It is primarily Carnian in age[3][4][5] (Late Triassic),[6][7] and is notable for its fossils of cynodonts, "rauisuchian" pseudosuchians, and early dinosaurs and other dinosauromorphs,[8][9] including the herrerasaurid Staurikosaurus, the basal sauropodomorphs Buriolestes and Saturnalia, and the lagerpetid Ixalerpeton.

[10][11][12][13] The formation is named after the city of Santa Maria in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, where outcrops were first studied.

The Santa Maria Supersequence is divided into four geological sequences, separated from each other by short unconformities.

It is followed by the shorter Santa Cruz Sequence (early Carnian-middle Carnian, ~236 Ma),[3] biostratigraphically equivalent to the Santacruzodon Assemblage Zone.

[4][9][17][18][19] Most of the information below was included on a revision of the Triassic faunal successions of the Paraná Basin, southern Brazil by Schultz et al.