Vegetation and climate in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during the pre-evaporitic Messinian (late Miocene). Palynological data from the Upper Turolian of Venta del Moro (Spain)

Casas‐Gallego, Manuel; Lassaletta, Luis; Barrón, Eduardo; Bruch, Angela A; Montoya, Plinio

doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.01.001

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…How long this time span was, in the absence of a continental fossil record, is difficult to establish. In any case it is reasonable to argue that the lower alterite in the alluvial sequence matches one of the dry late Tortonian-early Messinian intervals predating the MSC in the Apennines (Bertini and Menichetti, 2015) and in Southern Spain (Casas-Gallego et al, 2015). The upper palaeosol, indicative of more wet subtropical climate reflects a time span wide enough to encompass the entire MSC, considering that so thick, kaoliniteenriched, paleosols take a few hundred thousand years to be formed (Thiry et al, 2006;Bronger, 2007).…”

Section: General Implications About the Palaeoclimate Conditions And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Weathering Products of a Dismantled Variscan Basement. Minero-Chemical Proxies to Insight on Cretaceous Palaeogeography and Late Neogene Palaeoclimate of Sardinia (Italy)

et al. 2020

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This study compares, for the first time, the mineralogy and geochemistry of two residual-clay deposits in NW Sardinia (Nurra district) that formed at different times in tropical and subtropical climates. Both deposits represent palaeosols with deep-weathered residual profiles and overlie Mesozoic carbonate rocks that were deposited on the south European palaeomargin. The older alterite is Cenomanian-Turonian in age and grades upward into a horizon of karstic bauxite, whereas the younger unit occurs within alluvial deposits of Late Neogene age. The Cretaceous palaeosol represents the precursor of the overlying bauxite and formed from unknown sedimentary parent rocks. In contrast, the Messinian weathering products formed by alluvium that was sourced from the Variscan metamorphic basement. Chemical Index of Alteration values, REE fractionation index values, and the results of R-mode factorial analysis suggest a common initial weathering path and a common precursor for the deposits. However, the latter stages of weathering of the Cretaceous palaeosols resulted in lateritic alteration and bauxite production, whereas weathering of the Late Neogene palaeosols produced 2:1 clay minerals under less extreme conditions. Comparison of these residual products constrains the parental material and weathering trends and allows insight into the relationship between palaeoclimate and regional/local palaeogeography of southern Europe during Upper Cretaceous and during Messinian.

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Section: General Implications About the Palaeoclimate Conditions And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Weathering Products of a Dismantled Variscan Basement. Minero-Chemical Proxies to Insight on Cretaceous Palaeogeography and Late Neogene Palaeoclimate of Sardinia (Italy)

et al. 2020

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“…Located 2 km southeast of the village with the same name (UTM Zone 30S, 642494E, 4370967N), in the Cabriel Basin (Valencia, Spain; Fig. 1), it has yielded an abundant and diverse fossil assemblage of plants (pollen and macroflora; Casas-Gallego et al, 2015) and animals (both invertebrates and vertebrates; Montoya et al, 2006, 2009). The faunal list includes 48 species of mammals, of which nine have VM as their type locality.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Miocene remains from Venta del Moro (Iberian Peninsula) provide further insights on the dispersal of crocodiles across the late Miocene Tethys

Delfino¹,

Luján²,

Abellá³

et al. 2020

J. Paleontol.

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The dispersal of Crocodylus from Africa to Europe during the Miocene is not well understood. A small collection of cranial fragments and postcranial elements from the latest Miocene (6.2 Ma) site of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain) have previously been referred to Crocodylus cf. C. checchiai Maccagno, 1947 without accompanying descriptions. Here we describe and figure for the first time the crocodylian remains from Venta del Moro, which represent at least two individuals. Our comparisons indicate that this material clearly does not belong to Diplocynodon or Tomistoma—the only two other crocodylians described so far for the European late Miocene. The material is only tentatively referred to cf. Crocodylus sp. because the apomorphies of this genus are not preserved and a referral to C. checchiai cannot be supported on a morphological basis. However, it is likely that this late Miocene species, originally described from Libya (As Sahabi) and later identified also in Kenya, could have dispersed across the Mediterranean Basin multiple times and colonized the southern areas of Mediterranean Europe, as evidenced by several Crocodylus or Crocodylus-like remains described during the past years.

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“…The use of mammal microfossils as palaeoprecipitation proxies reflect mean annual precipitations (MAP) of around 600 mm from 12 to 9 Ma, and below 600 mm from 8 to 3 Ma [5], favouring the establishment of open, savannah-type landscapes in large areas of the Iberian Peninsula. Therefore, Late Miocene Iberian forests only thrived in locations that met the necessary humidity and temperature conditions, such as river margins, lakes and wetlands [6,7], Atlantic regions with marine influence [8] and mountainous regions [9,10]. The intramontane La Cerdanya Basin is one of the places that met the required conditions to host forests during the Late Miocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the Late Miocene Pyrenean Forests of the La Cerdanya Basin, Spain

Altolaguirre

Mijarra

Casas‐Gallego

et al. 2023

Forests

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The Late Miocene palaeofloras of the La Cerdanya Basin represent a unique look into the Pyrenean Miocene forested areas of the Iberian Peninsula at a time when the European warm and humid climate was experiencing progressive cooling and aridification. Macrofossils (leaves, seeds, fruits and cones) and miospores from several outcrops revealed the composition and abundances of the different plant species present in the area during the Tortonian and early Messinian geological stages (ca. 11.1–5.7 Ma). These fossils were found in the sediment deposits of an ancient lake system situated in the southwestern part of the basin. Previous studies indicated the presence of highly diversified mixed mesophytic forests with broadleaved evergreen and deciduous trees and conifers. However, the spatial structure and distribution of these forest types remains unknown. In the present work, the biomization method was used to infer the different late Miocene vegetation types from the basin. The extent of these vegetation types was calculated using a methodology for mapping vegetation units from fossil and biome data. While previous attempts at mapping Miocene vegetation units had a broad geographical scale, the present work aimed to map the extent of the vegetation units at a small scale, recreating local and specific vegetation changes in an abrupt basin. Results showed similarly high scores between for four biome types, which represent the different types of vegetation that coexisted in the basin during the Tortonian and the early Messinian: warm-temperate evergreen broadleaf and mixed woodlands (WTEM biome), temperate deciduous forests (TEDE) and cool conifer forests (COMX and COEG). Their extent was depicted in two vegetation maps, which account for differences in palaeoaltitude and palaeoclimate. These forests occupied different vegetation belts, which shifted upwards and downwards with climatic variations and the progressive uplift of the Pyrenees during the late Miocene. Azonal riparian forests and wetland vegetation occupied the more humid areas in the centre of the basin. Nonetheless, dry conditions during the early Messinian and decrease in the lake area degraded the wetland environments, which were partially replaced by broadleaved evergreen mixed woodlands.

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Vegetation and climate in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during the pre-evaporitic Messinian (late Miocene). Palynological data from the Upper Turolian of Venta del Moro (Spain)

Cited by 20 publications

References 40 publications

Weathering Products of a Dismantled Variscan Basement. Minero-Chemical Proxies to Insight on Cretaceous Palaeogeography and Late Neogene Palaeoclimate of Sardinia (Italy)

Weathering Products of a Dismantled Variscan Basement. Minero-Chemical Proxies to Insight on Cretaceous Palaeogeography and Late Neogene Palaeoclimate of Sardinia (Italy)

Late Miocene remains from Venta del Moro (Iberian Peninsula) provide further insights on the dispersal of crocodiles across the late Miocene Tethys

Mapping the Late Miocene Pyrenean Forests of the La Cerdanya Basin, Spain

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