Abstract Microbialites are the most abundant life evidence in Precambrian sedimentary rocks. They are produced by microbial interaction activity and sedimentary processes reflecting paleoenvironmental conditions. The Ediacaran-Cambrian carbonate and siliciclastic successions in the Southern Amazon Craton in Central Brazil, provide a key opportunity to understand how the metazoan life coexisted with the microbial communities. The spatial and temporal distribution of microbialites as well as morphological and paleoenvironmental changes have been assessed, reinterpreting previous works and including new data from the Araras-Alto Paraguai and Corumbá basins. The deposition was controlled by subsidence and sea-level changes that affected these basins, considered extensions of epicontinental seas during the Gondwana assembly. The stromatolites are restricted to coastal deposits and experienced thriving flourishment intervals after the Marinoan Glaciation (635 Ma). Post-glacial transgression was marked by microbial colonization in shallow platforms represented by stratiform and giant domical stromatolites in the Araras-Alto Paraguai Basin. The continuity of the transgression generated a moderately deep aragonite sea at about 622 Ma. A progressive sea-level fall caused the implantation of coastal environments under greenhouse conditions with tidal flat and sabkha settings colonized by centimetric-scale stromatolites. The sea retreat was accompanied by progressive uplift, causing a moderate inversion of the basin and erosion of the succession until ~560 Ma with the deposition of the last preserved tidal flat deposits with the occurrence of thrombolites. The subsiding Corumbá Basin was the site of microbially-induced deposition of carbonates in a shallow platform connected to an offshore setting with the proliferation of metazoan straddling the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary. Microbial communities were restricted to lagoon deposits during the Lower Cambrian transgression in the Araras-Alto Paraguai Basin and the last phase refers to the sea retreat towards southeast, developing a fluvial system connected with the arid and evaporitic tidal flats colonized by microbialites that lasted until the upper Cambrian. Except for the post-glacial stromatolites, the columnar and domal microbialite indicate that the coastal settings dominated the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. The preservation of microbialites in the post-glacial intervals can be associated with the Mg-Ca-CO3 oversaturation in dolomitic platforms. The rapid calcification and ability to resist the dissolution and replacement have increased the stromatolites’ preservation potential reported here, where its well-preserved occurrence in tidal flats and sabkha occurs due to intense early diagenetic silicification. The change from carbonate accumulation to siliciclastic-rich environments contributed to the demise of microbially-induced strata. In general, the scarce coexistence between coastal stromatolite and metazoan-bearing marine deposits makes it challenging to establish a competitive relationship between these organisms, as previously postulated.

RESUMO: Santa Marta é uma estrutura de impacto complexa com 10 km de diâmetro, razoavelmente bem preservada, localizada no sudoeste do estado do Piauí, nordeste do Brasil, com um núcleo central soerguido de 3,2 km de diâmetro. A estrutura de Santa Marta foi recentemente reconhecida como a sexta estrutura de impacto confirmada no Brasil, com base em ocorrências generalizadas de cones de estilhaçamento e a presença de feições planares de deformação de choque em quartzo. Estas últimas incluem feições de deformação planar (PDF) e estrutura em pena (FF). A estrutura de Santa Marta foi formada em estratos sedimentares (conglomerados, arenitos, siltitos e folhelhos) depositados em duas bacias sedimentares distintas que se superpõem nesta região: as bacias paleozoica do Parnaíba e mesozoica Sanfranciscana. Apresentamos aqui uma visão geral da geologia e estratigrafia das sucessões sedimentares que ocorrem no interior da estrutura, com foco particular nos aspectos de deformação dos estratos na sua porção central. Este estudo objetiva o avanço do conhecimento sobre as estruturas de impacto brasileiras e contribui para compreensão dos processos de impacto em alvos sedimentares. A deformação na estrutura de Santa Marta é diretamente relacionada às variações nas espessuras dos estratos sedimentares e à diversidade litológica encontrada no interior da estrutura, que determinou a complexidade da deformação, incluindo a formação de anéis internos.

ABSTRACT: Santa Marta is a 10 km wide, reasonably well preserved, complex impact structure located in southwestern Piauí state, northeastern Brazil, with a central uplift of 3.2 km diameter. The Santa Marta structure was recently recognized as the sixth confirmed impact structure in Brazil, based on widespread occurrence of shatter cones and the presence of shock deformation features in quartz. The latter includes planar deformation features (PDF), planar fractures (PF), and feather features (FF). The structure was formed in sedimentary strata (conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and shales) accumulated in two distinct sedimentary basins that overlap in this region: the Paleozoic Parnaíba and the Mesozoic Sanfranciscan basins. Here, we provide an overview of the geology and stratigraphy of the sedimentary successions that occur within the structure, focusing especially on the deformation aspects of the strata from the central area. This study is aimed at advancing the knowledge about Brazilian impact structures and contributing to a better comprehension of impact cratering in sedimentary targets. The deformation in the Santa Marta structure is directly related to variations in the thickness of sedimentary strata and to lithologic diversity in the interior of the structure, which determined the complexity of the deformation, including the formation of inner rings.

A Bacia Bauru (Cretáceo Superior), acumulou uma seqüência sedimentar continental essencialmente arenosa. Numa fase inicial desértica, o seu substrato basáltico foi soterrado por extensa e monótona cobertura de areias eólicas com intercalações subordinadas de depósitos de loesse. O relevo original do substrato favoreceu a formação de uma drenagem regional endorrêica, sob clima semi-árido, propiciando assim condições de formação do Paleopantanal Araçatuba. Os depósitos paludiais (Formação Araçatuba) constituem estratos tabulares de siltitos e arenitos de cor cinza claro esverdeado típica, eventualmente cimentados por carbonato de cálcio. Moldes e pseudomorfos de cristais de gipsita e dolomita foram identificados na unidade. Aparentemente, estão associados com gretas de ressecação, marcas de raízes e intervalos com laminação tipo climbing ripple, que indicam ambiente de águas salinas rasas e relativamente calmas, submetidas a fases de exposição subaérea e ressecação. Nos limites da área de ocorrência da Formação Araçatuba, as unidades arenosas podem exibir feições sigmóides e estratificação contorcida, comuns em depósitos deltaicos marginais. A Formação Araçatuba é contornada e posteriormente encoberta por depósitos eólicos da Formação Vale do Rio do Peixe.

The Bauru Basin (Upper Cretaceous) accumulated an essentially sandy continental sedimentary sequence. In a first desertic phase the basaltic substratum was covered by a widespread and homogeneous aeolian sand unit with minor loess intercalations. The substratum relief favored the formation of an endorheic drainage system under semi-arid climate, a process that started the development of the Araçatuba Paleoswamp. The palustrine deposits (Araçatuba Formation) comprise siltstone and tipically greenish gray narrow tabular strata of sandstone cemented by carbonate. Moulds and gypsite and dolomite pseudomorphs were identified. The moulds seem to be genetically associated with desiccation cracks, root marks and climbing ripple lamination levels, that, on the whole, indicate calm shallow saline waters undergoing phases of subaerial exposition. At the boundaries of the study area, sand units may exhibit sigmoidal features and convolute bedding structure, which is characteristic of marginal deltaic deposits. The Araçatuba Formation is enclosed in and later overlaid by the aeolian deposits of the Vale do Rio do Peixe Formation.