Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:09:42.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jordi Agustı́ ,
Oriol Oms  and
Eduard Remacha
Jordi Agustı́
Affiliation:
Institut de Paleontologia ‘M. Crusafont’ (DB-Unidad Asociada CSIC), c/ Escola Industrial 23, Sabadell, 08201, Spain
Oriol Oms*
Affiliation:
Fac. Ciències, Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Spain
Eduard Remacha
Affiliation:
Fac. Ciències, Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Spain
*
1E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Keywords

PliocenePleistoceneclimate changemammal turnovercyclostratigraphy
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , November 2001 , pp. 411 - 418
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguirre, E, Arias, C, Bonadonna, F.P, Civis, J, Dabrio, C, Goy, J.L, López, N, Morales, J, Pérez-González, A, Porta, J.de, and Zazo, C Plio-Pleistocene transition in the Iberian Peninsula. XI Congress INQUA 3, (1982). Google Scholar
Agustı́, J A review of the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene Arvicolid evolution in Spain. Paludicola 2, (1998). 8 15.Google Scholar
Agustı́, J, and Moyà-Solà, S Mammalian dispersal events in the Spanish Pleistocene. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 153, (1992). 69 77.Google Scholar
Agustı́, J, Cabrera, L, Garcés, M, Krijgsman, W, Oms, O, and Parés, J.M A calibrated mammal scale for the Neogene of Western Europe. State of the Art. Earth Science Reviews 52, (2001). 247 260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alberdi, M, Arias, C, Bigazzi, G, Bonadonna, F.P, Leone, G, López, N, Michaux, J.N, Morales, J, Robles, F, and Soria, M.D Nuevo yacimiento de moluscos y vertebrados del Villafranquiense de la cuenca del Júcar (Albacete, España). Coll. “Le Villafranchien méditerranéen.” (1982). Google Scholar
Azzaroli, A, De Giuli, C, Ficcarelli, G, and Torre, D Late Pliocene to early mid-Pleistocene mammals in Eurasia: Faunal succession and dispersal events. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 66, (1988). 77 100.Google Scholar
Castillo, C, and Agustı́, J Early Pliocene rodents (Mammalia) from Asta Regia (Jerez basin, Southwestern Spain). Proceedings Koninklijke Nederladnse Akademie van Wetenschappen 99, (1996). 25 43.Google Scholar
Dupont, L, and Leroy, S Steps toward drier climatic conditions in northwestern Africa during the upper Pliocene. Vrba, E.S, Denton, G.H, and Partridge, T.C Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins. (1995). Yale Univ. Press, New Haven. 289 298.Google Scholar
Fernández, J, Viseras, C, and Soria, J Stratigraphic architecture of the Neogene basins in the central sectior of the Betic Cordillera (Spain): Tectonic control and base-level changes. Friend, P.F, and Dabrio, C Tertiary Basins of Spain: The Stratigraphic Record of Crustal Kinematics. (1996). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. 353 365.Google Scholar
Garcés, M, Agustı́, J, and Parés, J.M Late Pliocene continental magnetochronology from the Guadix-Baza Basin (Betic Ranges, Spain). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 146, (1997). 677 687.Google Scholar
Laskar, J The chaotic motion of the solar system: A numerical of the size of the chaotic zones. Icarus 88, (1990). 266 291.Google Scholar
Lindsay, E, Opdyke, N.D, and Johnson, N.M Pliocene dispersal of the horse Equus and late Cenozoic mammalian dispersal events. Nature 287, (1980). 135 138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mein, P. (1975). Report on activity RCMNS—Working groups (1971–1975). 78–81. Bratislava.Google Scholar
Oms, O, Dinarès-Turell, J, Agustı́, J, and Parés, J.M Refining the European mammalian biochronology: Magnetic polarity record of the Plio-Pleistocene Zújar section (Guadix-Baza Basin, SE Spain). Quaternary Research 51, (1999). 94 103.Google Scholar
Opdyke, N, Lindsay, E, Johnson, G.D, Johnson, N, Tahirkheli, R.A.K, and Mirza, M.A Magnetic polarity stratigraphy and vertebrate paleontology of the Upper Siwalik subgroup of Northern Pakistan. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 27, (1979). 1 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opdyke, N, Mein, P, Lindsay, E, Perez-González, A, Moissenet, E, and Norton, V.L Continental deposits, magnetostratigraphy and vertebrate paleontology, late Neogene of eastern Spain. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 133, (1997). 129 148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, J.F, and Goldhammer, R.K Use of Fischer plots to define third-order sea-level curves in Ordovician peritidal cyclic carbonates, Appalachians. Geology 16, (1988). 895 899.Google Scholar
Sanz de Galdeano, C, and Vera, J.A Stratigraphic record and palaeogeographical context of the neogene basins in the Betic Cordillera, Spain. Basin Research 4, (1992). 21 36.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J New data on the evolution of Pliocene climatic variability. Vrba, E.S, Denton, G.H, and Partridge, T.C Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on human origins. (1995). Yale Univ. Press, New Haven. 24 45.Google Scholar
Sierro, F.J, Ledesma, S, Flores, J.A, Torrescusa, S, and Martı́nez del Olmo, W Sonic and gamma-ray astrochronology: Cycle to cycle calibration of Atlantic climatic records to Mediterranean sapropels and astronomical oscillations. Geology 28, (2000). 695 698.Google Scholar
Suc, J.P, Diniz, F, Leroy, S, Poumont, C, Bertini, A, Dupont, L, Clet, M, Bessais, E, Zheng, Z, Fauquette, S, and Ferrier, J Zanclean (Brunssumian) to early Piazencian (early-middle Reuverian) climate from 4° to 54° north latitude (West Africa, West Europe and West mediterranean areas). Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst 52, (1995). 43 56.Google Scholar
Vera, J.A Estudio estratigráfico de la depresión de Guadix-Baza. Boletin Geológico Minero España 84, (1970). 429 462.Google Scholar
Viseras, C Estratigrafia y sedimentologia del relleno aluvial de la cuenca de Guadix (Cordilleras Béticas). (1991). Universdad de Granada, Google Scholar
Viseras, C., Fernández, J., and Garcı́a, F. (1998). Alluvial stratigraphic architecture related to base level changes (Guadix Basin, Betic Cordillera). 15th IAS International sedimentological Congress Field Trip Guidebook Meléndez, A. and Soria, A. R. Eds., Excursion B7, pp. 317–354. Alicante 12–17 April.Google Scholar
Zagwin, W.H The beginning of the Ice Age in Europe and its major divisions. Quaternary Science Review 11, (1992). 583 591.Google Scholar