Geochemical and Biostratigraphical Characterization of the Marine Flooding Surfaces in the Middle to Late Devonian Section at the Dom Aquino Region (MT), in the Northwestern Portion of the Paraná Basin, Brazil

Abstract

The global anoxic event in the Frasnian is well characterized in the Paraná Basin, in the upper portion of the Ponta Grossa Formation, by dark carbonaceous shales rich in organic matter. These shales are found in a section of the Ponta Grossa Formation of Meso and Neo-Devonian age, where the shales correspond to the signature of the Givetian-Frasnian transition- and, also, to the progressive drowning of the Devonian sequence in the basin. Through geochemical and biostratigraphic data obtained from the section mentioned above, it was possible to recognize flood surfaces and the maximum flooding surface in the section and, also, the progressive drowning of the Devonian sequence in the basin that reached its maximum in the Frasnian. These shales, which represent the signature of the Givetian-Frasnian transition and the maximum flooding surface, occurred in Frasnian, can be used as a chronostratigraphic marker and are also the object of interest for hydrocarbon exploration. Two miospore assemblages related to the Givetian and Frasnian and some algae of the genus Maranhites were recognized as well as acritarchs.