Palaeoenvironmental considerations about the Itarare subgroup at Aracoiaba da Serra, state of Sao Paulo (Upper Carboniferous, Parana Basin), Brazil

Detailed qualitative and quantitative palynological analyses of cores from the Geomater well (A-IG-85) and samples from four outcrops along the Raposo Tavares highway (SP-270) at km 118.6, 122.7, 123.7, and 125.8, Aracoiaba de Serra, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, revealed a highly diversified microflora of pteridophyte spores and gymnosperm pollen grains which have led to new ideas about the age and geological evolution of the Itarare Subgroup in the northeastern Parana Basin. The species Deusilites tenuistriatus Gutierrez, Cesari and Archangelsky, is found throughout most of the studied section (about 212 m thick) of mainly claystones, siltstones and rhythmites, as well as in the studied outcrops composed of sandstones, siltstones and diamictites. This species is found in Lower Permian strata of the Chacoparanense Basin of Argentina and in the Parana Basin of Southern Brazil. Its occurrence in Aracoiaba da Serra, whose Late Carboniferous age is based on sporomorphs, extends its range from this age to the Early Permian. Palaeoenvironmental considerations are put forth.