Long Plio-Pleistocene Terrestrial Record of Climate Change and Mammal Turnover in Southern Spain

Abstract

Cyclostratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene Zújar section (Guadix-Baza Basin, southeastern Spain) has enabled the recognition of a number of climatically forced cycles reflecting alternating dry and wet periods. Peaks of aridity are recorded at ca. 3.95, 3.55, 3.2, 2.8, and 1.8 myr B.P. The first dry period at about 4.0 myr B.P. corresponds to the early Ruscinian Mammal age, while the second arid interval at about 3.6 myr B.P. corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean double seasonality. The significant mammal turnover between the late Ruscinian and early Villanyian stages is placed between chron 2An.2n and the very base of chron 2An.1n, coincident with the dry phase recognized at about 3.2 myr B.P. The fourth aridity maximum at 2.8 myr B.P. roughly coincides with the Equus event in western Europe and is probably related to the beginning of the glacial–interglacial dynamics in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, the last dry peak at about 1.8 myr B.P. is probably related to the set of mammalian events characterizing the transition from the late Pliocene faunas to those of the early Pleistocene.

Climatic control on palaeohydrology and cyclical sediment distribution in the Plio-Quaternary deposits of the Guadix Basin (Betic Cordillera, Spain)

“…The work by Agustí et al (2001) supports this tentative correlation, as it proposes a similar interpretation for the sediments of the Zújar section (northern-eastern part of the Guadix Basin, whereas the present study focuses on the central sector of the basin).…”

“…Although there are documented astronomically-forced cycles in continental sediments (Agustí et al, 2001;van Vugt et al, 2001;Kruiver et al, 2002;Steenbrink et al, 2006;Amorosi et al, 2008;García-García et al, 2009;Abels et al, 2010), most of them are focused on lacustrine settings with a recording of precessional cycles (e.g. van Vugt et al, 2001) or cyclicity corresponding to changes in obliquity and/or eccentricity (e.g.…”

Late Neogene and Early Quaternary Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Conditions in Southwestern Europe: Isotopic Analyses on Mammalian Taxa

“…The beginning of MN16 (∼3.2 Ma) [89] predates the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation [1], [90]. At that time, the modern Mediterranean climatic regime was established and aridity in Europe was enhanced, which led to changes in mammalian fossil assemblages in such a way that, according to Agustí et al [89], the Villanyian mammal turnover occurred at this time with an increase in grazers, the appearance of morphological features associated with a highly cursorial lifestyle in some ungulates, and the diversification of pursuit carnivores. All of these changes point towards the development of prairies and grasslands in Europe [64], [89].…”

Constraining the physical–chemical conditions of Pleistocene cavernous weathering in Late Paleozoic granites

“…Phosphates containing trivalent iron precipitated as the pH dropped below 5. During this time pitting of the granite has already come to a halt when a steppic vegetation developed under decreasing temperatures (Agusti et al, 2001). An increase in alkalinity on the opposite side of the pH range would have caused silcretes abundant in uranophane (Ca 2 (UO 2 ) 2 (SiO 3 ) 2 (OH)·(H 2 O)) to develop during the early Pleistocene instead of uranyl phosphates.…”