ORIGEM DA BACIA SEDIMENTAR COSTEIRA PERNAMBUCO-PARAÍBA

Resumo

The Pernambuco-Paraíba sedimentary coastal basin is one of the less well known Atlantic marginal basins of Brazil. Due to the fact that exactly in this area the southern and equatorial Atlantic oceans at their opening did meet, its geological history is quite particular. Recent studies of revision of mapping and reinterpretation of data already published, including from adjacent areas, provided the following results: the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin is formed by the subbasins Cabo, Olinda, Alhandra, and the southern part of Canguaretama, separated by structural lines, belonging to the suite of South Atlantic basins, after their lithic fill. The subbasins Natal and northern part of Canguaretama belong still to the Potiguar Basin. One of the last links between Brazil and Africa seems to have been the northern part of the so-called Transversal Zone, between Recife and João Pessoa, constituting a sill until the end of the Cretaceous; this sill was tilted towards the south and broke at about the João Pessoa -Mamanguape region. The faunal exchange between the South and Equatorial Atlantic, before Maastrictian, took place only during transgression phases; during regression phases the sill turned probably a landbridge which permitted the exchange of terrestrial flora and fauna between the two continents.