0000000000171794
AUTHOR
Matías Reolid
Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Pliocene fan-delta system of the Vera Basin (SE Spain): Fossil assemblages, ichnology and taphonomy
Abstract The marine fossil assemblages of the Pliocene of south Spain constitute the record of the marine fauna that colonised the western part of the Mediterranean after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This work focuses on the analysis of lithofacies and fossil assemblages including trace fossils, invertebrates, and vertebrates with special attention to taphonomic features, for interpreting palaeoenvironmental conditions in the Vera Basin (SE Spain). The sedimentary sequences of the northern region of the Vera Basin display diverse stratigraphical, sedimentological, and palaeontological features that correspond to the evolution of a fan-delta in a narrow basin. The Vera Basin was characteri…
Ichnological evidence of semi-aquatic locomotion in early turtles from eastern Iberia during the Carnian Humid Episode (Late Triassic)
Abstract Some of the earliest European records of fossil turtle footprints (Late Triassic, Middle Carnian, ~ 227–237 Ma) are interpreted from 46 footprints from three outcrops, Domeno, Quesa and Cortes de Pallas, located in the Iberian Range (eastern Spain). The samples were obtained from Upper Triassic rocks in Keuper Facies. They are characterized in the studied area by two well-defined evaporitic sequences, separated by a detrital stratigraphic interval, constituting the Manuel Sandstones Formation in which the studied fossil footprints were recorded. These fluvial deposits are correlatable with the Carnian Humid Episode. The footprints are tridactyl and tetradactyl, mainly digitigrade, …
An enigmatic marine reptile, Hispaniasaurus cranioelongatus (gen. et sp. nov.) with nothosauroid affinities from the Ladinian of the Iberian Range (Spain)
An incomplete skull of a marine reptile with an atypical elongation of the postorbital region is described. The find comes from the Muschelkalk facies (Cañete Formation) of the Villora section (Iberian Range, Cuenca Province, Spain), characterised by a shallow marine (intertidal) environment and dated as Ladinian in age. The small skull has a rectangular shape, lacking, as preserved, upper temporal openings and a parietal foramen. The upper temporal openings might be secondarily closed. However, the absence of a parietal foramen and squamosals in the preserved part and the incompleteness of the pterygoids make a posteriorly postponed location of the upper temporal openings also conceivable.…