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El Barrancazo: a new locality of possible semi-aquatic turtle tracks from the Upper Triassic of Cortes de Pallás (Eastern Iberia)

El Barrancazo: un nuevo yacimiento de icnitas de tortugas semiacuáticas del Triásico superior de Cortes de Pallás (Este de Iberia)

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Abstract

This work describes the new vertebrate tracksite named El Barrancazo, located in Cortes de Pallás (Eastern Iberia). This new site turns this area into the one that concentrates the largest number of vertebrate footprints from the Upper Triassic of Iberia. The footprints are presented as natural casts distributed in isolated blocks belonging to the Manuel Formation (K2, Keuper facies), deposited during the Carnian Pluvial Episode (Late Triassic). The blocks come from two beds of the same outcrop. The tracks are made up of sub-parallel digital impressions, displaying occasional curved traces, often without forming a complete outline, and showing a set of features such as lateral and posterior overhangs, longitudinal striations or digital reflectures, among others. These features, taken together with the sedimentological analysis carried out, suggest that animals moving in totally or partially buoyant conditions in a fluvial environment produced most of these tracks. The size and morphology of these paleoichnological impressions suggest that they were probably produced, in some cases, by turtles, adding to the understanding of the paleoenvironmental and paleofaunistic conditions of the Late Triassic of Iberia during the Carnian, a key period in the evolution of different groups of continental vertebrates. In this paper we show the comparative study of the three sites described to date in Cortes de Pallás and an analysis of the interplay of trackmaker organism, animal behavior and substrate in the resulting morphology of tracks made under subaqueous conditions.

Resumen

En este trabajo se presenta el nuevo yacimiento del Barrancazo, situado en Cortes de Pallás (Este de Iberia). Con este hallazgo esta área se convierte en la que concentra el mayor número de icnitas de vertebrados del Triásico superior en Iberia. Las huellas aparecen como moldes distribuidos en varios bloques aislados que proceden de la Formación Manuel (K2, facies Keuper), depositada durante el Evento Húmedo del Carniense (Triásico superior). Los bloques proceden de dos capas del mismo afloramiento. Las huellas consisten en impresiones digitales subparalelas, en ocasiones curvas y sin mostrar, a menudo, un contorno cerrado. Contienen, entre otros, rasgos como flexuras digitales, proyecciones laterales y posteriores y estrías longitudinales. Estos rasgos, junto con el análisis sedimentológico realizado, sugieren que las huellas fueron producidas por animales que se desplazaban en un medio fluvial en condiciones de flotación parcial o total. El tamaño y morfología sugieren que probablemente corresponden, al menos en algunos casos, con tortugas, lo que contribuye al conocimiento de las condiciones paleoambientales y paleofaunísticas del Triásico superior de Iberia durante el Carniense, un momento clave para la evolución de diferentes grupos de vertebrados continentales. En este trabajo presentamos un estudio comparativo de los tres yacimientos descritos hasta la fecha en Cortes de Pallás junto con un análisis de la interacción entre organismo productor, comportamiento y sustrato en la morfología resultante de las huellas generadas en condiciones subacuáticas.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Inés Navarro for her assistance during fieldwork. We are also grateful to José López-Gómez and an anonymous reviewer, whose suggestions have greatly improved the manuscript. This study is partially part of the Project PID-2019-105546GB-I00 of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

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  1. Penó de la Conquesta, 10, 46920, Mislata, Valencia, Spain

    O. Navarro

  2. Departamento de Geología y Subsuelo, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME-CSIC), Ríos Rosas, 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    J. J. Moratalla

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Supplementary file1 Online resource 1 Annotated sketches of El Barrancazo traces showing the code assigned to the studied specimens (PDF 1901 KB)

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Navarro, O., Moratalla, J.J. El Barrancazo: a new locality of possible semi-aquatic turtle tracks from the Upper Triassic of Cortes de Pallás (Eastern Iberia). J Iber Geol 49, 169–188 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-023-00212-y

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