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Institut Català de Paleontologia C/ Escola Industrial, 23, E-08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
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- PublicationRestrictedIntegrated stratigraphy from the Vallcebre Basin (southeastern Pyrenees, Spain): new insights on the continental Cretaceous-Tertiary transition in southwest Europe(2007)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;Oms, O.; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Ciències (Geologia), E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ;Dinarès-Turell, J.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia ;Vicens, S.; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Ciències (Geologia), E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ;Estrada, R.; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Facultat de Ciències (Geologia), E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ;Vila, B.; Institut Català de Paleontologia C/ Escola Industrial, 23, E-08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain ;Galobart, À.; Institut Català de Paleontologia C/ Escola Industrial, 23, E-08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain ;Bravo, A. M.; Unidad de Paleontología, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain; ; ; ; ; ; An integrated sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic, and paleontological study of the Vallcebre section (south eastern Pyrenees, Spain) is carried out in order to define and portray the transition from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary in a continental setting. A robust magnetostratigraphy is correlated to the standard polarity scale in light of known biochronological constraints (charophyte, marine invertebrates, eggshells and other dinosaur remains). Our results show that this section is among the thickest stratigraphic records for the continental Maastrichtian in the Old World. Sedimentology indicates a progressive regression from marine through lagoonal to entirely continental environments. The section is dominated by mudstones deposited under low energy conditions. Exceptionally, a basin-wide regression maximum is recorded some time before the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary (K/T). This regression maximum is marked by the input of coarse-grained (alluvial) sediments that record a dramatic change in the landscape (quiet mud plains changed to sandy floodplains deposited by high-energy currents). After a period of renewed quiescence following the regression maximum, a Cenozoic flooding took place. Such terminal Cretaceous sequence of events has been recorded in shorter sections in several other basins from southwestern Europe. This energetic sediment input suggests that some time before the K/T event, a sudden paleoenvironmental reorganization took place in the continental basins of south western Europe.143 24 - PublicationOpen AccessChronostratigraphic synthesis of the latest Cretaceous dinosaur turnover in south-western Europe(2019)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ;In south-western Europe, the uppermost Cretaceous continental deposits in the different sedimentary basins of Iberia (Portugal and north and central Spain), the Pyrenees (Spain and France) as well as Languedoc and Provence (southern France) provide one of the few terrestrial records that allow a comprehensive study of the Campanian-Maastrichtian dinosaur assemblages. For the last years the southern Pyrenees has been the target of intense geological, palaeontological and geochronological research. Hundreds of fossil localities are now framed in high-resolution lithological sections. The succession of these sites, most of them located in the Tremp Syncline, is based on the physical correlation of rock bodies, as permitted by the general outcropping conditions. Outside this syncline, correlation is supported by geochronologic and biostratigraphic data (mainly magnetostratigraphy and planktic foraminifera biostratigraphy). The integration of the entire dataset sheds new light on the Maastrichtian dinosaur turnover, characterized by a shift from a sauropod-dominated to a hadrosauroid-dominated faunal assemblage. This turnover was progressive and involved immigrants from North America, Eurasia and Gondwana, which probably reached the study area after a sea level drop. This faunal change was mainly triggered by the arrival of lambeosaurine hadrosauroids, a group that rapidly displaced the rest of the herbivorous clades of the region. Some of the extinction events suffered by the “pre-turnover” faunas during the Maastrichtian coincide with marine isotopic and sea-level drop events, suggesting that faunal competition was not the only cause of the observed changes in dinosaur composition. Despite this faunal replacement, the resulting ecosystem after the turnover shows no major loss of biodiversity before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.160 288 - PublicationRestrictedGeology and taphonomy of the L'Espinau dinosaur bonebed, a singular lagoonal site from the Maastrichtian of South-Central Pyrenees(2017-04-05)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;; ; ; ; ; ;The L'Espinau site is a dinosaur bonebed fromthe Upper Cretaceous of the South-Central Pyrenees (north-eastern Spain) that have provided hundreds of bone remains attributed to hadrosauroids, together with a rich assemblage of herpetofauna, fish and microflora. Magnetostratigraphy calibrated the site with the early late Maastrichtian, and the combined sedimentology, stable isotope geochemistry and palaeoecology revealed that this fossil site formed in a lagoon, in which a mixed freshwater-brackish palaeoenvironment was developed. This setting displays a south-north charophyte zonation from freshwater (Clavator brachycerus-dominated assemblage) to brackish or eurihaline conditions (Feistiella malladae-dominated assemblage), revealing a palaeoenvironment change towards the coast. Sedimentology and taphonomy (bidirectional arrangement of long bones, abrasion and disarticulation) indicate that the L'Espinau site is the result of a cohesive mass flow event originated very close to the sea. This process entrained and mixed fauna from both the terrestrial and the brackish/marine environment of a lagoon. An increasing of the water runoff (e.g. by intense rainfall) reworking poorly consolidated sediments is considered here as the most probable triggering mechanism. Mass flow-hosted bonebeds are commonly linked to fluvial palaeoenvironments, so our study case is a rare example of bones accumulating near the sea. This study adds evidence that hadrosauroids inhabited littoral environments during the Maastrichtian in the southern Pyrenean area.96 9 - PublicationRestrictedThe diversity of sauropod dinosaurs and their first taxonomic succession from the latest Cretaceous of southwestern Europe: Clues to demise and extinction(2012-09-15)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;Vila, B.; Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain ;Galobart, À.; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Carrer Escola Industrial, 23, 08201 Sabadell, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain ;Canudo, J. I.; Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain ;Le Loeuff, J.; Musée des Dinosaures, 11260 Espéraza, France ;Dinarès-Turell, J.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia ;Riera, V.; Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain ;Oms, O.; Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain ;Tortosa, T.; Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle d'Aix-en-Provence, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France ;Gaete, R.; Museu de la Conca Dellà, C/ del Museu 4, 25650 Isona i Conca Dellà, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Southwestern Europe is a key setting to evaluate the diversity of non-avian dinosaurs before the end of the Cretaceous (below the K–Pg boundary). The ancient Ibero-Armorican Island, encompassing the current regions of North-East Iberia and South France, provides a substantial record of sauropod fossils. The study of multiple sauropod femora from localities where upper Campanian to uppermost Maastrichtian successions are both exposed, together with the integration of the information gathered from previously known localities has allowed the biodiversity of sauropods to be reassessed within a precise and clear chronostratigraphic framework. From the studied sample several titanosaur forms have been distinguished including a gracile and small-sized titanosaur (Lirainosaurus astibiae), a robust medium-sized titanosaur (Ampelosaurus atacis), a gracile medium-sized titanosaur (Atsinganosaurus velauciensis), and five other indeterminate but distinct titanosaurs, which span the late Campanian through the entire Maastrichtian. The youngest of these occurs in the uppermost part of palaeomagnetic chron C30n in the latest Maastrichtian (~0.4–1 Ma before the K–Pg boundary), representing the youngest sauropod yet documented in Eurasia. The pattern of diversity on the Ibero-Armorican Island rules out a decline in sauropod diversity at the very end of the Cretaceous. As with other regions during the late Cretaceous, the abundance and quality of the sauropod fossil record is probably influenced by multiple biases (sampling, ecological, and environmental).299 28