0000000000434731
AUTHOR
Nieves Meléndez
Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil
AbstractDinosaur bonebeds with amber content, yet scarce, offer a superior wealth and quality of data on ancient terrestrial ecosystems. However, the preserved palaeodiversity and/or taphonomic characteristics of these exceptional localities had hitherto limited their palaeobiological potential. Here we describe the amber from the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur bonebed of Ariño (Teruel, Spain) using a multidisciplinary approach. Amber is found in both a root layer with amber strictly in situ and a litter layer namely composed of aerial pieces unusually rich in bioinclusions, encompassing 11 insect orders, arachnids, and a few plant and vertebrate remains, including a feather. Additional palaeont…
Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous tectono-sedimentary evolution of the southwestern Iberian Basin (central Spain): Major palaeogeographical changes in the geotectonic framework of the Western Tethys
Abstract The Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous tectono-sedimentary evolution of the southwestern part of the intraplate Iberian Basin (Spain) was mostly controlled by the Alto Tajo-Montes Universales (ATMU) and Landete-Teruel (LT) faults. During the Middle Jurassic, the ATMU fault separated a western area dominated by shallow marine carbonates, and an eastern area with open marine facies. During the Bathonian-Callovian, the area located to the west of the ATMU fault and north of the LT fault (Cuenca domain) was progressively exposed, and remained uplifted until the late Barremian. A widespread unconformity with a variable gap around the Callovian to mid-Oxfordian has been related to the onse…