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Stratigraphy and evolution of the Galve sub-basin (Spain) in the middle Tithonian–early Barremian: Implications for the setting and age of some dinosaur fossil sites
Supplementary resource (1)
Data
May 2016
... Conversely, previous works provided arguments supporting the interpretation of these and similar structures in the region as originated during Mesozoic extensional rifting, being subsequently inverted during the Alpine compression (e.g. Álvaro et al., 1979;Aurell et al., 2016Casas et al., 2000;Cortés et al., 1999;Guimerà, 1988Guimerà, , 2018Liesa et al., , 2018Simón, Arenas, et al., 1998;Simón & Liesa, 2011;Simón-Porcar et al., 2019). ...
... Differential subsidence driven by normal faults was encompassed by general uplift related to doming processes in eastern Iberia, especially during the Berriasian-Hauterivian (Antolín-Tomás et al., 2007;Liesa, Soria, Casas, et al., 2019). As a result, sedimentation was firstly restricted to depocentral areas of sub-basins, dominated by shallow marine to coastal environments during the latest Jurassic Aurell et al., 2016;Liesa, Soria, Casas, et al., 2019) and mostly terrestrial ones during the earliest Cretaceous Aurell et al., 2016;Meléndez et al., 2009;Soria, 1997). Conversely, the areas between basins and sub-basins experienced fault block tilting and differential erosion. ...
... Differential subsidence driven by normal faults was encompassed by general uplift related to doming processes in eastern Iberia, especially during the Berriasian-Hauterivian (Antolín-Tomás et al., 2007;Liesa, Soria, Casas, et al., 2019). As a result, sedimentation was firstly restricted to depocentral areas of sub-basins, dominated by shallow marine to coastal environments during the latest Jurassic Aurell et al., 2016;Liesa, Soria, Casas, et al., 2019) and mostly terrestrial ones during the earliest Cretaceous Aurell et al., 2016;Meléndez et al., 2009;Soria, 1997). Conversely, the areas between basins and sub-basins experienced fault block tilting and differential erosion. ...
Many works in the last decades underline the role of evaporites, not just as a conditioning factor but as the engine for subsidence and eventually basin inversion. The western Mediterranean alpine ranges are being investigated in this regard because of the presence of discontinuous units of Permian to Triassic evaporites, deposited in the western Tethys basins. This work presents a thorough analysis of two particular structures (Cañada Vellida and Miravete anticlines) in the intraplate Maestrazgo basin (eastern Iberian Chain, Spain) in which evidence to support their reinterpretation as salt‐driven structures has been recently reported. Our analysis includes (i) a comprehensive stratigraphic and structural study of the folds along their entire trace, (ii) the compilation of thickness and distribution of evaporite–bearing and supraevaporite units, paying special attention to changes in thickness of units in relation to anticlines, and (iii) the study of fault patterns, sometimes in relation to the mechanical stratigraphy. All three aspects are also documented and discussed on a regional scale. The new data and interpretations reported here reinforce the extensional origin of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous basins, and the role of regional extensional tectonics as the responsible for the development of first‐order syn‐sedimentary normal fault zones driving the formation and evolution of sub‐basins. These basins were subsequently inverted and deformed, including the formation of complex, box‐geometry anticlines that, in their turn, controlled deposition in Cenozoic basins. The review of the arguments that support the alternative of salt tectonics for the origin of such anticlines has allowed us to delve into the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the inverted extensional basins, and to propose a specific model for the development of these faulted anticlines. The role of salt levels and other interlayered detachments in the structuring of sedimentary basins and their inversion is also pondered. The observations in the eastern Iberian Chain reported here have implications to assess ongoing reinterpretations in terms of salt tectonics in other alpine basins and ranges of the western Mediterranean.
... The sedimentary and stratigraphic framework of the Miravete anticline ( Figure 3) is based on detailed studies by Canérot, Cugny, Pardo, Salas, and Villena (1982), Liesa et al. (2006), Liesa et al. (2018), Gómez and Fernández-López (2006), Bover-Arnal, Salas, Moreno Bedmar, and Bitzer (2009), Bover-Arnal, Salas, Guimerà, and Moreno-Bedmar (2014); Bover-Arnal et al. (2010, Embry et al. (2010), Peropadre et al. (2013), Aurell et al. (2016) and Navarrete et al. (2013Navarrete et al. ( , 2014. Strata range from Triassic to poorly dated Cenozoic ages, and are arranged herein into six sedimentary units related to different age-based tectono-sedimentary phases linked to the evolution of the Galve sub-basin. ...
... A stratigraphic gap ranging from the earliest Berriasian to Hauterivian times (Salas et al., 2001) is recorded in the Miravete area as an unconformable boundary between the Villar del Arzobispo Fm. and the Hauterivian El Castellar Fm., and represents a major marine regression. Recently, Aurell et al. (2016Aurell et al. ( , 2019 Furthermore, Aurell et al. (2019) placed the intra-rift Berriasian to Hauterivian unconformity between the Berriasian Galve Fm. and the Hauterivian El Castellar Fm. However, this paper follows the Jurassic stratigraphy mapped by Liesa et al. (2006), Liesa et al. (2018). ...
... The El Castellar Fm. (Hauterivian to Barremian) was deposited in alluvial plain, palustrine, and lacustrine environments (Liesa et al., 2006;Meléndez et al., 2009;Navarrete et al., 2013), and consists of sandstone, mudstone and limestone facies that show rapid lateral variations with distance from the anticline crest and its faults (Liesa et al., 2006). Recently, the continental Galve Formation has been defined and recognized in the strata of the Galve sub-basin (Aurell et al., 2016(Aurell et al., , 2019. The Galve Formation is equivalent to the basal El Castellar Formation as mapped in this study, suggesting the regional Berriasian unconformity may occur within this unit as well. ...
Integration of extensive fieldwork, remote sensing mapping and 3D models from high quality drone photographs relates tectonics and sedimentation to define the Jurassic–early Albian diapiric evolution of the N‐S Miravete anticline, the NW‐SE Castel de Cabra anticline and the NW‐SE Cañada Vellida ridge in the Maestrat basin (Iberian Ranges, Spain). The pre‐shortening diapiric structures are defined by well‐exposed and unambiguous halokinetic geometries such as hooks and flaps, salt walls and collapse normal faults. These were developed on Triassic salt‐bearing deposits, previously misinterpreted because they were hidden and overprinted by the Alpine shortening. The Miravete anticline grew during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and were rejuvenated during Cenozoic shortening. Its evolution is separated into 4 halokinetic stages, including the latest Alpine compression. Regionally, the well‐exposed Castel de Cabra salt anticline and Cañada Vellida salt wall confirm the widespread Jurassic and Early Cretaceous diapiric evolution of the Maestrat basin. The NE flank of the Cañada Vellida salt wall is characterized by hook patterns and by a 500‐m long thin Upper Jurassic carbonates defining an upturned flap, inferred as the roof of the salt wall before NE‐directed salt extrusion. A regional E‐W cross‐section through the Ababuj, Miravete and Cañada‐Benatanduz anticlines shows typical geometries of salt‐related rift basins, partly decoupled from basement faults. These structures could form a broader diapiric region still to be investigated. In this section, the Camarillas and Fortanete minibasins displayed well‐developed bowl geometries at the onset of shortening. The most active period of diapiric growth in the Maestrat basin occurred during the Early Cretaceous, which is also recorded in the Eastern Betics, Asturias and Basque‐Cantabrian basins. This period coincides with the peak of eastward drift of the Iberian microplate, with speeds of 20 mm/yr. The transtensional regime is interpreted to have played a role in diapiric development.
... The Iberian Range is one of the places in the world where the transition between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous is exemplified by the associated vertebrate remains (Aurell et al., 2016). In this area, vast outcrops of transitional-continental formations can be found, traditionally representing the deposits of the uppermost Jurassic and the transition to the Lower Cretaceous (Aurell et al., 1994;Mas et al., 2004). ...
... Moreover, the age of Galvesaurus has been too unstable, due to the fact that that the stratigraphic position of its type locality has never been located with enough resolution (Barco, 2009;Royo-Torres et al., 2009), and the age of Villar del Arzobispo Fm. has been widely discussed (Aurell et al., 2016;Campos-Soto et al., 2017;Val et al., 2018). Therefore, a detailed stratigraphic study was needed in order to fix the stratigraphic position of Galvesaurus in the most recent chronostratigraphic proposal (Val et al., 2018). ...
... The site where the Galvesaurus fossils were discovered, "Cuesta Lonsal-1" (CL), is located around half a kilometre west of Galve (Fig. 1B). Geologically, the Cuesta Lonsal-1 site is located in the western limb of the Galve syncline, a N-S oriented fold, made up of marine, transitional and continental deposits from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Díaz-Molina and Yébenes, 1987;Soria, 1997;Aurell et al., 2016). This syncline is part of the Galve sub-basin, and is situated in its northwest area ( Fig. 2A). ...
Galvesaurus herreroi is a sauropod from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (late Kimmeridgian-early Tithonian), from the municipality of Galve (Teruel). Its phylogenetic relations have been long debated, so we carried out a phylogenetic analysis, using a new data matrix recently published by Carballido et al. (2017). The characters of Galvesaurus were coded on the basis of the redescription of the published remains and the description of two unpublished fossils: a right coracoid and a fragment of the right pubis. The results of the
analysis suggest the inclusion of Galvesaurus in the clade Titanosauriformes, as a sister taxon to Lusotitan, these two taxa form part of the Brachiosauridae clade. Likewise, a stratigraphic study was undertaken, placing the Galvesaurus site in the lower part of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, thus assigning the sauropod a late Kimmeridgian-early Tithonian age.
... The overall geometry of the subsiding areas of the central, south and eastern domains of the Iberian Basin, and consequently the structure of formed basins and sub-basins, was mainly controlled by the activity of two main normal fault sets roughly trending NW-SE and NE-SW, although in detail both fault systems show a higher variability (Fig. 5.30): N-S to NNW-SSE and E-W to ENE-WSW faults are also present in some areas, especially in the western marginal areas of the Maestrazgo Basin, where they also control the thickness of the Lower Cretaceous successions (Liesa et al. , 2006Navarrete et al. 2013a;Aurell et al. 2016). The most important faults separated regions with different subsidence rates and controlled the sedimentary record and evolution of the so-delimited basins and sub-basins. ...
... In the northwestern margin of the La Salzedella Sub-basin, these carbonate deposits are intensely dolomitized (Les Talaies Fm) and the upper part of the Bovalar Fm laterally passes to a 40-70 m thick dolomitic and limestone unit (La Pleta Fm) of peritidal environment. Their lateral equivalent in the Galve Sub-basin and in the nortwestern margin of the Penyagolosa Sub-basin is, firstly, the Villar del Arzobispo Fm that comprises mixed carbonates, clays and sandstones of mixed marine environments with local indications of tidal flat conditions (up to 150-200 m thick), and, then, the Aguilar del Alfambra Fm, a unit very variable in thickness (0-450 m) characterized by whitish limestones, red lutites and cross-bedded sandstones deposited in transitional environments, ranging from coastal lutitic plains to restricted lagoons (Aurell et al. 2016). In the South-Iberian Basin the Villar del Arzobispo Fm has a maximum thickness around 500-600 m in its type locality (Aurell et al. 1994). ...
... The sedimentary record was progressively discontinuous and irregular at the end of the synrift sequence 1, at the Late Berriasian and earliest Valanginian (sequence 1C, Fig. 5.32). Continental clastic deposits are locally recorded in certain areas of Galve and Penyagolosa Sub-basins (Mora and Galve Fms, up to 100 m thick, see Aurell et al. 2016). Marine carbonate sedimentation persisted in the more subsiding areas of the Salzadella Sub-basin, represented by the up to 250 m thick Los Polacos Fm. ...
During the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, Iberia experienced extensional and transtensional stresses leading to a complex rifting time interval. Africa–America–Europe relative motions determined the definition of the Iberian plate boundaries and the generation of rifted sedimentary basins and sub-basins along its continental margins and in the plate interior. Complex extensional and salt tectonics controlled the geometry and subsidence of those basins, filled mainly by clastic sediments derived from emerged Variscan massifs and by marine carbonates. The chapter considers the North Iberian Continental Margin, including the Basque-Cantabrian and the Pyrenean basin, the South Iberian Continental Margin, and the Iberian Basin Rift System, including South-Iberian, Central-Iberian, Cameros, Maestrazgo/Maestrat, and Garraf Basins.
... In particular, the uppermost Jurassicelowermost Cretaceous marginal-marine to shallow-marine successions of the Maestrazgo Basin have been studied in successive regional works (e.g. Can erot, 1974;Can erot et al., 1982;Salas, 1987;Martín-Closas, 1989;Aurell, 1990;Aurell et al., 1994Aurell et al., , 2010Aurell et al., , 2016Salas et al., 2001;B adenas et al., 2004Cobos et al., 2010;Canudo et al., 2012;Campos-Soto et al., 2017, 2019Liesa et al., 2019). In the western areas of the Maestrazgo Basin, the Tithonian-Berriasian boundary generally occurs within a carbonate to mixed-siliciclastic coastal succession referred to as Purbeck facies in pioneer studies (e.g., Can erot, 1974;Mel endez et al., 1979;Gautier, 1980Gautier, , 1981, or as a TithonianeBerriasian Sequence in later stratigraphic works (e.g., Salas, 1987;Aurell et al., 1994Aurell et al., , 2010Salas et al., 2001;Mas et al., 2004). ...
... The interpretation of Liesa et al. (2019) used here (Fig. 2B), updates previous interpretations in which this major synrift unconformity was considered older (i.e. mid-Berriasian: Liesa et al., 1996;Aurell et al., 2016). The lower synrift sequence 1 includes three tectono-sedimentary stages bounded by major unconformities (1A, 1B and 1C in Fig. 2B), with significant changes in the sedimentary systems that developed: ...
... Aurell et al., 1994), and (1C) locally recorded mid-Berriasian to lowermost Valanginian terrestrial siliciclastics (e.g. Aurell et al., 2016). According to Liesa et al. (2019), synrift sequence 2 also consists of three tectonosedimentary stages (A, B and C in Fig. 2B) and includes the ValanginianeBarremian continental series or Weald facies (Soria et al., 1995;Salas et al., 2001), the uppermost BarremianeAptian transitional to shallow carbonate platform successions or Urgonian facies (e.g. ...
Sequence-stratigraphic, biostratigraphic and strontium-isotopic data have made it possible to update what is known of the stratigraphy and sedimentary evolution of the Kimmeridgian–Berriasian synrift successions recorded in four subbasins (Aguilón, Oliete, Morella, Galve) of the central Iberian Rift System (NE Spain). The studied successions are arranged in three unconformity-bounded synrift sequences. Synrift sequence 1A (Kimmeridgian–mid-early Tithonian) includes four transgressive-regressive sequences deposited on low-angle carbonate ramps, characterized by shallow-water grain-supported facies and coeval open-marine rhythmic successions of marls and lime mudstones (overall thickness ranging from 120 to 250 m). Ammonite biostratigraphy, combined with the last occurrence of Alveosepta jaccardi (Schrodt) and strontium-isotopic data constrains the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian boundary towards the uppermost part of synrift sequence 1A. Synrift sequence 1B (mid-early Tithonian to mid-Berriasian) consists of coastal to shallow-marine carbonate to mixed carbonate-siliciclastic successions, with a continuous record in the depocentral areas of the Morella and Galve subbasins (up to 365 m in thickness). Anchispirocyclina lusitanica (Egger) is common in the lower and middle part of the sequence, whereas charophytes of the lower Berriasian Globator maillardii maillardii Zone are recorded in its upper part. Strontium-isotopic data and ostracods whose first occurrence is Berriasian, indicate that the Tithonian-Berriasian boundary is located towards the mid-upper part of the synrift sequence 1B. Synrift sequence 1C (mid-Berriasian–mid-early Valanginian) is locally recorded in the Galve subbasin and consists of siliciclastic continental successions (up to 100 m in thickness). The available biostratigraphic data (charophytes, ostracods, sporomorphs) indicate that this sequence was deposited upwards from mid-Berriasian Globator maillardii incrassatus Zone. The presence of the lower Valanginian successions at the upper part of synrift sequence 1C in certain subsiding areas of the Galve subbasin cannot be ruled out. The sequence-stratigraphic and biostratigraphic data reported here indicate that the Galve and Morella subbasins started to develop around the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian transition. Successive stages of tectonic activity affected these subbasins during the mid-early Tithonian, the mid-Berriasian, and around the Berriasian-Valanginian transition. The stratigraphy and tectono-sedimentary evolution of the central Iberian Rift System indicate that the Berriasian successions are linked to the “Jurassic cycle”.
... The Higueruelas Fm has been assigned to the Kimmeridgian (in the sense of the Boreal realm chronostratigraphy, BRC), or from the Kimmeridgian to the Portlandian, by several authors (Fig. 3b, see T1SM for details), and since the 90s, it has been assigned to the Tithonian or to the Tithonian-Berriasian (e.g. Aurell 1990;Aurell et al. 1994Aurell et al. , 2003Aurell et al. , 2016Bádenas et al. 2008Bádenas et al. -2009. However, according to Campos-Soto et al. (2016a and Pacios et al. (2018), the Higueruelas Fm would not be younger than Kimmeridgian, at least in the areas studied by these authors (Fig. 3a, b). ...
... Specifically, U2, essentially carbonate, and U3, essentially siliciclastic, correspond to the CLP and the SUP of the DSR, respectively (Fig. 3a, b). Deposits of U2 were assigned to the Portlandian (Díaz-Molina et al. 1984Díaz-Molina and Yébenes 1987) and to the Tithonian-Berriasian (Aurell 1990;Aurell and Meléndez 1993;Ruiz-Omeñaca et al. 2004;Canudo et al. 2012;Aurell et al. 2016). Royo-Torres et al. (2014) interpreted an age of Late Tithonian-Berriasian for U2 plus U3, proposing a possible Early Berriasian age for U3. ...
... (Díaz-Molina and Yébenes 1987;Soria 1997), to the Valanginian-Hauterivian and to the Middle Berriasian-Early Valanginian? (see Fig. 14 of Aurell et al. 2016 and T1SM for details). Recently, Santos et al. (2018) have questioned the ages proposed by Aurell et al. (2016) and have suggested a Berriasian age for U3, based on palynological data, although they do not discard an older age ( Fig. 3b; T1SM for details). ...
An integrated stratigraphic, palaeontological, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical study of the traditionally considered Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing sedimentary record (DSR) of eastern Spain is accomplished for the first time. Several areas where dinosaur fossils are abundant (western Maestrazgo and South-Iberian basins) have been studied in detail. In all the areas, the DSR comprises a carbonate-dominated lower part (CLP), and an essentially siliciclastic upper part (SUP). Deposition occurred in a shallow-very shallow marine carbonate platform, laterally connected towards the N and W to coastal and alluvial environments. The overall upwards evolution is regressive with a transgresive episode at the uppermost part. The DSR includes deposits previously assigned, depending on the studied area, from the Kimmeridgian to the Barremian (locally even to the Aptian–Albian). However, ages obtained in this work from larger benthic foraminifera (LBF), demonstrate a Kimmeridgian–Tithonian age (locally Kimmeridgian-Early Berriasian?) for the DSR. These findings have important implications regarding the age of dinosaur fossils of these deposits, traditionally assigned to the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition, or even to the Early Cretaceous, erroneously, and have necessitated a deep litho- and chronostratigraphic revision of the units previously established in the studied areas: new data indicate that the DSR is correlatable with deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Fm and that the usage of the Aldea de Cortés and El Collado Fms, traditionally assigned to the Early Cretaceous, should be avoided. New data also reveal that the DSR should be correlated with other Kimmeridgian–Tithonian dinosaur-bearing deposits of Iberia, such as those of the Cameros Basin, Asturias and Portugal, and have encouraged a revision of the Iberian palaeogeography at that time. In fact, ages obtained from LBF agree with data provided by the systematics of dinosaurs, since dinosaur faunas of eastern Spain are similar to those of the other Late Jurassic Iberian areas, especially to those of the Lusitanian Basin.
... The location of the stratigraphic logs presented in this work is indicated by a star. For the legend of colours, see the synthetic stratigraphy in c Adapted from Aurell et al. (2016), Liesa et al. (2018) and Bádenas et al. (2018) and the westward propagation of the Tethys affected the northeastern part of the Iberian Plate (e.g. Salas et al. 2001;Liesa et al. 2018). ...
... The Galve sub-basin constitutes a NNW-SSE oriented trench, 40 km-long and up to 20 km in width, bounded by extensional faults at the north and west, and by a sedimentary threshold at the east (Fig. 1b). The development of the Galve sub-basin took place after the sharp increase of the extensional tectonics that started at the end of the Kimmeridgian (Salas et al. 2001;Aurell et al. 2016;Liesa et al. 2018). The stratigraphy of the units recorded in the Galve sub-basin is summarized in Fig. 1c. ...
... Aurell et al. 2003). The overlying syn-rift succession was divided into two syn-rift sequences separated by a stratigraphic gap that comprises most of the Valanginian and Hauterivian (Liesa et al. 2006(Liesa et al. , 2018Aurell et al. 2016): the Kimmeridgian to Berriasian Syn-rift-1 sequence is represented by up to 700 m thick coastal and continental facies (Villar del Arzobispo, Aguilar del Alfambra and Galve formations; Aurell et al. 2016); the Syn-rift-2 Barremian to mid-Albian sequence is more than 1000 m in thickness in the depocentral areas and includes a large variety of continental, coastal to shallow marine carbonates and siliciclastics (e.g. Vennin and Aurell 2001;Meléndez et al. 2009;Bover-Arnal et al. 2016). ...
The sedimentological analysis of the uppermost Kimmeridgian to lower Tithonian Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Galve sub-basin, NE Spain) has allowed characterizing different carbonate, mixed and siliciclastic facies deposited in coastal to shallow marine areas. Its age calibration has been specified on the basis of new biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data. Four successive sequences (30–80 m thick) characterized by the relative dominance of carbonate and siliciclastic facies reflect a sedimentary change from reciprocal to mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sedimentation. Sequences 1 and 2 are reciprocal sedimentation cycles from carbonate-dominated (muddy coastal plain-carbonate lagoon) to siliciclastic coasts (muddy coastal plain-wave dominated delta). Sequence S3 is also reciprocal, from a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic coastal plain-lagoon at the lower part to a wave-dominated delta on top. A mixed carbonate–siliciclastic coastal plain-lagoon characterizes the entire sequence 4. Climate and tectonics controlled carbonate deposition and siliciclastic supply. Reciprocal sedimentation in sequences 1–3 was controlled by orbitally-driven climate changes (from arid to humid conditions) on the age range of long-term eccentricity cycles. A greater imprint of extensional synsedimentary tectonics at the upper part of sequence 3 and during sequence 4 is thought to be the main factor producing the gradual opening of the sub-basin to the wave influence and a more continuous siliciclastic supply, then controlling the change from reciprocal to mixed sedimentation and obliterating the possible imprint of orbitally-induced climatic changes.
... Para solucionar el problema realizamos una profunda revisión estratigráfica del tránsito Jurásico -Cretácico en la Subcuenca de Galve (Aurell et al., 2016), lo que nos permitió describir dos formaciones nuevas denominadas Formación Galve y Aguilar de Alfambra para los sedimentos incluidos entre la Formación Villar del Arzobispo (Titoniense -Berriasiense superior) y Castellar (Barremiense inferior). La Formación Aguilar de Alfambra sería la parte superior de lo considerado anteriormente como Formación Villar del Arzobispo en el entorno de Aguilar de Alfambra. ...
... La Formación Aguilar de Alfambra sería la parte superior de lo considerado anteriormente como Formación Villar del Arzobispo en el entorno de Aguilar de Alfambra. La Formación Galve sería la parte baja y media de la anteriormente considerada como Formación Castellar, restringiéndose a esta formación la parte carbonatada más moderna (Aurell et al., 2016). Para hacer las dataciones se usó la escala bioestratigráfica con carófitas y la correlación con otras áreas de la Cuenca del Maestrazgo, en la que se encuentra la Subcuenca de Galve. ...
... La historia de las actuaciones sobre Galvesaurus son singulares y polémicas, por esta razón parece conveniente hacer una reseña histórica que permita clarificar el estatus de esta especie. Los primeros restos de este saurópodo fueron encontrados por José María Herrero, un conocido aficionado de Galve (Teruel) en el yacimiento conocido como Cuesta Lonsal, geológicamente situado en la Formación Villar del Arzobispo, de edad Titoniense (Aurell et al., 2016). La Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural de la DGA encomendó a Eladio Liñán la valoración del yacimiento. ...
... Estudios más recientes que incluyen la Subcuenca de Morella, han aportado datos estratigráficos y sedimentológicos más precisos para el intervalo Titoniense-Berriasiense (Aurell et al., 1994;Ipas et al., 2005;Aurell et al., 2010). De igual modo este intervalo estratigráfico ha sido objeto de estudio en las Subcuencas de Penyagolosa y Galve (Bádenas et al., 2004, Aurell et al., 2016respectivamente). ...
... De este modo, su edad es Titoniense superior -Berriasiense medio. Se trata de una alternancia de lutitas, areniscas y carbonatos, depositados en llanuras costeras abiertas, con una influencia del oleaje y de las tormentas (Aurell et al., 2016). ...
... La edad de la Unidad de Ladruñán (biozona de Horrida-Maillardii) y su relación de cambio lateral con la Fm. Pleta, indica que la unidad objeto de estudio corresponde al techo de la secuencia sinrift 1B(Aurell et al., 2010(Aurell et al., , 2016.Así pues, los datos sedimentarios de la Unidad de Ladruñán en los afloramientos estudiados disponibles hasta el momento indican que el tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico representa un intervalo de tiempo con marcados cambios sedimentarios en el dominio paleogeográfico donde se enmarca la zona de estudio, con etapas dominadas por el depósito de sedimentos marinos costeros y someros carbonatados durante el Titoniense(Fig. 3A) a etapas ya sin aparente depósito en torno al tránsito Berriasiense-Valanginiense (Fig. 3B). ...
... The stratigraphic analysis of these subbasins, as well as the correlation between their sedimentary infills, often proves to be challenging, due to the frequent temporal and spatial discontinuities found in their stratigraphic record (e.g., Gawthorpe et al., 2000;Bosence, 2005). The uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous sedimentary units recorded in the Galve Subbasin provide relevant examples of coastal to alluvial sedimentation controlled by normal fault activity (Aurell et al., 2016). ...
... The stratigraphic assignment of some of the units recorded in the Galve syncline has been controversial (e.g., Diaz-Molina and Yébenes, 1987;Canudo et al., 2012;Royo-Torres et al., 2014;Aurell et al., 2016). Their stratigraphic complexity is mainly derived from the existence of discontinuous fault activity over space and time during the latest Jurassic-80 TECTONO-SEDIMENTARY EVOLUTION AROUND THE JURASSIC-CRETACEOUS TRANSITION IN GALVE Early Cretaceous, which resulted in rapid variations in thickness and facies in different domains of the Galve Subbasin, involving the development of local unconformities and stratigraphic gaps of variable amplitude (e.g., Liesa et al., 1996Liesa et al., , 2006. ...
... Their stratigraphic complexity is mainly derived from the existence of discontinuous fault activity over space and time during the latest Jurassic-80 TECTONO-SEDIMENTARY EVOLUTION AROUND THE JURASSIC-CRETACEOUS TRANSITION IN GALVE Early Cretaceous, which resulted in rapid variations in thickness and facies in different domains of the Galve Subbasin, involving the development of local unconformities and stratigraphic gaps of variable amplitude (e.g., Liesa et al., 1996Liesa et al., , 2006. In a recent research, Aurell et al. (2016) have reconstructed the stratigraphy and tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Galve Subbasin during the Tithonian-early Barremian. The authors describe regional low-angle unconformities and significant lithological changes across the subbasin, and propose the definition of two new lithostratigraphic units (Fig. 1B, C): the upper Tithonian-mid Berriasian Aguilar del Alfambra Formation and the mid-upper Berriasian Galve Formation. ...
Extensive mapping and facies analysis in a 2 km continuous outcrop located west of Galve (Teruel) resulted in the identification of a set of synsedimentary normal faults. Fault activity after the sedimentation of the shallow marine to coastal deposits of the Tithonian Villar del Arzobispo Formation resulted in block tilting and the formation of a low-angle erosive unconformity with an associated gap probably ranging from the late Tithonian to the early Berriasian. The lower beds of the overlying mid-Berriasian Aguilar del Alfambra Formation locally onlap this erosive surface. Synsedimentary fault activity explains the sharp thickness changes observed within this formation. The Aguilar del Alfambra Formation was deposited in mixed terrigenouscarbonate tidal flat to restricted lagoon environments. The boundary between this formation and the overlying alluvial to fluvial terrigenous deposits of the Galve Formation is another erosive unconformity. This mid-late Berriasian unconformity is associated to successive conglomeratic beds. Synsedimentary fault activity at the onset of the sedimentation of the Galve Formation is indicated by the local incision of fluvial channels on the hanging walls of the faults. The reported data provides further understanding of the unconformities previously described at the lower and upper boundaries of the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation.
... This basin forms part of the Iberian Rift System and was developed during a rifting phase that commenced at the end of the Jurassic and lasted until the mid-Albian (Salas et al., 2001). The Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of the Galve subbasin, summarized by Aurell et al. (2016), includes a syn-rift sequence of predominantly continental-transitional series corresponding to Weald facies. The carbonate-lutitic shallow-lacustrinepalustrine facies represented by the El Castellar Formation across the entire Galve sub-basin were deposited during the latest Hauterivian-earliest Barremian (Aurell et al., 2016), and are equivalent to the K1.4 sequence of the sequential stratigraphic model for the Maestrazgo Basin (Salas et al., 2001). ...
... The Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of the Galve subbasin, summarized by Aurell et al. (2016), includes a syn-rift sequence of predominantly continental-transitional series corresponding to Weald facies. The carbonate-lutitic shallow-lacustrinepalustrine facies represented by the El Castellar Formation across the entire Galve sub-basin were deposited during the latest Hauterivian-earliest Barremian (Aurell et al., 2016), and are equivalent to the K1.4 sequence of the sequential stratigraphic model for the Maestrazgo Basin (Salas et al., 2001). Given the presence and predominance of the charophyte Atopochara trivolvis triquetra within the charophyte assemblage, the fossil site of Caña Seca 1 is dated to the early Barremian (Riveline et al., 1996;Canudo et al., 2012). ...
... The stratigraphic series of the Mesozoic outcrops northwest to the village of Gúdar, where Caña Seca 1 is located, (Fig. 2C) begins with the late Tithonian-middle Berriasian Aguilar del Alfambra Formation, which is around 400 m thick (Aurell et al., 2016). The overlying Galve Formation, dated to the late Berriasian-Hauterivian? in age, comprises a 20e30 m thick succession of red lutites with decametric burrowed sandstones and a conglomeratic level in its middle part. ...
An enlarged theropod manual ungual (CSC1-4) from the Weald facies of Spain is described. The claw was found in the fossil locality of Caña Seca 1, Teruel province, within the El Castellar Formation of early Barremian (Early Cretaceous) in age.
CSC1-4 is morphologically closer to megalosauroids than to any other theropod clade bearing enlarged manual claws and shows the greatest similarity to the manual ungual of digit I of Baryonyx walkeri. Both CS1-4 and this taxon share a particularly enlarged, elongated and transversely wide manual claw. CSC1-4, however, differs from Baryonyx´s ungual in having less curvature, a straight dorsal edge in the proximal part, slightly more width above the grooves than below, and a certain asymmetry, with the lateral face more flattened. Taking into account the paleogeographic and temporal context, these considerations suggest that they are closely related but distinct spinosaurid taxa.
The presence of an enlarged manual claw in spinosaurids has been invoked as an anatomical feature typically associated with scavenging and hunting habits, as well as digging behaviour. The spinosaurid record from the Barremian of the Iberian Peninsula shows that members of this clade favored freshwater environments with some marine influence in this part of Europe.
... This unit is of very variable thickness across the Galve sub-basin (0 to 450 m), indicating strong control of the sedimentation by extensional tectonics (Fig. 2C). The unit rests on an erosive unconformity above the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, which has been related to a major tectonic extensional reactivation event occurring around the late Tithonian (Aurell et al., 2016). This age assignment is based on the presence of the larger benthic foraminifer Anchispirocyclina lusitanica in both the Villar del Arzobispo Formation and in some skeletal levels located in the middle and upper parts of the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation and coeval marine units (e.g. ...
... In addition, the uppermost levels of the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation contain the middle Berriasian charophyte Globator maillardii incrassatus (Canudo et al., 2012). The upper boundary of the unit is also a major erosive unconformity, which has been dated as having developed towards the end of the middle Berriasian (Aurell et al., 2016). Accordingly, the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation was most probably deposited during the late Tithonian to middle Berriasian time span. ...
... Accordingly, the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation was most probably deposited during the late Tithonian to middle Berriasian time span. The unit includes a wide variety of lithologies, mainly whitish limestones, red mudstones and sandstones, which represent deposition in transitional environments ranging from muddy coastal plains to lagoons (Aurell et al., 2016). Of particular interest are the laminated limestones with abundant fenestral porosity and the peloidrich limestones that commonly preserve dinosaur tracks (Alcal a et al., 2014;Aurell et al., 2016). ...
Detailed logging and analysis of the facies architecture of the upper Tithonian to middle Berriasian Aguilar del Alfambra Formation (Galve sub-basin, north-east Spain) have made it possible to characterize a wide variety of clastic, mixed clastic–carbonate and carbonate facies, which were deposited in coastal mudflats to shallow subtidal areas of an open-coast tidal flat. The sedimentary model proposed improves what is known about mixed coastal systems, both concerning facies and sedimentary processes. This sedimentary system was located in an embayed, non-protected area of a wide C-shaped coast that was seasonally dominated by wave storms. Clastic and mixed clastic–carbonate muds accumulated in poorly-drained to well-drained, marine-influenced coastal mudflat areas, with local fluvial sandstones (tide-influenced fluvial channels and sheet-flood deposits) and conglomerate tsunami deposits. Carbonate-dominated tidal flat areas were the loci of deposition of fenestral-laminated carbonate muds and grainy (peloidal) sediments with hummocky cross-stratification. Laterally, the tidal flat was clastic-dominated and characterized by heterolithic sediments with hummocky cross-stratification and local tidal sandy bars. Peloidal and heterolithic sediments with hummocky cross-stratification are the key facies for interpreting the wave (storm) dominance in the tidal flat. Subsidence and high rates of sedimentation controlled the rapid burial of the storm features and thus preserved them from reworking by fair-weather waves and tides.
... Aurell et al., 1994;Mas et al., 2004) and interpreted as deposited in shallow marine to coastal and fluvial environments (e.g. Meléndez et al., 1979;Mas et al., 1984Mas et al., , 2004Díaz-Molina and Yébenes, 1987;Aurell et al., 1994Aurell et al., , 2016Ipas et al., 2005;Luque et al., 2005;Santos-Cubedo, 2010a, 2010b;Campos-Soto et al., 2016a. ...
... Salas et al., 2001;Mas et al., 2004), and thus, it was affected by syn-sedimentary faults during deposition, which controlled its significant thickness variations (e.g. Mas and Alonso, 1981;Mas et al., 1984;Aurell et al., 1994Aurell et al., , 2016Figs. 2 and 3). ...
... Afterwards, Campos-Soto et al. (2016b) analyzed the foraminiferal assemblage of the carbonates of the upper part of the unit in the western Peñagolosa sub-basin and assigned it provisionally to the interval Late Tithonian-earliest Berriasian? due to the presence of Anchispirocyclina lusitanica. In parallel, Aurell et al. (2016) attributed the deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation in the Peñagolosa sub-basin (sensu Cobos et al., 2010Cobos et al., , 2014 to the Middle Tithonian-Middle Berriasian (Fig. 4C), and considered the deposits of the upper part of the succession, as equivalent to a new lithostratigraphic unit, which they define in the adjacent Galve subbasin (Fig. 1B). ...
The Villar del Arzobispo Formation, cropping out in the western Peñagolosa sub-basin (Late Jurassic, eastern Spain), includes abundant dinosaur tracksites and bones, which occur in diverse mixed siliciclastic and carbonate facies deposited from shallow marine to coastal and alluvial paleoenvironments. The lower part of the unit, mainly composed of bioclastic and oolitic limestone, was deposited in an inner carbonate platform, which underwent episodic subaerial exposure and siliciclastic inputs from the emergent areas, and includes scarce dinosaur tracks. This environment evolved into a siliciclastic coastal and alluvial plain that was crossed by channels and affected by periodic flooding events, producing the deposition of splay lobes. Upward, the siliciclastic coastal and alluvial deposits are interbedded with inter- to supratidal limestone beds. These tidal and coastal deposits show the highest abundance, diversity and best preservation of dinosaur tracks and bones of the unit. This setting gradually evolved upward into an inner carbonate platform, producing the deposition of shallow marine bioclastic and oolitic limestone, which includes very scarce dinosaur tracks.
... [26]. In the Maestrazgo Basin, the specimen from San Cristóbal The Villar del Arzobispo Formation overlies the Higueruelas Formation (Tithonian or Tithonian-Berriasian sensu [42,43] or Kimmeridgian sensu [44,45]). Since the 1990s, the chronostratigraphic range of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation has been considered Tithonian-Berriasian [38,46], although recent studies assign it a Kimmeridgian-Tithonian range [40,47]. ...
... The Villar del Arzobispo Formation overlies the Higueruelas Formation (Tithonian or Tithonian-Berriasian sensu [42,43] or Kimmeridgian sensu [44,45]). Since the 1990s, the chronostratigraphic range of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation has been considered Tithonian-Berriasian [39,46], although recent studies assign it a Kimmeridgian-Tithonian range [37,47]. ...
The eastern Iberian Peninsula is one of the places with most stegosaur fossils in all of Europe. In the present study, we describe new remains from six different fossil sites from the Upper Jurassic of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian). The remains comprise: a left humerus from CT-61 (El Castellar, Teruel), a dermal spine from Puntal de la Magdalena (Alpuente, Valencia), two caudal neural arches and five caudal vertebrae from Cañada París (Alpuente, Valencia), two caudal centra from Alpuente (Valencia) and four caudal vertebrae from Barrihonda-El Humero (Riodeva, Teruel). The left humerus (CT-61-1) and dermal spine (MPA D-110) are referred to Stegosauria indet. The caudal vertebrae from Alpuente (Cañada París specimen, MPA-653 and MPA D-1086) are referred to cf. Dacentrurus sp. Finally, the caudal vertebrae from Riodeva (Barrihonda-El Humero specimen) are referred to Dacentrurus armatus and assigned to a previously known caudal series from this site. The presence of abundant localities with stegosaurian remains reaffirms the important role of stegosaur dinosaurs in Late Jurassic coastal ecosystems.
... Large ornithopod tracks have been identified in the Lower Cretaceous successions of the Iberian Basin Rift System since the first ichnological studies, being very common in Lower Cretaceous units of the northwestern domain (Cameros Basin: Castanera et al., 2013b;Díaz-Martínez et al., 2015;Pérez-Lorente, 2015 and references therein). This type of tracks has been also identified in several stratigraphic units since the earliest ichnological studies in the Galve subbasin (Cuenca et al., 1993;Pérez-Lorente, 2009) with the exception of the El Castellar Formation (sensu Aurell et al., 2016). Despite the scarce vertebrate ichnological record, this unit is very rich in osteological remains of several groups such as chondricthyans, osteichcthyans, mammals, testudines, lissamphibians, lacertids, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs and dinosaurs, including iguanodontian ornithopods (e.g. ...
... Cobos et al. (2015) related ornithopod footprints from the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation (mid-Tithonian-earliest Berriasian; Aurell et al., 2019b) with the ichnogenus Iguanodontipus, typical from the Berriasian of Europe and traditionally attributed to basal members of Ankylopollexia or Styracosterna (Castanera et al., 2013b;Díaz-Martínez et al., 2015). The ornithopod tracks from Los Corrales del Pelejón in the Galve Formation (late Berriasian-early Valanginian; Aurell et al., 2016) have not been classified (Cuenca et al., 1993), although their features are more related with Iguanodontipus than to any other ornithopod ichnotaxa (Figs. 5 and 6), and can be considered as Iguanodontipus-like. Although further work is needed in order to understand the clear ichnotaxonomic affinities of the tracks from the Tithonian-Valanginian? ...
Dinosaur tracks have been identified in several Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous sedimentary units across the Maestrazgo Basin in eastern Iberia, which are preserved in a variety of transitional and continental paleoenvironments. Here, we described the lower Barremian San Benón tracksite with the first occurrence of clear dinosaur tracks in the El Castellar Formation within the Galve subbasin. This palustrine-lacustrine formation has yielded a rich osteological record although dinosaur tracks are notably scarce. The new footprints represent an uncommon case of dinosaur preservation since the site has yielded several non contemporary tracks (part of different ichnoassemblages) preserved as carbonate casts at the base of a limestone bed forming a composite ichnofabric. The tracksite shows a complex history of sedimentation, track production and preservation linked to the lake level variations. The ornithopod tracks are identified to belong to the ornithopod ichnogenus Caririchnium, concretely to the ichnospecies C. magnificum. The studied tracks represent the oldest occurrence of this ichnotaxa in the Maestrazgo Basin and are coherent with other coeval (or almost coeval) occurrences in the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of C. magnificum in the El Castellar Formation fills a gap between the oldest (Tithonian-Valanginian) and younger (Barremian) occurrences of ornithopod tracks within the Maestrazgo Basin, being one of the most complete successions of ornithopod tracks in Europe. Interestingly, the underlaying formations have ichnoassemblages with Dinehichnus and Iguanodontipus tracks, whereas Caririchnium is mainly found in El Castellar Formation and other Barremian units. These changes in the ichnoassemblages reflect the ornithopod faunal changes shown by osteological data in the Iberian Peninsula recording a Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous stage dominated by basal iguanodontians followed by an Early Cretaceous stage with abundance of more derived and large-sized iguanodontians.
... On the other hand, the complex geometry of the Torrelapaja Subbasin, mainly defined by two nearly perpendicular fault sets acting simultaneously, greatly resembles what happens during the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rifting stage in the Cameros Basin and in the marginal subbasins of the Maestrazgo Basin (Platt, 1990;Cort es et al., 1999;Liesa et al., 2006Liesa et al., , 2018Antolín-Tom as et al., 2007;Mel endez et al., 2009;Aurell et al., 2016Aurell et al., , 2018. Contemporary multi-directional normal fault activity points to a regime of radial extension. ...
... The presence of brackish waters around this marginal area could be related to ephemeral marine influence sourced from the north (Basque-Cantabrian Basin). The overall palaeogeography of the Iberian Basin rift system during the Berriasian (Fig. 17A) with the marine sedimentation areas confined to the eastern Maestrazgo Basin (e.g., Aurell et al., 2016Aurell et al., , 2019bB adenas et al., 2004Liesa et al., 2019), makes unlikely an alternative marine source from the Tethysian realm. Also of interest are the lacustrine-palustrine carbonates found eastwards to the Torrelapaja Subbasin, in Ricla (Fig. 17A), which also include abundant Porochara and Mesochara (Martín-Closas, 1989). ...
The reconstruction of the latest Jurassic–Early Cretaceous evolution of the Torrelapaja Subbasin (Cameros Basin, Spain) resulted in the characterization of three synrift sequences (SS-1, SS-2 and SS-3) bounded by major unconformities. Three major NW-SE normal faults combined with smaller scale faults of variable direction (around NE-SW) controlled the sedimentation. The complex geometry of the Torrelapaja Subbasin indicates a main extension direction of NE-SW, and a secondary NW-SE extension. Sedimentation of the Tithonian–middle Berriasian SS-1 occurred in alluvial fan systems, grading upwards to carbonate palustrine-lacustrine environments. A new vertebrate site with large size sauropod bones has been found in the middle part of SS-1. The lower boundary of the uppermost Hauterivian–lower Barremian SS-2 is locally a palaeokarst, with sedimentary infill including three new fossil sites with remains of ornithopod, sauropod and theropod dinosaurs. Sedimentation of SS-2 encompasses distal alluvial terrigenous facies with local palaeosoils and palustrine-lacustrine limestones grading upwards to middle-distal alluvial facies. After a late Barremian–early Albian stratigraphic gap, sedimentation resumed in coastal flat environments represented by the mudstones with intercalated skeletal (oyster-rich) sandy limestones with carbonaceous plant remains of the SS-3. A middle-late Albian age assignment of SS-3 based on regional correlation is supported by strontium isotopic data. This unit marks the first Early Cretaceous marine incursion in the area from the northern Atlantic realm. This is a notable change of the previous palaeogeographical reconstructions which established that the first marine encroachment occurred in the early Aptian and was sourced from Tethysian domains.
... Over the past years, several works have studied the stratigraphy and structural control of the up to 5 km thick Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous synrift successions recorded in the depocentral areas of the Maestrazgo Basin (e.g. Salas et al., 2001;Bover-Arnal et al., 2016;Aurell et al., 2016Aurell et al., , 2018Aurell et al., , 2019. In contrast, there is no such a level of knowledge of the Cuenca and Valencia domains, located in the southwestern part of the Iberian Basin (Fig. 1), and the stratigraphy and evolution of these domains have been mostly framed by comparison with the Maestrazgo domain. ...
... The individualization of the western subbasins of the Maestrazgo Basin (i.e. Galve and Penyagolosa subbasins) started also towards the end of the Kimmeridgian, at the onset of the sedimentation of the Cedrillas Fm (Aurell et al., 2016Liesa et al., 2019). The upper boundary of the Cedrillas Fm is a mid-early Tithonian erosive unconformity formed after tectonic reactivation, and allow separating the synrift sequences 1A and 1B in the Maestrazgo Basin . ...
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 onset of an earlier synrift stage, that includes a lower episode (middle Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian) of carbonate ramp sedimentation, and an upper episode (latest Kimmeridgian-early Berriasian) with intense fault compartmentalization. This fault activity involved the eventual uplift of the Teruel-Javalambre and Valencia highs separating the Maestrazgo and Valencia basins. After a Berriasian-early Barremian stratigraphic gap, the upper synrift stage (late Barremian-Aptian) marks the onset of the sedimentation in the Cuenca Basin west of the ATMU and LT faults. Initial continental sedimentation occurred in small grabens bounded by NNE-SSW and WNW-ESE trending faults; an early Aptian transgressive event overcame the LT fault and connected Cuenca and Valencia basins. Successive episodes of stretching in the intracratonic Iberian basins were not synchronous, as shown by the offset of the distribution of the deformation between the Cuenca, Valencia and Maestrazgo basins. The synrift sequences recorded in the studied intracratonic basins indicate that most of the accommodation created occurred in response to far field extension after the simultaneous evolution of three main rifts, in the North and West Iberian margins and in the Alpine Tethys Ocean. The heterogeneously distributed stretching indicates that the Iberian Intraplate realm can be interpreted as a constantly thinned domain in which coeval rift-related deformation and rift-drift transitions migrated significantly along space and time. The comparison and the integration of the obtained results in a broader context make of this work a contribution to the knowledge of the Jurassic-Cretaceous paleogeographic evolution of the Iberian Plate in the geotectonic evolution of the Western Tethys.
... En la Cuenca del Maestrazgo se registra la presencia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica desde el Titoniense medio hasta el Berriasiense inferior (Aurell et al., 2016). La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). ...
... La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). En las subcuencas de Galve y Morella (subdivisiones de la Cuenca del Maestrazgo), los depósitos intermareales a submareales someros de las rampas están representados por la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra y la Formación Bovalar, respectivamente (Aurell et al., 2016;Ipas et al., 2005). El contenido fósil marino de estas formaciones está integrado por fauna y flora típicas de ambientes litorales a submareales protegidos/abiertos someros (p. ...
Anchispirocyclina lusitanica (Egger, 1902) es un macroforaminífero bentónico epifaunal perteneciente al suborden Orbitolinina, caracterizado por presentar una concha aglutinada, lenticular plana, de morfología variable y con un dimorfismo muy marcado. Todos los estadios ontogénicos de las generaciones macrosféricas (haploides) presentan, en general, un enrollamiento planiespiralado involuto. Los ejemplares adultos de las generaciones microsféricas (diploides) pueden presentar, además de una etapa inicial de crecimiento planiespiralado, etapas posteriores reniformes, peneropliformes e incluso anulares en las etapas de desarrollo más tardías (Maync, 1959). Se trata de una especie bien representada en el registro estratigráfico, característica de los ambientes de plataforma somera de afinidad Tethysiana de Europa occidental (González-Fernández et al., 2014). En la Cuenca del Maestrazgo se registra la presencia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica desde el Titoniense medio hasta el Berriasiense inferior (Aurell et al., 2016). La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). En las subcuencas de Galve y Morella (subdivisiones de la Cuenca del Maestrazgo), los depósitos intermareales a submareales someros de las rampas están representados por la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra y la Formación Bovalar, respectivamente (Aurell et al., 2016; Ipas et al., 2005). El contenido fósil marino de estas formaciones está integrado por fauna y flora típicas de ambientes litorales a submareales protegidos/abiertos someros (p. ej. carofitas, algas dasicladáceas, foraminíferos bentónicos, moluscos gasterópodos y bivalvos, ostrácodos, dientes de peces), incluyendo una representación bastante amplia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica. El objetivo del presente trabajo es describir las características tafonómicas de los ejemplares de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica presentes en 20 muestras de lámina delgada provenientes de tres perfiles levantados en la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra, en las poblaciones de Ababuj (láminas ABABUJ, ABA), Los Cerezos (E-10, E-11, E-12, E-13, E-14, E-16, E-17) y Miravete de La Sierra (MIRA, Mi-O-12, Mi-O-13, Mi-O-15, Mi-O-16, Mi-O45), y en la Formación Bovalar en Cinctorres (CI-44, CI-47, CI-83, CI-86, CI-87), con el fin de establecer si se trata de organismos in-situ o ex-situ, autóctonos o alóctonos.
... On the other hand, the strontium isotope data (oyster shells) indicates that the overlying S2-S4 sequences were deposited in the earliest Tithonian (i.e., Hybonotum Zone). The reported data update previous interpretations on the age of the lower boundary of the Villar del Arzobispo Fm in the Galve sub-basin, which was previously considered to be younger (mid-early Tithonian; AURELL et al., 2016) or older (mid-Kimmeridgian, CAMPOS-SOTO et al., 2017). In the Galve sub-basin, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary occurs in the overlaying Aguilar del Alfambra Fm although its precise location within this unit is still debatable (AURELL et al., 2016 Upper Jurassic deposits of the Russian Platform accumulated in an extensive shallow epeiric sea covering a tectonically stable old craton and subjected to slow subsidence and low terrigenous supply. ...
... The reported data update previous interpretations on the age of the lower boundary of the Villar del Arzobispo Fm in the Galve sub-basin, which was previously considered to be younger (mid-early Tithonian; AURELL et al., 2016) or older (mid-Kimmeridgian, CAMPOS-SOTO et al., 2017). In the Galve sub-basin, the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary occurs in the overlaying Aguilar del Alfambra Fm although its precise location within this unit is still debatable (AURELL et al., 2016 Upper Jurassic deposits of the Russian Platform accumulated in an extensive shallow epeiric sea covering a tectonically stable old craton and subjected to slow subsidence and low terrigenous supply. As a result, the depositional record is characterized by low thickness and high fragmentation due to numerous episodes of non-deposition and submarine erosion. ...
... According to Díaz-Molina et al. (1984), it contains the larger agglutinated foraminiferal Alveosepta jaccardi, Nautilocilina oolithica, Everticyclamina virguliana, Kurnubia palastiniensis, Pseudocyclammina, Cayeuxia and Salpingoporella and the most probable age for this formation is Kimmeridgian. This is consistent with data obtained for this formation in other basins or sub-basins (Campos-Soto et al., 2016 not the Tithonian age suggested by other authors (Aurell, 1990;Ruiz-Omeñaca et al., 2004;Canudo et al., 2012;Aurell et al., 2016) ...
... Unit 3 has been included in the more siliciclastic part (Fig. 3) of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Royo-Torres et al., 2014a) and was assigned to the Tithonian-Berriasian (Royo-Torres et al., 2014a;Santos et al., 2016Santos et al., , 2018. Aurell et al. (2016) gave a different age and two new names for this unit and part of the Unit 2; however, these have been rejected in the Peñagolosa Sub-basin (Campos-Soto et al., 2017) on stratigraphic and sedimentary criteria. Contrary to the age given by Canudo et al. (2012) . ...
Bivalves from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous stratigraphic section at Las Zabacheras (Galve Sub-basin Teruel, northern Spain), are reviewed from both systematic and palaeoautoecological perspectives. For this study the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, well known for important dinosaur occurrences, was sampled from the boundary with the underlying Higueruelas Formation (Late Jurassic), to the first levels of the overlying El Castellar Formation (Early Cretaceous). The bivalve taxa have Late Jurassic affinity, pointing to a possible Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary towards the top of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation. We have sampled oncoids, whose nuclei are bivalves, through the section to study environment change in this lithostratigraphical formation. Geochemical trace elements and δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O stable isotope analysis of the oncoids enable us to determine the conditions in which the microbialites were formed and provide further palaeoenvironmental data from the deposits containing the bivalves. Bivalve taxa change from the lower part of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation, where Ceratomya excentrica and Unicardium cf. subregulare are characteristic of marine conditions, becoming more continental towards the top of the formation with the presence of Unionoidean bivalves, and in the “Wealden” facies of the El Castellar Formation, where Teruella gautieri, has been found. Bivalves and oncoids allow us to recognize continental conditions where the first dinosaur of Spain, the sauropod Aragosaurus ischiatus was found, in an open water system, where there was limited evaporation, and with enough energy to produce well oxygenated water.
... En la Cuenca del Maestrazgo se registra la presencia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica desde el Titoniense medio hasta el Berriasiense inferior (Aurell et al., 2016). La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). ...
... La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). En las subcuencas de Galve y Morella (subdivisiones de la Cuenca del Maestrazgo), los depósitos intermareales a submareales someros de las rampas están representados por la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra y la Formación Bovalar, respectivamente (Aurell et al., 2016;Ipas et al., 2005). El contenido fósil marino de estas formaciones está integrado por fauna y flora típicas de ambientes litorales a submareales protegidos/abiertos someros (p. ...
Anchispirocyclina lusitanica (Egger, 1902) es un macroforaminífero bentónico epifaunal perteneciente al suborden Orbitolinina, caracterizado por presentar una concha aglutinada, lenticular plana, de morfología variable y con un dimorfismo muy marcado. Todos los estadios ontogénicos de las generaciones macrosféricas (haploides) presentan, en general, un enrollamiento planiespiralado involuto. Los ejemplares adultos de las generaciones microsféricas (diploides) pueden presentar, además de una etapa inicial de crecimiento planiespiralado, etapas posteriores reniformes, peneropliformes e incluso anulares en las etapas de desarrollo más tardías (Maync, 1959). Se trata de una especie bien representada en el registro estratigráfico, característica de los ambientes de plataforma somera de afinidad Tethysiana de Europa occidental (González-Fernández et al., 2014).
En la Cuenca del Maestrazgo se registra la presencia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica desde el Titoniense medio hasta el Berriasiense inferior (Aurell et al., 2016). La sedimentación marina durante este intervalo temporal tuvo lugar en extensas plataformas someras de tipo rampa, con sedimentación mixta terrígeno-carbonatada (Aurell et al., 2010). En las subcuencas de Galve y Morella (subdivisiones de la Cuenca del Maestrazgo), los depósitos intermareales a submareales someros de las rampas están representados por la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra y la Formación Bovalar, respectivamente (Aurell et al., 2016; Ipas et al., 2005). El contenido fósil marino de estas formaciones está integrado por fauna y flora típicas de ambientes litorales a submareales protegidos/abiertos someros (p. ej. carofitas, algas dasicladáceas, foraminíferos bentónicos, moluscos gasterópodos y bivalvos, ostrácodos, dientes de peces), incluyendo una representación bastante amplia de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica.
El objetivo del presente trabajo es describir las características tafonómicas de los ejemplares de Anchispirocyclina lusitanica presentes en 20 muestras de lámina delgada provenientes de tres perfiles levantados en la Formación Aguilar del Alfambra, en las poblaciones de Ababuj (láminas ABABUJ, ABA), Los Cerezos (E-10, E-11, E-12, E-13, E-14, E-16, E-17) y Miravete de La Sierra (MIRA, Mi-O-12, Mi-O-13, Mi-O-15, Mi-O-16, Mi-O45), y en la Formación Bovalar en Cinctorres (CI-44, CI-47, CI-83, CI-86, CI-87), con el fin de establecer si se trata de organismos in-situ o ex-situ, autóctonos o alóctonos.
... Sauropods are one of the groups of dinosaurs of the Spanish Cretaceous of which our knowledge has increased most substantially as a result of recent discoveries such as those of the macronarians of the end of the Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous. Accordingly, Galvesaurus has been described in the Tithonian Aurell et al., 2016), Aragosaurus at the base of the Cretaceous (Sanz et al., 1987;Canudo et al., 2012;Royo-Torres et al., 2014), Tastavinsaurus and Demandasaurus in the Barremian-lower Aptian (Canudo, Royo-Torres & Cuenca-Bescós, 2008;Royo-Torres, Alcalá & Cobos, 2012;Torcida Fernández-Baldor et al., 2011), and Lirainosaurus and Lohuecotitan in the upper Campanian (Sanz et al., 1999;Vila et al., 2012;Díez Díaz et al., 2016). In the Cretaceous, Titanosauriformes were the dominant-indeed almost the only-sauropods in the Iberian Peninsula, as shown by the fact that the vast majority of remains found have been assigned to this clade, with the exception of the rebbachisaurid Demandasaurus of the upper Barremian-lower Aptian . ...
... In the Cretaceous, Titanosauriformes were the dominant-indeed almost the only-sauropods in the Iberian Peninsula, as shown by the fact that the vast majority of remains found have been assigned to this clade, with the exception of the rebbachisaurid Demandasaurus of the upper Barremian-lower Aptian . The systematic position of the macronarian Aragosaurus, found at the base of the Cretaceous of Teruel, Spain (Aurell et al., 2016), is a matter of controversy: some authors recover it as a non-titanosauriform macronarian Royo-Torres et al., 2014), whereas for others it possesses characters that suggest its inclusion in Titanosauriformes . ...
The sauropod of El Oterillo II is a specimen that was excavated from the Castrillo
de la Reina Formation (Burgos, Spain), late Barremian–early Aptian, in the 2000s
but initially remained undescribed. A tooth and elements of the axial skeleton, and
the scapular and pelvic girdle, represent it. It is one of the most complete
titanosauriform sauropods from the Early Cretaceous of Europe and presents an
opportunity to deepen our understanding of the radiation of this clade in the Early
Cretaceous and study the paleobiogeographical relationships of Iberia with
Gondwana and with other parts of Laurasia. The late Barremian–early Aptian is the
time interval in the Cretaceous with the greatest diversity of sauropod taxa described
in Iberia: two titanosauriforms, Tastavinsaurus and Europatitan; and a
rebbachisaurid, Demandasaurus. The new sauropod Europatitan eastwoodi n. gen.
n. sp. presents a series of autapomorphic characters in the presacral vertebrae and
scapula that distinguish it from the other sauropods of the Early Cretaceous of
Iberia. Our phylogenetic study locates Europatitan as the basalmost member of the
Somphospondyli, clearly differentiated from other clades such as Brachiosauridae
and Titanosauria, and distantly related to the contemporaneous Tastavinsaurus.
Europatitan could be a representative of a Eurogondwanan fauna like
Demandasaurus, the other sauropod described from the Castrillo de la Reina
Formation. The presence of a sauropod fauna with marked Gondwananan affinities
in the Aptian of Iberia reinforces the idea of faunal exchanges between this
continental masses during the Early Cretaceous. Further specimens and more
detailed analysis are needed to elucidate if this Aptian fauna is caused by the
presence of previously unnoticed Aptian land bridges, or it represents a relict
fauna from an earlier dispersal event.
... Sauropods are one of the groups of dinosaurs of the Spanish Cretaceous of which our knowledge has increased most substantially as a result of recent discoveries such as those of the macronarians of the end of the Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous. Accordingly, Galvesaurus has been described in the Tithonian Aurell et al., 2016), Aragosaurus at the base of the Cretaceous (Sanz et al., 1987;Canudo et al., 2012;Royo-Torres et al., 2014), Tastavinsaurus and Demandasaurus in the Barremian-lower Aptian (Canudo, Royo-Torres & Cuenca-Bescós, 2008;Royo-Torres, Alcalá & Cobos, 2012;Torcida Fernández-Baldor et al., 2011), and Lirainosaurus and Lohuecotitan in the upper Campanian (Sanz et al., 1999;Vila et al., 2012;Díez Díaz et al., 2016). In the Cretaceous, Titanosauriformes were the dominant-indeed almost the only-sauropods in the Iberian Peninsula, as shown by the fact that the vast majority of remains found have been assigned to this clade, with the exception of the rebbachisaurid Demandasaurus of the upper Barremian-lower Aptian . ...
... In the Cretaceous, Titanosauriformes were the dominant-indeed almost the only-sauropods in the Iberian Peninsula, as shown by the fact that the vast majority of remains found have been assigned to this clade, with the exception of the rebbachisaurid Demandasaurus of the upper Barremian-lower Aptian . The systematic position of the macronarian Aragosaurus, found at the base of the Cretaceous of Teruel, Spain (Aurell et al., 2016), is a matter of controversy: some authors recover it as a non-titanosauriform macronarian Royo-Torres et al., 2014), whereas for others it possesses characters that suggest its inclusion in Titanosauriformes . ...
The sauropod of El Oterillo II is a specimen that was excavated from the Castrillo de la Reina Formation (Burgos, Spain), late Barremian–early Aptian, in the 2000s but initially remained undescribed. A tooth and elements of the axial skeleton, and the scapular and pelvic girdle, represent it. It is one of the most complete titanosauriform sauropods from the Early Cretaceous of Europe and presents an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the radiation of this clade in the Early Cretaceous and study the paleobiogeographical relationships of Iberia with Gondwana and with other parts of Laurasia. The late Barremian–early Aptian is the time interval in the Cretaceous with the greatest diversity of sauropod taxa described in Iberia: two titanosauriforms, Tastavinsaurus and Europatitan; and a rebbachisaurid, Demandasaurus. The new sauropod Europatitan eastwoodi n. gen. n. sp. presents a series of autapomorphic characters in the presacral vertebrae and scapula that distinguish it from the other sauropods of the Early Cretaceous of Iberia. Our phylogenetic study locates Europatitan as the basalmost member of the Somphospondyli, clearly differentiated from other clades such as Brachiosauridae and Titanosauria, and distantly related to the contemporaneous Tastavinsaurus. Europatitan could be a representative of a Eurogondwanan fauna like Demandasaurus, the other sauropod described from the Castrillo de la Reina Formation. The presence of a sauropod fauna with marked Gondwananan affinities in the Aptian of Iberia reinforces the idea of faunal exchanges between this continental masses during the Early Cretaceous. Further specimens and more detailed analysis are needed to elucidate if this Aptian fauna is caused by the presence of previously unnoticed Aptian land bridges, or it represents a relict fauna from an earlier dispersal event.
... Geologically, they are included in one of seven subbasins, the so-called Peñagolosa, controlled by synsedimentary faults which make up the Maestrat Basin (Salas & Guimerà, 1996), in outcrops of the El Castellar Formation (Salas, 1987). In this sub-basin, the El Castellar Formation usually overlies the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian sensu Campos-Soto et al., 2017), the uppermost of which is considered to be the Aguilar del Alfambra Formation (Tithonian-Berriasian) by Aurell et al. (2016). However, in the area of Cabra de Mora, this lithostratigraphic unit rests over the Mora de Rubielos Formation (upper Berriasian-lower Valanginian sensu Salas et al., 2001 andCampos-Soto et al., 2017) and is overlain by the Camarillas Formation (lower Barremian, Martín-Closas, 1989;Schudack & Schudack, 2009;Villanueva-Amadoz et al., 2015;Fig. ...
The El Castellar Formation (upper Hauterivian-lowermost Barremian, Lower Cretaceous) in the southwest of the Maestrat Basin (Spain) has yielded diverse dinosaur remains, mostly fragmentary bones. This study describes, morphometrically analyses, and compares several isolated postcranial fossils of large ornithopods from three new different sites in the municipality of Cabra de Mora (Peñagolosa sub-basin, Teruel Province). The fossils are attributed to styracosternan ornithopods, and some of them are related to the species Iguanodon galvensis, representing the oldest known record related to this taxon in the Iberian Peninsula. Moreover, this study verifies the hypothesis of the coexistence of at least two different styracosternans—a medium-sized form and a large-sized one—during the late Hauterivian-early Barremian in the Peñagolosa sub-basin. In addition, we formally describe the first dinosaur tracksite of the El Castellar Formation in this sub-basin. All ichnites are preserved as natural casts, and their trackmakers are likely to have been related to large styracosternans. Hence, the evidence provided here by both bones and tracks supports the idea that large ornithopods were the predominant dinosaurs in the wetlands of an extensive coastal plain.
... La Formación Higueruelas ha sido asignada al Kimmeridgiense o Kimmeridgiense-Titoniense por distintos autores (Gómez, 1979;Gómez & Goy, 1979), aunque posteriormente propuso una edad de Titoniene o Titoniense-Berriasiense (Aurell et al., 2003(Aurell et al., , 2016Bádenas et al. 2008, entre otros). Estudios recientes acotan la edad de la unidad al Kimmeridgiense superior (Campos-Soto et al. 2019;Aurell et al., 2019). ...
Alpuente is a small municipality from Valencia with a great palaeontological heritage. This
municipality has tried to develop a strong cultural-based tourism,by using paleontology as basis by
giving a diverse and rich offer on cultural activities for the general public. In this work we present the
newest activity to be developed, a paleontological route at La Torre, one of the northernmost villages
in the region. On this new route, two alternatives will be offered, a simple one which will show the
fossil richness of the Higueruela Formation, and a second one showing the forefront of a coral reef
extending almost 100 meters. This new paleontological route could become a great touristic attraction, helping the development of the local population.
... The humerus MDS-VPCR, 214 was compared with the humerus from other Iberian taxa of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary that have preserved it (Fig. 4). The taxa in question were: the turiasaurians Losillasaurus and Turiasaurus from the Tithonian-Berriasian of Spain (Casanovas et al. 2001;Royo-Torres et al. 2006) and Zby from the Kimmeridgian of Portugal (Mateus et al. 2014); the basal macronarians Lourinhasaurus from the upper Kimmeridgian-lower Tithonian of Portugal (Mocho et al. 2014) and Aragosaurus from the Berriasian of Spain (Sanz et al. 1987;Canudo et al. 2012;Aurell et al. 2016;Royo-Torres et al. 2017); the brachiosaurids Lusotitan from the Tithonian of Portugal (Antunes and Mateus, 2003;Mannion et al. 2013) and Galvesaurus from the Kimmeridgian of Spain (Barco et al. 2005;Barco, 2009;Pérez-Pueyo et al. 2019); and the basal titanosauriform assigned to cf. Duriatitan humerocristatus (Mocho et al. 2017). ...
The present paper studies a humerus (MDS-VPCR, 214) recovered from the site of Valdepalazuelos-Tenadas del Carrascal (Burgos, Spain). Geologically, it is located at the base of the Rupelo Formation (Cameros Basin), which is Tithonian-Berriasian in age. This formation is interpreted as shallow lacustrine/palustrine deposits with low-gradient margins and periodic changes in the water level. MDS-VPCR, 214 is gracile and straight, and has a larger mediolateral expansion at its proximal end than at the distal end. The deltopectoral crest is well expanded anteroposteriorly and extends towards the midline of the shaft. The distal articular head has radial and ulnar condyles similar in degree of development and there is a narrow groove between them. The distal articular surface is not divided between the ulnar and radial condyles; this surface extends towards the anterior and posterior surfaces of the humerus. MDS-VPCR, 214 shows significant morphological differences with respect to the humeri of the Iberian sauropods of the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition such as the turiasaurians Losillasaurus, Zby and Turiasaurus, the basal macronarians Lourinhasaurus and Aragosaurus, and the titanosauriforms Lusotitan, Galvesaurus.A phylogenetic analysis of MDS-VPCR, 214 relates it to Titanosauriformes probably a basal brachiosaurid related with the english genus of Kimmeridgian Duriatitan. Therefore MDS-VPCR, 214 is assigned provisionally to aff. Duriatitan.
... Esquema geológico general de la zona de estudio en el que se muestra: A) Los ambientes sedimentarios regionales en el tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico; B) la cartografía geológica actual, con el anticlinal de Alcalá-Ababuj, la sedimentación neógena y los afloramientos del Cretácico inferior y C) la columna estratigráfica tipo. Según Aurell et al. (2016), modificado ...
... Galve is part of the Comarca Comunidad de Teruel and the Maestrazgo Cultural Park in the province of Teruel (Aragón). Galve lies in the Aragonian Branch of the Iberian Range and it is an important paleontological locality situated in an extraordinary geological area (Aurell et al., 2016;Campos-Soto et al., 2017) (Fig. 4). The paleontological fossil record ranges from the Kimmeridgian to the Barremian (Díaz-Molina & Yébenes, 1987) and the area contains several important vertebrate sites Ruiz-Omeñaca et al., 2004;Verdú et al., 2015). ...
Background
The neosuchian crocodyliform genus Hulkepholis constitutes the longirostral lineage of the European Goniopholididae. It comprises two species ranging from the Valanginian of southern England to the lower Albian of the northern Teruel (Spain). A new species of Hulkepholis is described based on a partially complete skull from the lower Barremian Camarillas Formation. We investigate its phylogenetic position and the palatal patterns among members of Goniopholididae and the closely related Thalattosuchia and Tethysuchia.
Methods
Phylogenetic relationships were investigated with two matrices using a previously published dataset as the basis: the first differed only by the addition of the new species, the second had newly discovered states for 11 characters, the new species plus several additional specimens of Hulkepholis and Anteophthalmosuchus . Both matrices were processed using TNT v. 1.1, in a heuristic analysis of maximum parsimony, with tree bisection and reconnection 1,000 random addition replicates and saving the 10 most parsimonious trees per replicate, and up to 10 suboptimal trees to calculate Bremer supports. The skull geometry of nine species from Thalattosuchia, Tethysuchia and Goniopholididae was explored to test shape variation between the rostral and postrostral modules, and to visualize the differences on the secondary palate. A set of 18 landmarks was used to delimit significant anatomical features, and the skulls were isotropically scaled using Adobe Illustrator, with the longest skull ( Sarcosuchus imperator ) as the baseline for comparison.
Results
The European lineages of goniopholidids are two clades ( Nannosuchus + Goniopholis ) plus ( Hulkepholis + Anteophthalmosuchus ). The new species, Hulkepholis rori sp. nov, shares with the latter clade the following apormorphies: a long anterolateral postorbital process, postorbital process almost reaching the anterior jugal ramus, and basioccipital tubera with lateral edges turned posteriorly. Anteophthalmosuchus was found to be monophyletic, and Hulkepholis paraphyletic due to the poor preservation of H. willetti . Hulkepholis rori is distinguished by having vascular fossae and a mid-protuberance on the ventral surface of the basioccipital, and wide internal fossae in the quadrate. Among Goniopholididae differences on the secondary palate are the presence of a palatal cleft, the narrowness of the secondary choana, and a wide foramen of the median pharyngeal tube.
Conclusions
The new species is the earliest Hulkepholis from the Iberian Peninsula. New characters have been recognized in the organization of the palate and in the occipital region raising unexpected questions on the evolution of Goniopholididae. The set of palatal characters is discussed as part of a singular palatogenesis in Goniopholididae. The protruding occipital areas suggest that the longirostral Hulkepholis would have had an aquatic lifestyle with particular neck and skull movements.
... On one hand, the orientation of faults that control the alternating NNE-SSW and NNW-SSE trending segments approach the main directions of large-scale faults (L > 2 km) cutting Mesozoic rocks of the El Pobo footwall block (Liesa 2011b;Ezquerro 2017) (Fig. 8c), and similar faults, in strike and length, have been also mapped in the Mesozoic outcrops (Fig. 8a). In addition, in this sector of the Iberian Chain there are good examples of NNW-SSE trending, subvertical larger faults (> 20 km) strongly controlling sedimentation and basin configuration during the Early Cretaceous rifting (Liesa et al. , 2006Liesa et al. 2018;Liesa 2011b;Navarrete et al. 2013;Aurell et al. 2016), as well as compressional structures during the early Cenozoic inversion Liesa et al. , 2019bSimón-Porcar et al. 2019). These arguments strongly suggest that geometry and evolution of this margin was mainly controlled by inherited faults (see also Liesa et al. 2019a), so that the described shallow ruptures probably represent splay faults rooted at a major inherited, N-S striking crust-scale fault. ...
Abstract The northern part of the eastern margin of the extensional Neogene Teruel Basin (central-eastern Spain) consists of a non-linear, zigzag fault zone made of alternating ca. 2 km long, NNW-SSE trending segments and shorter NNE-SSW ones. Good outcrop conditions made possible a comprehensive integrated stratigraphic and structural study, especially focused on coarse clastic sediments deposited along the basin margin. Well-exposed stratal relationships with boundary faults, allowed the analysis of tectonic influence on sedimentation. Synsedimentary deformation includes growth faulting, rollover anticlines, and monoclines and associated onlap stratal terminations, angular unconformities, and other complex growth strata geometries. One of them is the onlap-over-rollover bed arrangement described here for the first time, which reveals the competition between tectonic subsidence and sedimentary supply. Both, the structural inheritance (dense Mesozoic fracture grid) and the dominant, nearly ‘multidirectional’ (σ1 vertical, σ2 ≈ σ3), Pliocene extensional regime with σ3 close to E-W, are considered to have controlled the margin structure and evolution. Tectono-stratigraphic evolution includes: (i) reactivation of inherited NNW-SSE faults and development of W-SW-directed small alluvial fans (SAF) while NNE-SSW segments acted as gentle relay ramp zones; (ii) progressive activation of NNE-SSW faults and development of NW-directed very small alluvial fans (VSAF); during stages i and ii sediments were trapped close to the margin, avoiding widespread progradation; (iii) linking of NNW-SSE and NNE-SSW structural segments, overall basin sinking and widespread alluvial progradation; (iv) fault activity attenuation and alluvial retrogradation. The particular structure and kinematic evolution of this margin controlled alluvial system patterns. Size of alluvial fans, directly set up at the border faults, was conditioned by the narrowness of the margin, small catchment areas, and proximity between faults, which prevented the development of large alluvial fans. The size of the relay zones, only a few hundred meters wide, acted in the same way, avoiding them to act as large sediment transfer areas and large alluvial fans to be established. These features make the Teruel Basin margin different to widely described extensional margins models.
... The most representative tracksites are located in the middle-upper part of the Villar del Arzobispo Fm (sensu Campos-Soto et al., 2017. Aguilar del Alfambra Fm (sensu Aurell et al., 2016;Bádenas et al., 2018) in the Peñagolosa and Galve subbasins. Regardless of the name of the unit, the different authors propose a Tithonian vs. late Tithonian-middle Berriasian age for these deposits. ...
Late Jurassic theropod tracks are very common both in North Africa and Europe. Two recently described ichnotaxa Megalosauripus transjuranicus and Jurabrontes curtedulensis from the Kimmeridgian of Switzerland show the coexistence of two apex predators in the same palaeoenvironment. Similar tracks can be found in tracksites from the Iberian Peninsula and from Morocco. Here, we further explore the similarities among the Swiss ichnotaxa and the other tracks from Germany (Kimmeridgian), Spain (Tithonian-Berriasian), Portugal (Oxfordian-Tithonian) and Morocco (Kimmeridgian) through novel three-dimensional data comparisons. Specimens were grouped in two morphotypes: 1) large and gracile (30 < Foot Length<50cm) and 2) giant and robust (FL > 50cm). The analyses show a great morphological overlap among these two morphotypes and the Swiss ichnotaxa (Megalosauripus transjuranicus and Jurabrontes curtedulensis, respectively), even despite the differences in sedimentary environment and age. This suggests a widespread occurrence of similar ichnotaxa along the western margin of Tethys during the Late Jurassic. The new data support the hypothesis of a Gondwana-Laurasia faunal exchange during the Middle or early Late Jurassic, and the presence of migratory routes around the Tethys.
... The Jurassic successions of the Iberian Basin are bounded by major angular and erosive unconformities developed around the Triassic-Jurassic and Jurassic-Cretaceous boundaries, linked to major phases of extensional movements led by the westward extension of the Tethys Ocean and the opening of the Central Atlantic and Bay of Biscay (Salas et al., 2001;Aurell et al., 2003Aurell et al., , 2016. Reactivation of normal faults also controlled sedimentation Despite the tectonic imprint, widespread transgressive and regressive events suggest a certain influence of regional or global sea-level changes on the Jurassic facies distribution in the basin . ...
... The Jurassic successions of the Iberian Basin are bounded by major angular and erosive unconformities developed around the Triassic-Jurassic and Jurassic-Cretaceous boundaries, linked to major phases of extensional movements led by the westward extension of the Tethys Ocean and the opening of the Central Atlantic and Bay of Biscay (Salas et al., 2001;Aurell et al., 2003Aurell et al., , 2016. Reactivation of normal faults also controlled sedimentation Despite the tectonic imprint, widespread transgressive and regressive events suggest a certain influence of regional or global sea-level changes on the Jurassic facies distribution in the basin . ...
... INTRODUCTION Spain (Canudo et al., 2005;Aurell et al., 2016;Campos-Soto et al., 2017), and from the 'dinosaur coast' of Asturias, Spain (García-Ramos, Piñuela & Lires, 2006;Piñuela Suárez, 2015). Tracksites are also known from the Late Jurassic of France (Mazin et al., 1997;Mazin, Hantzpergue & Pouech, 2016;Mazin, Hantzpergue & Olivier, 2017;Moreau et al., 2017), Germany (Kaever & Lapparent, 1974;Diedrich, 2011;Lallensack et al., 2015), Italy (Conti et al., 2005), and Poland (Gierlinski & Niedźwiedzki, 2002;Gierlinski, Niedźwiedzki & Nowacki, 2009), but the largest Late Jurassic track bearing area is certainly that of the Jura mountains of Switzerland (Marty et al., 2007Razzolini et al., 2017;Castanera et al., 2018). ...
The Kimmeridgian Vega, Tereñes and Lastres formations of Asturias have yielded a rich vertebrate fauna, represented by both abundant tracks and osteological remains. However, skeletal remains of theropod dinosaurs are rare, and the diversity of theropod tracks has only partially been documented in the literature. Here we describe the only non-dental osteological theropod remain recovered so far, an isolated anterior caudal vertebra, as well as the largest theropod tracks found. The caudal vertebra can be shown to represent a megalosaurine megalosaurid and represents the largest theropod skeletal remain described from Europe so far. The tracks are also amongst the largest theropod footprints reported from any setting and can be assigned to two different morphotypes, one being characterized by its robustness and a weak mesaxony, and the other characterized by a strong mesaxony, representing a more gracile trackmaker. We discuss the recently proposed distinction between robust and gracile large to giant theropod tracks and their possible trackmakers during the Late Jurassic-Berriasian. In the absence of complete pedal skeletons of most basal tetanurans, the identity of the maker of Jurassic giant theropod tracks is difficult to establish. However, the notable robustness of megalosaurine megalosaurids fits well with the described robust morphotypes, whereas more slender large theropod tracks might have been made by a variety of basal tetanurans, including allosaurids, metriocanthosaurids or afrovenatorine megalosaurids, or even exceptionally large ceratosaurs. Concerning osteological remains of large theropods from the Late Jurassic of Europe, megalosaurids seem to be more abundant than previously recognized and occur in basically all Jurassic deposits where theropod remains have been found, whereas allosauroids seem to be represented by allosaurids in Western Europe and metriacanthosaurids in more eastern areas. Short-term fluctuations in sea level might have allowed exchange of large theropods between the islands that constituted Europe during the Late Jurassic.
... Analysis of the continental-coastal sedimentary successions recorded in different areas of these rifting domains of eastern Iberia can be challenging due to the rapid changes in lateral facies and their thickness related to discontinuous synsedimentary fault activity. Recent reviews, integrating the existing information with new data, have proved useful in furthering our understanding of the stratigraphic framework of the uppermost Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous of specific areas of eastern Iberia at certain time intervals, including the Tithonian-Berriasian record of the Galve sub-basin (Aurell et al. 2016), the Barremian-early Albian of the Maestrazgo basin (Bover-Arnal et al. 2016) and the late Barremian-Aptian of the Cuenca sub-basin (Fregenal-Martínez et al. 2017). These works are relevant in several respects, making significant advances in what is known of the interaction of sedimentation and tectonics, depositional settings and the age of the numerous dinosaur fossil sites found in these continental-coastal units (e.g. ...
A review of the onset of the synrift sedimentation and synsedimentary extensional tectonics of the Oliete sub-basin (north- western Maestrazgo basin, East Spain) is presented here based on new data acquired after extensive sedimentological, struc- tural and palaeontological analysis of the Barremian Blesa Fm. The lower boundary of the Blesa Fm is a prominent basal synrift unconformity overlying Jurassic units. This formation has been divided into three genetic stratigraphic sequences bounded by sub-basin-wide unconformities. The lower Blesa sequence (LBS) is characterized by distal alluvial to palustrine marls/clays grading upward to palustrine–lacustrine limestones. The LBS is bounded on top by a planar to irregular trans- gressive, hardened ferruginous surface, locally encrusted by oysters. Above this discontinuity, the middle Blesa sequence consists of oyster-rich limestones and marls deposited in a shallow restricted bay, which grade to distal alluvial and palus- trine–lacustrine marls/clays and limestones towards the marginal areas of the basin. The boundary between the middle and upper Blesa sequence (UBS) is a regressive surface outlined by the local presence of an erosive conglomeratic bed. The UBS generally starts with red clays deposited in distal alluvial fan environments, which grade upwards to palustrine and lacustrine carbonates and marls/clays. The local presence of heterolithic alternations of clay with ne-to-medium sandstone and of cross-bedded sandstones indicates the local occurrence of siliciclastic coastal environments in the UBS. The upper bound- ary of the Blesa Fm is marked by widespread transgression, giving rise to the bioclastic limestones of the Alacón Fm. In the present paper, the stratigraphic position and palaeoenvironmental context of the abundant vertebrate remains found across the de ned sequences within the Blesa Formation is reviewed. The results obtained are relevant for a further understanding of the tectosedimentary evolution of the studied basin. Successive stages of evolution are distinguished, including the initial uplift, breakup and erosion of the earlier Jurassic carbonate platform that took place during the Tithonian–Hauterivian; the onset of synrift sedimentation during the early Barremian, which was highly controlled by extensional faulting and di eren- tial block subsidence; the homogenization of the basin subsidence accompanied by the incursion of marine waters (sourced from southeastern areas) during the middle part of the Barremian; and the signi cant fall in base level, of possible climatic origin and also involving signi cant siliciclastic input in the northern areas of the Oliete sub-basin around the middle part of the late Barremian.
... Tras las huellas de los dinosaurios' (El Castellar. In the tracks of the dinosaurs) Formation (Kimmeridgian-Berriasian?) (Alcalá et al. 2014b;Cobos et al. 2014;Campos-Soto et al. 2016) which is partially considered as Aguilar del Alfambra Formation (Berriasian) by Aurell et al. (2016), and El Hoyo in the Camarillas Formation (Barremian) Rodríguez-Tovar et al. 2016). The scientific relevance of these sites has led to their declaration as sites of cultural interest (Conjunto de Interés Cultural-Zona Paleontológica) by the regional government of Aragón (Decree 18/2004, 27 January). ...
The province of Teruel in Spain is one of the significant places in the world with respect to museographic initiatives focused on research and geological heritage. One of the latest initiatives has centred on the village of El Castellar, which lies 40 km from the city of Teruel and has just 58 inhabitants. The palaeontological activities that have taken place here since 2002 have brought to light 61 sites bearing dinosaur fossils (bones and tracks) within five geological formations covering the period from the Kimmeridgian to the Aptian. The high diversity of vertebrate fossils unearthed has favoured a number of museographic projects, including a dinosaur route (DINOpaseo por El Castellar), the Jurassic Via Ferrata and the El Castellar Dinosaur Tracksite. Tourists can admire many dinosaur fossils and tracks by following routes around the streets of the village or in the natural environments where they are found. These initiatives represent a good example between palaeontological research and territorial development.
Deserts are stressful environments where the living beings must acquire different strategies to survive due to the water stress conditions. From the late Albian to the early Cenomanian, the northern and eastern parts of Iberia were the location of the desert system represented by deposits assigned to the Utrillas Group, which bear abundant amber with numerous bioinclusions, including diverse arthropods and vertebrate remains. In the Maestrazgo Basin (E Spain), the late Albian to early Cenomanian sedimentary succession represents the most distal part of the desert system (fore-erg) that was characterised by an alternation of aeolian and shallow marine sedimentary environments in the proximity of the Western Tethys palaeo-coast, with rare to frequent dinoflagellate cysts. The terrestrial ecosystems from this area were biodiverse, and comprised plant communities whose fossils are associated with sedimentological indicators of aridity. The palynoflora dominated by wind-transported conifer pollen is interpreted to reflect various types of xerophytic woodlands from the hinterlands and the coastal settings. Therefore, fern and angiosperm communities abundantly grew in wet interdunes and coastal wetlands (temporary to semi-permanent freshwater/salt marshes and water bodies). In addition, the occurrence of low-diversity megafloral assemblages reflects the existence of coastal salt-influenced settings. The palaeobotanical study carried out in this paper which is an integrative work on palynology and palaeobotany, does not only allow the reconstruction of the vegetation that developed in the mid-Cretaceous fore-erg from the eastern Iberia, in addition, provides new biostratigraphic and palaeogeographic data considering the context of angiosperm radiation as well as the biota inferred in the amber-bearing outcrops of San Just, Arroyo de la Pascueta and La Hoya (within Cortes de Arenoso succesion). Importantly, the studied assemblages include Afropollis, Dichastopollenites, Cretacaeiporites together with pollen produced by Ephedraceae (known for its tolerance to arid conditions). The presence of these pollen grains, typical for northern Gondwana, associates the Iberian ecosystems with those characterising the mentioned region.
The Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, southeastern Africa, records a rich sauropod fauna, including the diplodocoids Dicraeosaurus and Tornieria, and the brachiosaurid titanosauriform Giraffatitan. However, the taxonomic affinities of other sympatric sauropod taxa are poorly understood. Here, we critically reassess and redescribe these problematic taxa, and present the largest phylogenetic analysis for sauropods (117 taxa scored for 542 characters) to explore their placement in Eusauropoda. Janenschia robusta has played a prominent role in discussions of titanosaur origins, with various authors referring at least some remains to Titanosauria, a clade otherwise known only from the Cretaceous. Redescription of the holotype of Janenschia, and all referable remains, supports its validity and placement as a nonneosauropod eusauropod. It forms a clade with Haestasaurus from the earliest Cretaceous of the UK, and the Middle/Late Jurassic Chinese sauropod Bellusaurus. Phylogenetic analysis and CT scans of the internal pneumatic tissue structure of Australodocus bohetii tentatively support a non-titanosaurian somphospondylan identification, making it the only known pre-Cretaceous representative of that clade. New information on the internal pneumatic tissue structure of the dorsal vertebrae of the enigmatic Tendaguria tanzaniensis, coupled with a full redescription, results in its novel placement as a turiasaur. Tendaguria is the sister taxon of Moabosaurus, from the Early Cretaceous of North America, and is the first turiasaur recognized from Gondwana. A previously referred caudal sequence cannot be assigned to Janenschia and displays several features that indicate a close relationship with Middle–Late Jurassic East Asian mamenchisaurids. It can be diagnosed by six autapomorphies, so we erect the new taxon Wamweracaudia keranjei gen. et sp. nov. The presence of a mamenchisaurid in the Late Jurassic of southern Gondwana indicates an earlier and more widespread diversification of this clade than previously realized, prior to the geographic isolation of East Asia. Our revised phylogenetic dataset sheds light on the evolutionary history of Eusauropoda, including supporting a basal diplodocoid placement for Haplocanthosaurus, and elucidating the interrelationships of rebbachisaurids. The Tendaguru Formation shares representatives of nearly all sauropod lineages with Middle Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous global faunas, but displays a greater range of diversity than any of those faunas considered individually. Biogeographic analysis indicates that the Tendaguru sauropod fauna was assembled as a result of three main phenomena during the late Early and/or Middle Jurassic: (1) invasions from Euramerica (brachiosaurids, turiasaurs); (2) endemism in west Gondwana (dicraeosaurids, diplodocids); and (3) regional extinctions that restricted the ranges of once widespread groups (mamenchisaurids, the Janenschia lineage). Multiple dispersals across the Central Gondwanan Desert are required to explain the distributions of Jurassic sauropods, suggesting that this geographic feature was at most a filter barrier that became easier to cross during the late Middle Jurassic.
In this paper, we present the study of the palaeobotanical record from Las Zabacheras 1 (palynoflora) and Las Zabacheras 3 (macroflora) fossil sites located in the deltaic sedimentological complex Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Galve, Teruel, northeastern of Spain). Las Zabacheras 1 is the type locality of the first dinosaur defined in Spain (the sauropod Aragosaurus ischiaticus). In this site a sporomorph assemblage was recovered and it was mainly composed of the genera Exesipollenites and Spheripollenites, with an abundance of the pteridophyte spore genera Concavissimisporites, Impardecispora and Trilobosporites from the site Las Zabacheras 1, indicating a Berriasian–early Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) age. From Las Zabacheras 3, a macro-palaeobotanical assemblage was recorded including different morphotypes of pteridophytes assigned to the genera Cladophlebis, cf. Todites, and cf. Eboracia. These data alongside with charophytes and regional stratigraphic information, more likely suggests an early Berriasian age for the stratigraphic section of the dinosaur Aragosaurus ischiaticus. This work aims to contribute the knowledge of both the palaeoflora and palaeoenvironments around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary and the beginning of the Early Cretaceous in the westernmost coast of the Tethys Ocean.
We herein describe the biggest theropod tooth hitherto found in Spain. The tooth (IPS-G1) comes from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Upper Tithonian-Middle Berriasian) in the Galve Sub-basin. The specimen is a nearly complete maxillary tooth with a FABL of 34 mm and DSDI = 1. Considering its geological age and the crown morphology (including the size), it is most likely that the tooth belongs to an allosauroid. This clade of theropods was present in the Late Jurassic of Portugal and the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian and Barremian) of England. The tooth represents the first allosaurid from Spain, and the biggest theropod from the European Berriasian.
A correlation is established in a north-south transect based on continuous outcrops. Considering the different reference surfaces and the geometry, three major depositional sequences can be distinguished which can be subdivided into a complex arrangement of parasequences. These third-order sequences are composed of a lower retrogradational and an upper progradational trends. The first sequence contains orbitolinid bioaccumulations in the retrogradational trend and oolitic-bioclastic shoals in the progradational trend. The second sequence exhibits, from bottom to top, a transgressive, and a forced-regressive trends. Ammonite-rich marls characterise the transgressive trends, whereas bioconstructions rich in coral-chaetetids-microbialites are abundant in both regressive and forced-regressive trends. The maximum flooding of this sequence is widely distributed across the whole Iberian platform. Finally, the third sequence shows the installation of homogeneous rudistid bioaccumulations in a retrogradational and a progradational trends.
Galve (Teruel, Spain) is not a single fossil site but an ensemble of more than 50 localities with Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate remains of Tithonian-Lower Barremian age. Galve fossil sites belong to the Maestrazgo basin (Central Iberian Range), Galve Subbasin, and appear in four geological formations: Higueruelas Formation (Tithonian), Villar del Arzobispo Formation (upper Tithonian-middle Berriasian), El Castellar Formation (uppermost Hauterivian-lowermost Barremian) and Camarillas Formation (lower Barremian). Most sites contain bony remains, but there are also paleoichnological and paleoological sites, with dinosaur and other reptilian tracks and eggshells. Mammals and dinosaurs are the best-known Galve vertebrates, but some studies on sharks, bony fishes, amphibians, squamates and crocodiles have been published. Some groups, Eke turtles and pterosaurs, have not practically been studied yet. Galve is the type locality of several taxa: the shark Lonchidion microselachos, the amphibian Galverpeton ibericum, the dinosaur Aragosaurus ischiaticus, the mammals Galveodon nannothus, Lavocatia alfambrensis, Eobaatar hispanicus, Parendotherium herreroi, Spalacotherium henkeli and Pocamus pepelui, and the dinosaur eggshell Macroolithus turolensis. In this paper we revise the knowledge on Galve vertebrates, and update the faunal list of its fossil sites, taking into account, for the first time, the stratigraphic distribution of the taxa.
Charophytes are lacustrine or brackish macrophytes, which proved to be useful in correlations between marine and non-marine sediments. This is the reason why the charophyte biozonation has been included in the general biostratigraphical chart of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Sequence Stratigraphy Project of the European Basins. Charophytes constitute a relatively acute "biostratigraphical tool" for late Jurassic, early Cretaceous, late Cretaceous and Palaeogene. Nevertheless in the fossil record, it still exists poor documentation on some stratigraphical intervals, especially for the Rhetian-Middle Oxfordian interval, the late Turonian-Santonian interval and for the Pliocene-Holocene interval. The Mesozoic and Cenozoic charophyte biozonation is composed of 6 biozones for the Triassic, 16 biozones for the Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous, 20 biozones for the Palaeogene and 4 biozones for the Neogene. In our paper, we define the Charophyte zones with a brief comment on their floral assemblages and on their correlations with other groups included in the chart (especially ammonites, nannofossils and mammals).
Eustatic sea-level changes of the Cretaceous are reevaluated based on a synthesis of global stratigraphic data. A new terminology for local/regional or relative sea-level changes (eurybatic shifts) is proposed to distinguish them from global (eustatic) sea-level changes, with the observation that all measures of sea-level change in any given location are eurybatic, even when they include a strong global signal. Solid-earth factors that influence inherited regional topography and thus modify physical measures of amplitude of the sea-level rises and falls locally are reviewed. One of these factors, dynamic topography (surface expression of mass flow in the upper mantle on land- and seascapes), is considered most pertinent in altering local measures of amplitude of sea-level events on third-order time scales (0.5-3.0 Myr). Insights gained from these models have led to the reconciliation of variance between amplitude estimates of eurybatic shifts in any given region and global measures of eustatic changes. Global estimates of third-order events can only be guesstimated at best by averaging the eurybatic data from widely distributed time-synchronous events. Revised curves for both long-term and short-term sea-level variations are presented for the Cretaceous Period. The curve representing the long-term envelope shows that average sea levels throughout the Cretaceous remained higher than the present day mean sea level (75–250 m above PDMSL). Sea level reached a trough in mid Valanginian (~ 75 m above PDMSL), followed by two high points, the first in early Barremian (~ 160-170 m above PDMSL) and the second, the highest peak of the Cretaceous, in earliest Turonian (~ 240-250 m above PDMSL). The curve also displays two ~ 20 Myr-long periods of relatively high and stable sea levels (Aptian through early Albian and Coniacian through Campanian). The short-term curve identifies 57 third-order eustatic events in the Cretaceous, most have been documented in several basins, while a smaller number are included provisionally as eustatic, awaiting confirmation. The amplitude of sea-level falls varies from a minimum of ~ 20 m to a maximum of just over 100 m and the duration varies between 0.5 and 3 Myr. The causes for these relatively rapid, and at times large amplitude, sea-level falls in the Cretaceous remain unresolved, although based mainly on oxygen-isotopic data, the presence of transient ice cover on Antarctica as the driver remains in vogue as an explanation. This idea has, however, suffered a recent setback following the discovery of pristine foraminiferal tests in the Turonian of Tanzania whose oxygen- isotopic values show little variation, implying absence of glacioeustasy at least in the Turonian. The prevalence of 4th-order (~ 400 Kyr) cyclicity through most of the Cretaceous (and elsewhere in the Paleozoic and Cenozoic) strongly implies that the periodicity on this time scale, presumably driven by long-term orbital eccentricity, may be a fundamental feature of depositional sequences throughout the Phanerozoic.
Se describen las asociaciones fósiles de dos nuevos yacimientos de vertebrados (Caña Seca y Carretera Allepuz-Gúdar) en el término municipal de Gúdar (Teruel) localizados en la Formación El Castellar superior, de edad Barremiense inferior. La Formación El Castellar (Valangiense?-Barremiense inferior) tiene una excepcional riqueza en fósiles de vertebrados, aunque los macrovertebrados suelen ser fragmentarios. En Gúdar se han reconocido restos fósiles de condrictios (Hybodus, Planohybodus, Ptychotrygonidae?), osteíctios (Amiiformes, Semionotiformes, Pycnodontiformes, Arcodonichthys sp.), lisanfibios (Lissamphibia), tortugas (Quelonia, Solemydidae), cocodrilomorfos (Goniopholididae, Atoposauridae, cf. Bernissartia, Unasuchus?), y dinosaurios terópodos (aff. Baryonyx, Carcharodontosauridae?, Coelurosauria) y ornitópodos (Iguanodontia). Este registro representa la primera cita en esta formación del picnodontiforme Arcodonichthys sp. (dos placas vomerinas y un diente aislado) de un posible Ptychotrygonidae (fragmento de diente) y de algunos terópodos de medio y gran tamaño (ilion Coelurosauria indet., vértebra de un posible carcharodontosáurido y falange aff. Baryonyx).
It has been described the fossil assemblages from two new vertebrate sites (Caña Seca and Carretera Allepuz-Gúdar) in the municipality of Gúdar (Teruel) which are located within the upper El Castellar Formation lower Barremiense in age. The El Castellar Formation (Valanginian?-lower Barremian)shows an exceptional richness in fossil vertebrates, whereas macrovertebrates are usually fragmentary remains. Fossils from Gúdar belonging to chondrichthyans (Hybodus, Planohybodus, Ptychotrygonidae?), osteychthyans (Amiiformes, Semionotiformes, Pycnodontiformes, Arcodonichthys sp.), lissamphibians (Lissamphibia), turtles (Quelonia, Solemydidae), crocodrilomorphs (Goniopholididae, Atoposauridae, cf. Bernissartia, Unasuchus?), and theropod (aff. Baryonyx, Carcharodontosauridae?, Coelurosauria) and ornithopod dinosaurs (Iguanodontia), have been recognized. This record constitutes the first report for this Formation of the pycnodontiform Arcodonichthys sp., (two vomerine plates and one isolated tooth), the possible Ptychotrygonidae (tooth fragment) and some mid-to big-sized-theropod (ilium Coelurosauria indet., vertebra of a possible carcharodontosaurid and phalanx aff. Baryonyx).
A correlation is established in a north-south transect based on continuous outcrops. Considering the different reference surfaces
and the geometry, three major depositional sequences can be distinguished which can be subdivided into a complex arrangement
of parasequences. These third-order sequences are composed of a lower retrogradational and an upper progradational trends.
The first sequence contains orbitolinid bioaccumulations in the retrogradational trend and oolitic-bioclastic shoals in the
progradational trend. The second sequence exhibits, from bottom to top, a transgressive, a regressive and a forced-regressive
trends. Ammonite-rich marls characterise the transgressive trend, whereas bioconstructions rich in coral-chaetetids-microbialites
are abundant in both regressive and forced-regressive trends. The maximum flooding of this sequence is widely distributed
across the whole Iberian platform. Finally, the third sequence shows the installation of homogeneous rudistid bioaccumulations
in a retrogradational and a progradational trends. Each major sequence boundary marks a community replacement, whose respective
fossil associations are dominated by (1) orbitolinids, (2) corals-microbialites, (3) corals-chaetetids-microbialites, and
(4) rudists.
A synthesis of the sedimentary evolution of the Upper Jurassic carbonate epeiric ramps that developed in the northern part of the Iberian Basin (NE Spain) is presented. The facies distributions reconstructed from the analysis of a 200 km-long transect, show a transition from shallow to relatively deep sedimentation sites. The studied carbonate ramps record major long-term transgression, from mid-Oxfordian to mid-Kimmeridgian followed by progressive basinwards coastal shift until the major regressive event around the mid-Berriasian. Subsidence was relatively homogeneous across the northern Iberian Basin during most of the studied interval. Major episodes of differential subsidence occurred around the Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian transition and onwards from the mid-Tithonian. The sedimentary evolution and particular facies types of the successive Iberian carbonate ramps is described, considering five depositional sequences that have a long-term transgressive-regressive evolution. The Oxfordian sequence shows a sharp transition from shallow to deep ramp areas: from mixed siliciclastic-carbonate (ooidal, skeletal, peloidal) facies to condensed (i.e. spongiolithic, peloidal, glauconitic) facies in the open platform domain. In the two Kimmeridgian sequences (Kim1 and Kim2), the transition between shallow and deep areas is more gradual and thickness distribution across the ramp is more homogeneous. Coral-microbial reefs and oolitic-peloidal-skeletal shoals characterized the shallow areas. Towards the offshore domain, these facies grade rapidly to a tempestite-dominated lith of acies and then into thick lime mudstone successions (i.e. rhythmic marls-mudstone alternations). Shallow oncolitic-peloidal and skeletal facies covered wide areas of the carbonate ramp during the early Tithonian (Ti1 sequence) and graded basinwards to thick successions of well-bedded micrites. The middle Tithonian to lower Berriasian platform (Ti2 sequence) is only partly exposed and formed during a stage of more heterogeneous subsidence. It is characterized by a thick succession with metre-scale shallowing-upward sequences with local development of peritidal, algallaminated caps. The factors that controlled the sedimentary evolution and major facies changes across the successive epeiric carbonate ramps are discussed by comparison to other Upper Jurassic platforms developed in the western Tethyan realm.
In this work we apply the study of fracturing to the characterisation of Mesozoic extensional processes in the easternmost part of the Iberian Basin (Maestrazgo basin). Faults at the macroestructural scale (many of them related with Early Cretaceous basin formation) show dominant N-S to NE-SW and E-W to NW-SE orientations. These main orientations and their relative importance change from the westernmost part of the basin (NW-SE dominated fracturing) toward the east (NNE-SSW dominated fracturing). Joints and faults at the outcrop scale in the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds are arranged in two systems each consisting of two orthogonal sets: 1) a primary system with NW-SE and NE-SW fractures and 2) a secondary with N-S and E-W fractures. The origin of fracturing in the studied area is related to basin formation during the Early Cretaceous, consistent with a radial extensional regime and two main extension orientations: ESE-WNW and NNE-SSW.
The Iberian chain and the Catalan coastal chain developed by Palaeogene inversion of Mesozoic rifts. These formed part of the network of rifted basins that evolved on the northwestern Peri-Tethyan Platform during the break-up of Pangea, and the opening of the Alpine Tethys and North Atlantic. The Iberian Basin developed during a Late Permian-Triassic rifting cycle in the course of which the Tethys and Arctic-North Atlantic Rift systems propagated westwards and southwards, respectively. During the Early and Middle Jurassic, the evolution of the Iberian Basin was governed by post-rift thermal subsidence. Late Triassic to Mid-Jurassic alkaline magmatism, evident in the southeastern parts of the Iberian Basin, was probably related to the development of the Central Atlantic superplume. Rifting resumed during the late Oxfordian and persisted until early late Albian times. This rifting cycle can be subdivided into three discrete rifting pulses which controlled the development of the Cameros, Maestrat, Columbrets and South Iberian basins. There is no evidence of Early Cretaceous syn-rift magmatism. This second rifting cycle coincides with rifting activity in the North Atlantic domain, culminating in the mid-Aptian separation of Iberia from North America and Europe and the opening of the oceanic North Atlantic and Bay of Biscay basins. During late Albian to Maastrichtian time the Iberian Basin subsided in response to post-rift thermal re-equilibration of the lithosphere. Intraplate contraction took place in cratonic Iberia during its Pyrenean collisional interaction with Europe and the early phases of the Betic orogeny. This controlled the Eocene to mid-Oligocene development of the Iberian and Catalan coastal chains. Total Palaeogene crustal shortening in the Iberian chain is estimated at about 75 km ( approximately 20%), resulting in the formation of a 43 km deep crustal keel. This study is a multidisciplinary analysis, integrating reflection-seismic and well data, chronostratigraphy, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, subsidence analysis, structural geology, as well as gravity, magnetic and refraction-seismic data.
Sequence stratigraphy, subsidence analysis and the integration of the basin fill data allow to the identification of four successive evolutionary stages in the basins of the eastern Iberian margin during Mesozoic extension: (1) Triassic rift (Late Permian-Hettangian); (2) Early and Middle Jurassic postrift (Sinemurian-Oxfordian); (3) Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous rift (Kimmeridgian-middle Albian); and (4) Late Cretaceous postrift (late Albian-Maastrichtian). The present-day crustal structure of the eastern Iberian Range and evidence of its evolution are deduced from the analysis of a new gravity map and other geophysical data. A regional gravity low along the Iberian Range is interpreted in terms of crustal thickening beneath the orogen as a result of the collision between the Ebro block and the Iberian plate during the Paleogene. The boundary between these blocks coincides with a magnetic lineament that is interpreted as an inherited signature of the thinning that occurred during Mesozoic extension. A geodynamic scenario for the crustal evolution of the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, based on the evaluation of Mesozoic extensional tectonics and an analysis of the available geophysical data, includes three main successive evolutionary stages: 1. (1) Mesozoic crustal thinning; 2. (2) Paleogene crustal thickening; 3. (3) Neogene crustal thinning. Based on new geological and geophysical arguments, this study offers an alternative and a more complete geodynamic history of the eastern Iberian basins related to the evolution of the Iberian plate and the Central-North Atlantic.
The sauropod Aragosaurus ischiaticus Sanz, Buscalioni, Casanovas & Santafé, 1987 was the first dinosaur to be described in Spain. The holotype was recovered from the site of Las Zabacheras (Galve, Teruel province). This site has traditionally been situated in the El Castellar Formation (in the lower part of the Wealden facies). Recently, it has been proposed that the remains of Aragosaurus stem from the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (late Tithonian–upper part of the early Berriasian), which would mean that the sauropod was almost 15 million years older than previously thought. Detailed field work has been carried out, making it possible to pinpoint the position of the low-angle unconformity between the Villar del Arzobispo Formation and the El Castellar Formation. This unconformity originated as a result of block tilting that occurred during the early stages of the Early Cretaceous rifting episode. The upper levels of the Jurassic sequence (i.e. the Villar del Arzobispo Formation) were exposed to erosion and karstification, leading to the formation of a discontinuous conglomeratic level. This level has been locally preserved at the bottom of the Wealden syn-rift sequence (i.e. the El Castellar Formation). The results of our detailed mapping demonstrate that the Aragosaurus holotype was found in the lower part of the El Castellar Formation. Moreover, our revision of the existing datings suggests that the El Castellar Formation as a whole is Valanginian?–early Barremian in age. Given that Aragosaurus was located in its lower part, it is probably Valanginian?–Hauterivian in age.
M. 2011. New dryolestidan mammal from the Hauterivian–Barremian transition of the Iberian Peninsula. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 (2): 257–267. Crusafontia amoae sp. nov. (Dryolestida, Stem Cladotheria) is represented by two isolated upper molars (M4 or M5 and M6 or M7) from the terminal Hauterivian–basal Barremian (Early Cretaceous) of the El Castellar Formation (Galve, Spain). The molars have a deep ectoflexus, a distinct metacone, a continuous metacrista, and an antero−lingually placed paracone. They differ from the molars of the other species of the genus, Crusafontia cuencana, by their larger size, by their outsized parastyle, by the pointed lingual slope of the paracone, their more symmetrical appearance with a deep ectoflexus in occlusal view, and the well−developed metacone. Revision of three isolated teeth previously attributed to Crusafontia cuencana suggests that instead of being upper premolars belonging to Crusafontia cuencana they in fact be− long to Pocamus pepelui, of the stem cladotherian superorder Zatheria, probably "peramuran". As such, the stem Cladotheria record from the Early Cretaceous of the Iberian Peninsula is composed of two dryolestids (Crusafontia amoae and Crusafontia cuencana) and one zatherian (Pocamus pepelui). Gloria Cuenca−Bescós [cuencag@unizar.es], Ainara Badiola [abadiola@unizar.es], José I. Canudo [jicanudo@unizar.es], José M. Gasca [gascajm@unizar.es], and Miguel Moreno−Azanza [mmazanza@unizar.es], Grupo Aragosaurus−IUCA
The Las Cerradicas site (Tithonian-Berriasian), Teruel, Spain, preserves at least seventeen dinosaur trackways, some of them formerly attributed to quadrupedal ornithopods, sauropods and theropods. The exposure of new track evidence allows a more detailed interpretation of the controversial tridactyl trackways as well as the modes of locomotion and taxonomic affinities of the trackmakers.
Detailed stratigraphic analysis reveals four different levels where footprints have been preserved in different modes. Within the tridactyl trackways, manus tracks are mainly present in a specific horizon relative to surface tracks. The presence of manus tracks is interpreted as evidence of an ornithopod trackmaker. Cross-sections produced from photogrammetric digital models show different depths of the pes and manus, suggesting covariance in loading between the forelimbs and the hindlimbs.
Several features (digital pads, length/width ratio, claw marks) of some ornithopod pes tracks from Las Cerradicas are reminiscent of theropod pedal morphology. This morphological convergence, combined with the shallow nature of the manus tracks, which reduces preservation potential, opens a new window into the interpretation of these tridactyl tracks. Thus, trackmaker assignations during the Jurassic-Cretaceous interval of purported theropod trackways may potentially represent ornithopods. Moreover, the Las Cerradicas trackways are further evidence for quadrupedalism among some basal small- to medium-sized ornithopods from this time interval.
A correlation and sequence stratigraphy study of Jurassic successions has been carried out in the main sedimentary basins of northeast Iberia, i.e., Asturias, Basque-Cantabrian, and Iberian basins, based on the identification of transgressive–regressive cycles. The development and palaeogeographic evolution of the epicontinental carbonate platforms of northeast Iberia were largely controlled by major tectonic activity at three main intervals, at the beginning of the Jurassic, in the Lower–Middle Jurassic transition, and during the uppermost Jurassic, respectively. During Early Jurassic times, northeast Iberia was the site of a single and large carbonate ramp opened to the north. This carbonate ramp suffered a progressive drowning, evolving from an inner to hemipelagic ramp systems, with the local development of suboxic environments in the deepest areas located to the north. During the Middle Jurassic, different open carbonate platforms were formed including the development of swells in intermediate areas. During the Upper Jurassic, the outer ramp areas were progressively moving to the east Iberian Basin, and the ammonite faunas showing a markedly Tethyan affinity thereafter.
Dinosaur footprints occur in shallow marine sedimentary units of the Berriasian Villar del Arzobispo Formation in the Aliaga basin, NE Spain. Las Cerradicas is a small outcrop (25 m2), near Galve, with four dinosaur trackways. Three tridactyl trackways indicate bipedal animals, and have parallel orientation. A fourth or‐nithopod trackway indicates a quadrupedal animal and is the smallest among any reported in the literature (L = 23 cm, W = 23 cm of pes tracks). It has manus prints that are oval‐shaped impressions. These and other recent discoveries shed much light on the abundance of quadrupedal ornithopods during the early Cretaceous.
Successive low-angle slope carbonate ramps developed during the Upper Jurassic in the Iberian Basin. The transition between these ramps was punctuated by lower-order tectonic events, that involved the uplift of the edges of the basin and a correlative basinwards coastal shift, generating unconformities that are detected at least in the proximal areas of the ramps. These unconformities allow the Upper Jurassic to be subdivided into three unconformity-bounded units or depositional sequences. An extensive facies analysis and the lateral tracing of sedimentary units and bounding surfaces resulted in the identification of the lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts of the lower two sequences (i.e. Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian sequences). The observed distribution of facies into systems tracts is a function of the interplay between sedimentation and accommodation rates. Eustasy is thought to be the main factor responsible for the evolution of the accommodation during the Lower and Middle Oxfordian, when the subsidence is interpreted as slow and regularly distributed across the basin, whereas the Kimmeridgian-Middle Berriasian sediments would mainly record the local subsidence history of the basin. -from Authors
Middle Tithonian-Berriasian shallow platform carbonates of the Maestrat Basin (Salzedella and Montanejos sections, NE Spain) are stacked in sequence stratigraphic units of different orders. Higher-order sequences (parasequences and subunits) have a shallowing or deepening-shallowing evolution. They have been related to the short-term eccentricity and precession cycles. Major facies changes and stacking pattern of parasequences reveal the presence of two 2nd-order sequences. The Lower Sequence is middle Tithonian-mid early Berriasian in age. The Upper Sequence extends up to the mid-late Berriasian. It is suggested that local subsidence changes along with regional sea-level changes controlled the long-term evolution of accommodation in the Maestrat Basin. Facies evolution, stacking pattern and sharp lithological changes have allowed the definition of five 3rd-order sequences in the Lower Sequence in Montanejos. The transgressive deposits are characterised by the progressive absence of the restricted lagoon facies, and the presence of deepening-upward intervals in the parasequences. The highstand deposits display an increase in siliciclastics and a progressive predominance of restricted lagoon facies. Some of the 3rd-order sequence boundaries match the sequence boundaries identified in other European basins and may be related to sea-level falls (induced by the long-term eccentricity cycle) enhanced during periods of long-term loss of accommodation.
Lower Cretaceous ostracod associations (marine and nonmarine) have been studied from 34 sections of the Iberian chain or, geologically spoken, the Iberian basin (eastern Spain), in order to contribute to the chronostratigraphic correlation of the various predominantly nonmarine lithostratigraphic units in the Cameros, Maestrazgo, and South Iberian sub-basins (and the Central Iberian high in between). We have combined 87 ostracod species from 22 genera to 11 associations, each typical for certain stratigraphic levels (mostly stages) and ecologies. Nonmarine associations (dominated by the genera Cypridea and Theriosynoecum) prevailed from the Berriasian to the Barremian interval, whereas marine-brackish associations (much more diverse on the generic level) prevailed during the Aptian and Albian, and to a lesser extent during the Berriasian and Barremian. In most cases, our new ostracod data are consistent with previous correlative charts, as based upon other biostratigraphic data, mainly from charophytes, but also from few marine fossils in marine intercalations, and on depositional sequence stratigraphy. But in a few cases, our results are more or less different from those of established charts, namely in the eastern Cameros sub-basin (the Urbión group considered Late Berriasian in age instead of Valanginian-Barremian, and the Enciso group considered Late Valanginian-Barremian instead of Late Barremian-Aptian), in the northeastern Maestrazgo sub-basin (the Polacos Formation considered Late Berriasian-Early Hauterivian instead of Late Berriasian only), and in the uppermost part of the Lower Cretaceous in the South Iberian sub-basin (the Contreras and El Caroig Formations considered Albian instead of Aptian). Finally, we evaluate the usability of ostracod biostratigraphy in the Lower Cretaceous of eastern Spain and conclude that, if treated with great care especially under consideration of the biogeography and reproduction/dispersal strategies of the various groups, it should be given priority over pure lithostratigraphic correlations in conflicting cases.
Spalacotheriids, basal trechnotheres with an acutely angled, reversed-triangle pattern of major molar cusps, are relatively rare pan-Laurasian mammals that ranged through much of the Cretaceous but are generally not well represented in the fossil record. Herein we describe newly collected specimens from the Molino Alto 1 locality, Teruel Province, Spain, and review previously described materials from the nearby locality of Galve; the sites lie in the same horizon in the upper El Castellar Formation and are of early Barremian age. On this basis, we recognize and name Aliaga molinensis, gen. et sp. nov., and provisionally place in the same genus a previously described species, cf. Aliaga henkeli, comb. nov., which appears to be the largest known spalacotheriid. The two species are characterized by a distinctive, multicuspate cingulid on lower cheek teeth. Based on acuteness of molar cusp triangulation and other features (e.g., planar molar shearing surfaces, elongation and cusp pattern of penultimate premolar, reduction of last molar, simplification of upper molar crown pattern), the species are referred to the Spalacolestinae. This subfamily is most diverse in North America, where it ranged from Albian–Campanian, but first appears in the Barremian of Western Europe, supporting the hypothesis that the group had a Eurasian origin and later dispersed to North America.