[3] The formation is composed of fluvial-lacustrine deposits, typically sandstones and shales with a saline paleolake carbonate evaporitic sequence of limestone in its lowest Las Chacritas Member.

[14] Finally in Antarctica the Mapple, Brennecke Formations & Ellsworth Land Volcanic Group and Ellsworth-Whitmore terrane isolated granitoids.

[15] The Volcanic-Lacustrine interbeds found in units like the Ellsworth Land Volcanic Group of the Antarctic Peninsula are not only coeval with, but also continuations of the biozone seen in the Chacritas member.

[1] Following this definition, Tasch & Volkheimer published the main initial faunal review of the strata in 1970, with a clear focus on the spinicaudatan fauna, though it also included the first regional correlations.

[3] Recent works such as Cúneo et al. in 2013 have proven that the formation is older than previously thought, and that some of the sections that form the Puesto Almada member belong to the Cañadón Calcáreo Fm.

[9][29] Additional, also Toarcian (179.481 ± 0.059, 179.41 ± 0.13, and 177.27 ± 0.40 Ma) ages, were measured the same year in nearby outcrops, Barreño, Alice Creek and Quebrada Subsidiaria, near the Cerro Cóndor depocenter.

[25] A separate unit has been even suggested, the Sierra de la Manea Formation, and this last one can include a great part of the Puesto Almada layers.

The closest marine settings where recovered at the west in the Chubut Basin, where, for example the Toarcian Mulanguiñeu Formation recovers a diverse record of marine fauna, including index ammonites (Dactylioceras and Canavaria), brachiopods (groups Spiriferinida and Terebratulida), bivalves (families Nuculidae, Nuculanidae, Polidevciidae and Malletiidae), gastropods (families Eucyclidae, Trochoidea, Pseudomelanoidea, Cirridae, Procerithiidae, etc.

), calcareous tube annelids (Serpulidae), gregarious corals (Montlivaltia), decapods (Mecochirus robbianoi), crinoids (Pentacrinites), spines of Echinoidea, leaf remains (Elatocladus hallei; Conifers) and traces of bioturbation (ichnogenera Rhizocorallium and Lapispira), indicating that at this time the Paleopacific Ocean flooded the basin hosting benthic macroinvertebrate associations in a carbonate-elastic ramp, however, none of the measured transgressions flooded the Cañadón Asfalto Basin (although it is estimated that in the upper Toarcian the coast was very close to Paso de Indios), although it was influenced by the volcanic events of the latter, as shown by the traces of volcanic tuffs in the Toarcian part of the Paso de Indios formation.

[33] Between the Subcordilleran Batholith and Chon Aike lied an elongated shape rifted basin with various small basins and grabens caused by regional faults that undergoed different phases of rifting during the Upper Sinemurian-Lower Pliensbachian, resulting in diverse volcanic phenomena like caldera formation and explosive eruptions due to magma intrusion.

[33] Latter in the lower-middle Pliensbachian a subsequent transpressional phase led to structural changes, influencing the stretching of the continental crust and affecting sedimentation patterns in the adjacent environments of the marine Osta Arena and Cañadón Asfalto formations.

[33] Contrarily to the underliying Lonco Trapial volcanic units, the ones from the Cañadón Asfalto preserve the remanence acquired during their formation, part of the Lower Pliensbachian-Toarcian local NNW-oriented transpressive phase.

[36] The type locality of the Formation at Cañadón Asfalto creek records strata accumulated in rift-related, lacustrine-fluvial-alluvial environments intermittently subjected to volcanic input, resembling the same conditions in the modern African Great Rift Valley.

Floral composition was made of Lycophytes, Equisetales, Ferns, Conifers, Bennettitales and Peltaspermales, all along abundance of charcoal particles, suggest frequent Wildfires and/or Forest fires.

[4] Palustrine littoral environments levels are seen at Cerro Cóndor and Estancia Fossati, characterized by the presence of lacustrine limestones interbedded with shales, tuffs and sandstones.

[39][13] This can be seen on several sections such as the Cañadón Carrizal, where layers that how aerial exposures, and so a regression tendency in a low-energy lake, what changued the biota locally (ex.

[40] This lake was clearly influenced by the volcanic activity, as well was likely a product of the rifting that the Cañadón Asfalto basin suffered back in the Toarcian.

[41] This type of lacustrine facies is seen also in the Antarctic Peninsula Sweeney Formation and in the Larsen Basin, that represent a continuation of the same Biozone both Lonco Tapial and Cañadón Asfalto are included.

[45] Despite its name, the "Almada Fish Fauna", including genera such as Condorlepis groeberi, has been proven to belong to the Cañadón Calcáreo Formation, as well the crocodilian genus Almadasuchus, all of this is due to the uncertain difference and limit between both units.

Notable named dinosaurs include theropods (Asfaltovenator,[48] Condorraptor, Eoabelisaurus,[49] and Piatnitzkysaurus[50]), sauropods (Bagualia,[8][verification needed] Patagosaurus,[51] and Volkheimeria[52]), and ornithischians (Manidens[53]).