Araripe Basin

Araripe Basin
Bacia do Araripe
Geologic map of the Araripe Basin
Map showing the location of Araripe Basin
Map showing the location of Araripe Basin
Outline of the Chapada do Araripe in the basin
Coordinates7°23′12″S 40°9′11″W / 7.38667°S 40.15306°W / -7.38667; -40.15306
EtymologyChapada do Araripe
LocationSouth America
RegionNortheast
Country Brazil
State(s)Ceará, Pernambuco, Piauí
CitiesCrato, Ceará
Characteristics
On/OffshoreOnshore
BoundariesPatos & Pernambuco lineaments
Part ofBrazilian onshore basins
Area~8,000 km2 (3,100 sq mi)
Geology
Basin typeRift basin
PlateSouth American
OrogenyBreak-up of Gondwana
AgeMiddle Jurassic-Albian
StratigraphyStratigraphy

The Araripe Basin (Portuguese: Bacia do Araripe) is a rift basin covering about 8,000 square kilometres (3,100 sq mi),[1] in Ceará, Piauí and Pernambuco states of northeastern Brazil. It is bounded by the Patos and Pernambuco lineaments,[2] and is situated east of the Parnaíba Basin, southwest of the Rio do Peixe Basin and northwest of the Tucano and Jatobá Basins.[3]

The basin has provided a variety of unique fossils in the Crato and Santana Formations and includes the Araripe Geopark, a member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks since 2006.[4] The pterosaurs Araripesaurus and Araripedactylus (now considered a nomen dubium), crocodylian Araripesuchus, the turtle Araripemys, amphibian Arariphrynus, the fish Araripelepidotes and the insect Araripenymphes were named after the basin. The bituminous shales of the Ipubi Formation in the Araripe Basin have potential for shale gas development.[5]

  1. ^ Neto et al., 2013, p.1
  2. ^ Bianca Carvalho Vieira; André Salgado; Leonardo Santos (2015-03-05). Landscapes and Landforms of Brazil. Springer. p. 232. ISBN 9789401780230.
  3. ^ Assine, 1992, p.290
  4. ^ (in Portuguese) Chapada do Araripe vira parque geológico
  5. ^ Neto et al., 2013, p.3