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Upper Cretaceous paleogeography of the Central Southern Pyrenean Basins (Catalonia, Spain) from microfacies analysis and charophyte biostratigraphy

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Abstract

The most extensive latest Cretaceous deposits of the Pyrenees are non-marine facies traditionally called “Garumnian”, which represent the first continentalization of the Pyrenean Foreland Basins. The age and paleogeography of the basal Garumnian facies in the different parts of the Pyrenean Basin has been a matter of debate. Charophyte biostratigraphy and microfacies analysis suggest that the continentalization was diachronous in the Central Southern Pyrenean basins, i.e., between the Àger and Tremp basins, and the emersion progressed from south to north. In the Àger Basin, to the south, the first Upper Cretaceous non-marine rocks are represented by the La Maçana Formation. This unit is mainly formed by freshwater lacustrine limestones organized into hundreds of shallowing-upwards sequences ranging from deeper lacustrine facies, through marginal, well-illuminated environments dominated by characean meadows, and finishing with lakeshores dominated by clavatoracean meadows. The charophyte assemblage from the La Maçana Fm is mainly formed by Peckichara cancellata, P. sertulata, Microchara cristata, M. parazensis, Platychara caudata, and Clavator brachycerus, which belong to the Peckichara cancellata charophyte biozone (Late Campanian). In contrast, in the Tremp Basin, located to the north, the beginning of the non-marine sedimentation is organized into a few cycles of the well-known La Posa Fm. These cycles begin with brackish deposits formed by thick marls with euryhaline molluscs at the base, followed by lignite and brackish to freshwater limestones. The brackish facies are dominated by porocharaceans. The charophyte assemblage of the La Posa Formation is formed by Feistiella malladae, Peckichara sertulata, Microchara cristata, and Clavator brachycerus, which belong to the Septorella ultima charophyte biozone (Early Maastrichtian).

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Acknowledgments

This study is a contribution to project CGL2011-27869, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. SV-B received a grant from the Commission for Universities and Research of the Government of Catalonia and from the European Social Fund. We thank Monique Feist (Université des Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, Montpellier-II) for her assistance in species determination. The English text was corrected by R. Rycroft (Serveis Lingüístics, Universitat de Barcelona). We acknowledge the contribution of Ingeborg Soulié-Märsche (Univ. of Montpellier-II) and Oriol Oms (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) in improving the original manuscript during the peer-review process.

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  1. Departament d’Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

    S. Villalba-Breva & C. Martín-Closas

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Villalba-Breva, S., Martín-Closas, C. Upper Cretaceous paleogeography of the Central Southern Pyrenean Basins (Catalonia, Spain) from microfacies analysis and charophyte biostratigraphy. Facies 59, 319–345 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-012-0317-1

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