The Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Unlocking the Environmental Data of an Extraordinary Ancient Ecosystem from Mexico

Reconstructions of deep time environments traditionally were based on the analyses and interpretations of fossil organisms in deep time. However, interpretations based exclusively on the morphologies and diversities of ancient organisms and placed within the framework of ecologically similar extant analogues can lead to errors related to time-averaging and spatial mixing rates. To develop a more robust paleoenvironmental analysis, modern paleontology has embraced taphonomic and sedimentological data in combination with organismal data to best understand temporal, spatial and evolutionary patterns in the fossil record. In this chapter, three case studies are presented regarding sedimentary-driven environmental interpretations carried out in the Upper Cretaceous Cerro del Pueblo Formation of the state of Coahuila, Mexico. Here, taphonomic and sedimentological data are interpreted together alongside the faunal and floral fossil associations, thus allowing the reconstruction of several terrestrial environments that developed in one of the southernmost regions of North America during the Campanian (~72.5 Ma).