
Basin, with notes on the faunas of the Cotinguiba Formation, the reader is
referred to Bengtson (1983).
The great majority of the inoceramids of the Sergipe Basin are cosmo-
politan taxa that are best known from localities throughout the Euramerican

ergipe-Alagoas

mamu Basin
Almada Basin

Figure 1. Continental margin of northeastern Brazil (Nordeste), with Cretaceous sedimentary basins.
Location of the Sergipe Basin is indicated by arrow. Abbreviations of state names: MA= MaranhBo,
PI = Piaui, CE = Cearh, RN = Rio Grande do Norte, PB = Paraiba, PE = Pernambuco, AL = Alagoas,
SE = Sergipe, BA = Bahia.

0195-6671/85/030311+05 $03.00/O :$1985 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

312 E. G. Kauffman and P. Bengtson

Region of the North Temperate Realm (sensu Kauffman, 1973; 1975), but
which are now turning up in various areas of Africa and South America.
They are less commonly mixed with typical Tethyan elements of the
Caribbean and Indo-Mediterranean provinces. Many of these species range
into the Pacific (Kauffman, 1977a). The Sergipe collections also contain
some new taxa, including a Sphenoceramus fauna from the early Turonian
(Hessel, 1984; in press); this genus was previously known only from
Coniacian-Santonian strata in the North Temperate Realm. There is an
exceptional succession of the largely endemic inoceramid Sergipia Maury,
depicting its evolution into the cosmopolitan latest Turonian-early
Coniacian bivalve Didymotis.
The Inoceramidae are becoming increasingly important in Cretaceous
biostratigraphy; they have many of the evolutionary and biogeographical
qualities of ammonites and planktonic foraminifers-the present bases for
most global marine biostratigraphical systems. The occurrence of diverse,
mainly cosmopolitan inoceramid assemblages, closely associated with am-
monites in the Sergipe Basin (Bengtson, 1983), is of considerable biostrati-
graphical importance. Together, these groups provide a basis for detailed
biostratigraphical zonation of the middle Cretaceous in the western South
Atlantic. They further allow detailed regional correlation of geological and
biological events in northeastern Brazil with those in Euramerica and Africa
and, to a lesser extent, in the Pacific. The Brazilian occurrence of these taxa
demonstrates the great dispersal potential of inoceramids at the species level.
Co-occurring species of inoceramids, representing one or more lineages,
are characteristic of most levels in the Cotinguiba Formation. Lineages are
defined around groups of derived, closely similar species and subspecies.
Thus, principal inoceramids of the upper Cenomanian are the Inoceramus
(I.) pictus J. de C. Sowerby and I. (I.) tenuistriatus Nagao & Matsumoto
lineages. In the lower Turonian, the Mytiloides mytiloides (Mantell), the
M. hercynicus (Petrascheck), and the M. Zatus (Mantell, Sense Hattin, 1962)
lineages predominate, co-occurring with largely endemic species of Sergipia.
The presence of these inoceramids marks the peak of the global
“Cenomanian transgression” (T6 of Kauffman, 19773) during M. mytiloides
Zone time.
Both inoceramid and ammonite studies suggest depositional breaks in the
mid-Turonian and beginning of the late Turonian in the Sergipe Basin; this
is confirmed by the presence of numerous discontinuity surfaces throughout
this part of the sequence. This interval of time represents a common level of
disconformity and omission in Cretaceous sequences throughout the world.
It seems to reflect global eustatic fall (cf. Hancock & Kauffman, 1979, Figure
5) and regression of epicontinental and shelf margin seas (R6 of Kauffman’s
(1973, 19773) eustatic curve) between global transgressive maxima in the
early Turonian (ibid., T6) and early Coniacian (ibid., T7), although there is
no conclusive evidence for regression with emergence in Sergipe. The rare
occurrence of Mytiloides hercynicus (Petrascheck) and early members of the
Inoceramus (I.) cuvieri J. Sowerby lineage suggests that basal middle
Turonian strata (sensu Kauffman et al., 1978) are locally present in Sergipe.
Common upper Turonian inoceramid groups include the Inoceramus
(I.) apicalis Woods lineage, the I. perplexus Whitfield-I. vancouverensis
 Short Communication 313

(sensu Troger, 1967; non Shumard) lineage, and the Mytiloides striatocon-
centricus (Gumbel) lineage. The Turonian-Coniacian boundary beds
and the lower Coniacian show the highest diversity of inoceramid bivalves,
including members of the M. striatoconcentricus (Gumbel) lineage, the M.
dresdensis (Troger) lineage, the M. $egei (Troger) lineage, the M. Zusatiae
(Andert) lineage, the I. vancouverensis and I. winkholdioides Andert lineages,
the “I.” rotundatus Fiege lineage, and the Cremnoceramus? waltersdorfensis
(Andert) lineage. The bivalve Didymotis is a common associate. Additional
species identified from the Cotinguiba Formation are listed by Bengtson
(1983, pp. 4447); to this can be added the early Turonian species Spheno-
ceramus mauryae Hessel and S. alatus Hessel recently described (Hessel, in
press).
In most cases, the inoceramid material of the Sergipe Basin is well
preserved as internal or composite moulds showing sculpture and even
muscle insertion areas. Prismatic shell material is mainly preserved in the
hinge area (ligamental plate); all aragonite has been lost or altered to calcite,
probably early in diagenesis, to allow composite moulds to form during
subsequent compaction. Good preservation, abundance of specimens at
most stratigraphical levels, and exceptional representation among certain
lineages that are poorly known elsewhere in the world are all factors that
emphasise the importance of systematic treatment of the Brazilian
inoceramid fauna. In particular, much can be learned about the evolutionary
history of the Mytiloides fiegei (Troger), Cremnoceramus? waltersdorfensis
(Andert), and Sergipiu-Didymotis lineages. All of these are common at many
localities, and are presumed to be continuously represented in the strati-
graphical sequence of Sergipe; in contrast, disjunct stratigraphical repre-
sentation characterizes occurrences of these lineages in many other parts of
the world. Of the new taxa noted in the Sergipe collections, a few appear to be
endemic to the area; most others are known elsewhere, but unfortunately
remain undescribed.
The inoceramid assemblages have been matched against the current
ammonite zonation for the Sergipe Basin based on morphologically distinc-
tive genera (Bengtson, 1983) and placed in stratigraphical order, for the
purpose of deriving an inoceramid biostratigraphy and correlating it with the
detailed zonation of North America (Kauffman et al., 1978) and other areas.
Despite the fact that most of the narrowly distributed zonal inoceramids of
the North American upper Cenomanian-lower Coniacian sequence are
present in the Sergipe Basin, it is not yet possible to create an equally refined
biostratigraphy based on the Brazilian inoceramids. The reason for this lies:
(1) in the nature of the outcrops, where small quarries and road cuttings
normally expose only up to a few metres of sections; (2) in the difficulty of
precisely correlating these exposures due to lack of continuous outcrop,
locally variable attitude of the strata, and relative lithological homogeneity of
the rocks; and (3) in initial collecting procedures, in which most sections have
yielded only a small number of specimens. Quarries, which have the highest
biostratigraphical potential, have in many cases yielded large collections of
inoceramids; however, since the material was collected chiefly by quarry
workers, the relative position in sequence of the specimens is not known.
Understandably, many quarries in Sergipe yield an assemblage of
314 E. (i. Kauffman and I’. Bengtson

inoceramids that represent two or more zones in North America. Neverthe-

less, the assemblage zonation which is being worked out for Sergipe provides
a useful biostratigraphical framework for correlation of this important
Cretaceous area.
A logical next step in the biostratigraphical work will be to refine the
existing zonation through the study of successive inoceramid assemblages
obtained by careful bed-by-bed collecting of key sections that have been
distinguished during the course of the present work. For example, the thick
upper Turonian-lowermost Coniacian sequence in Sergipe, without obvious
breaks or non-sequences, is a promising object for detailed biostratigraphical
studies of the Turonian-Coniacian stage boundary. In comparison with the
recently proposed international standard section in Lower Saxony (Wood
et al., 1984), the Sergipe sequence has the advantage of yielding both
inoceramids and ammonites and is thus a potential reference section for the
stage boundary in the South Temperate Realm.

Acknowledgments
The work on the Sergipe inoceramids is part of a research programme (P.B.)
financed by the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR). This
communication is a contribution to the IGCP project “Mid-Cretaceous
Events”.

References
Bengtson, P. 1983. The Cenomanian-Coniacian of the Sergipe Basin, Brazil. Fossils and Strata 12, l-78,
1 map.
Hancock, J. M & Kauffman, E. G. 1979. The great transgressions of the Late Cretaceous.j&rnal of the
Geological ‘Society (of London) 136 (2), 175186.
Hattin, DrE. 1962. Stratigraphy of the Carlile Shale (Upper Cretaceous) in Kansas. Kansas Geological
Survey Bulletin 156, 1-155.
Hessel, M. H. R. 1984. Inoceramideos brasileiros: passado, presente e futuro. Anais do XXXIZZ
Congress0 Brasileiro de Geologia [Rio de Janeiro, RJ] 2, 6066614. Sociedade Brasileira de Geologia,
Sao Paulo, SP.
Hessel, M. H. R., in press. Alguns inoceramideos (Bivalvia) radialmente ondulados do Turoniano inferior
de Sergipe. VIII Congress0 Brasileiro de Paleontologia [Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 19831, Departamento
National da Produ@o Mineral, Geologia-Segao Paleontologia e Estratigrafia 2.
Kauffman, E. G. 1973. Cretaceous Bivalvia. In Atlas of Palaeobiogeography, (Ed. A. Hallam); Elsevier:
Amsterdam, 3533383.
Kauffman, E. G. 1975. Dispersal and biostratigraphic potential of Cretaceous benthonic Bivalvia in the
Western Interior. In The Cretaceous System in the Western Interior of North America, (Ed. W. G. E.
Caldwell) Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 13, 1633194.
Kauffman, E. G. 1977a. Systematic, biostratigraphic, and biogeographic relationships between middle
Cretaceous Euramerican and North Pacific Inoceramidae. Palaeontological Society ofJapan, Special
Papers 21,1699212.
Kauffman, E. G. 19773. Geological and biological overview: Western Interior Cretaceous Basin. In
Cretaceous facies, faunas, and paleoenvironments across the Western Interior Basin, (Ed. E. G.
Kauffman); Mountain Geologist 14 (3-$), 75-99.
Kauffman, E. G., Cobban, W. A. & Either, D. L. 1978. Albian through lower Coniacian strata,
biostratigraphy, and principal events, Western Interior United States. Annales du Museum d’Histoire
Naturelle de Nice 4 [for 19761, XXIII.l-XXIII.52.
Troger, K.-A. 1967. Zur Palaontologie, Biostratigraphie und faziellen Ausbildung der unteren
Oberkreide (Cenoman bis Turon). Tel I: Paliontologie und Biostratigraphie der Inoceramen des
Cenomans bis Turons. Abhandlungen des Staatlichen Museums fur Mineralogie und Geologic zu
Dresden 12, 133207.
 Short Communication 315

Wood, C. J., Ernst, G. & Rasemann, G. 1984. The Turonian-Coniacian stage boundary in Lower Saxony
(Germany) and adjacent areas: the Salzgitter-Salder Quarry as a proposed international standard
section. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 33 (l-2), 225-238.

Erle G. Kauffman
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Colorado
Campus Box 250
Boulder, CO 80309
U.S.A.

Peter Bengtson
Paleontologiskamuseet
Box 558
S-751 22 Uppsala
Sweden