A foraminiferal assemblage as a bioevent marker of the main Ladinian transgressive stage in the Betic Cordillera, southern Spain
Abstract The Betic Cordillera comprises the mountain range in the southern Iberian Peninsula that extends from Cadiz to Alicante, which displays typical features of alpine cordilleras. The Betic Cordillera includes two large geological tectonic domains, namely an External Zone, and an Internal Zone. The External Zone is essentially composed of epicontinental Triassic rocks that consist of the Buntsandstein, Muschelkalk and Keuper facies. The Buntsandstein facies rarely occur in outcrops, whereas the Keuper stratigraphic successions are truncated. The Muschelkalk facies frequently displays complete successions that are very useful for interpreting the Ladinian stage palaeogeography. The Musc…
Early Pliocene continental vertebrate fauna at Puerto de la Cadena (SE Spain) and its bearing on the marine-continental correlation of the Late Neogene of Eastern Betics
In this paper, we synthesize sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic and paleontological data from the continental vertebrate site of Puerto de la Cadena (Murcia, SE Spain), in order to clarify its age. The study site is located on the northern edge of the Carrascoy mountain range, in the upper part of the Cigarrón Unit. The end-Messinian discontinuity has been detected at the base of this unit, which indicates it has an early Pliocene age. Abundant remains of small and large vertebrates, including rodents, lagomorphs, primates, carnivorans, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, proboscideans, testudines, squamats, and crocodiles, have been found in this area. Some of these elements are of African o…
Permian-Triassic Rifting Stage
International audience; The Permian-Triassic rifting represents the first of the two Mesozoic rifting stages recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Its first phases of development started during the Early Permian, and were linked to the beginning of the break-up of Pangea, the large, unique and rheologically unstable supercontinent that mainly resulted from the collision of Gondwana and Laurussia. This chapter analyzes this first rifting stage in Iberia in two separate phases, an initial or tectonic phase, and a later mature phase. This analysis focuses on the main Permian-Triassic basins of the Iberian Peninsula: the Pyrenean, Iberian, Catalan, Ebro and Betic basins, as well as the basins loca…
First record of Anisian deposits in the Betic External Zone of southern Spain and its paleogeographical implications
In the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera (S Spain), upper Muschelkalk (Ladinian) facies have been known for decades; however, so far there is no stratigraphic record of Anisian deposits. In the present study, new biostratigraphic data from a carbonate succession in the easternmost Subbetic domain reveal a Pelsonian-Illyrian (Anisian) age. The nautiloids Germanonautilus salinarius and Germanonautilus saharonicus are documented for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, and together with the brachiopod Tetractinella trigonella and the bivalves Neoschizodus orbicularis and Myophoria vulgaris they represent marker fossils of Anisian deposits previously described from many other basins, b…