Discovery of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds from the Lecho Formation, El Brete, southern Salta Province, Argentina

Abstract

?Discovery of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds from the Lecho Formation, El Brete, southern Salta Province, Argentina?. A brief account of the geology of El Brete area is given. Most of the outcrops correspond to the subgroups Pirgua and Balbuena wich represent the Cretaceous section of the Salta Group. The Santa Bárbara Subgroup, early Tertiary, and the Orán Group, upper Tertiary are also present in the area, plus Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. The discovery and the richness of a fossiliferous level in the Lecho Formation are reported. In the area the sediments of the Lecho Formation are of continental origin as well as the tetrapod remains collected from it. They correspond to Atlantosaurid sauropods, a small Coelurosarian and a Carnosaurian. Several evidences suggest an uppermost Cretaceous age for this assemblage and locality.