Chapter C5 BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND
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Miocene Stratigraphy: An Integrated Approach A. Montanari, C.S. Odin and R. Coccioni, eds. © 1997. Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved. Chapter C5 BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND GEOCHRONOLOGY OF A MIOCENE CONTINENTAL VOLCANICLASTIC LAYER FROM THE EBRO BASIN, SPAIN G.S. Odin, G. Cuenca Bescos, 1.1. Canudo, M. Cosca and M. Lago INTRODUCTION The Tertiary Ebro Basin in Spain is a large continental basin filled with Miocene fluvial to lacustrine sediments. In the Lanaja-Pefialba area (Zaragoza Province) a volcaniclastic layer has been found in 1989 within these Miocene sediments. The biostratigraphic age has been characterized using Charophyta and micromammals. This makes this material promising for correlation of continental and marine biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic scales. This study reports new findings related to the presence of this unique volcaniclastic layer in five sections. A new biostratigraphic mammal site immediately overlying the layer has also been investigated. LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY Geology and sediments The study area is located in the Ebro Basin (Aragon Province) in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Fig. 1). This basin is limited by the Pyrenean Range to the north and the Iberian Range to the south. The nearest continental basin is the well-known Catalayud-Teruel Basin in the Iberian Range. The triangular Ebro Basin is one of the largest continental Cenozoic basins of western Europe, extending over nearly 45,000 krn2 and containing sediments of Middle Eocene to Quaternary age. The infilling is asymmetrical, with the northern part locally reaching a thickness of 5 krn. Overthrusted marine Mesozoic and Palaeocene nappes cover the area. In the southern part, the continental sediments unconformably overlap the margin of the basin; in the central part, the sediments are well-exposed and nearly horizontal (Riba et aI., 1983). Extensively studied by the Spanish geologists, the Ebro Basin has generated a number of unit names partly depending on the methodological approach. The unit containing the studied layer has been named: (1) as a lithologic unit: Formacion Sarifiena-Calizas de Pefialba (Quirantes, 1978); (2) a facies unit: Huesca fluvial system (Hirst, 1989); (3) a sequential analysis unit: Sistema Deposicional de los Monegros (Cabrera, 1983); (4) a tectonosedimentary unit: Nl (Arenas and Pardo, 1991); and (5) a genetic sedimentary unit: Unidad de Zuera (Hernandez et aI., 1991). The deposits of the Huesca fluvial system and the Formacion Sarifiena consist of geometrically distinct channel sandstone 298 G.s. Odin et al. i N pRANCE ....... -, '\,'.'---. ~-~-) .. .. .. , .....,' ' .. -~ Barcelona ,===~ __..;.100' Fig. I. Schematic map of the lithological facies of the Tertiary Ebro Basin (after Riba et aI., 1983, modified). 1 = Pefialba, 2 = Sigena, 3 = Lanaja, 4 = EI Tejar, 5 = Tardienta. bodies enclosed within fine-grained floodplain deposits. Flow was mainly through a network of well defined channels within which a bulk of the sandy bedload material was deposited (Hirst, 1989). The Calizas de Pefialba and Sistema Deposicional de los Monegros were deposited mainly in lake to lake-margin environments. Lacustrine sediments predominated in the centre of the Oligocene-Miocene Ebro Basin. The volcaniclastic layer The volcaniclastic layer studied in this work extends over nearly 100 km. From northwest to southeast, the layer has been observed in five sites at Tardienta, Lanaja, E1 Tejar, Pefialba, and Sigena (Fig. 2). The first report of volcanogenic sediments in the Ebro Basin is recent (Hirst, 1989). This author interpreted a horizon at Tardienta as a volcanic ash layer. The layer consists of a lower white, sanidine-rich sandstone, about 2 cm thick, and overlain by about 10 cm of pure smectite clay. The clay is pinkish with a soapy texture. Canudo et al. (1993) first reported the ash layer as a 45 km wide more or less continuous horizon in the Lanaja-Pefialba area. The wide distribution, independent of the facies, is a good criterion for truly aerial transportation of the volcanic material. The layer displays two levels of different colour. The base is characterized by a lithological change between fine-grained sedimentary material below: clay in Lanaja or limestone in Pefialba and white volcaniclastic material above for the lower level. The colour of the upper level varies from red in Lanaja to green in Pefialba. The thickness generally varies between 0.15 m to the northwest and 0.30 m to the southeast. The white level is present alone in Sigena but absent in El Tejar. Biostratigraphy and geochronology of a Miocene continental volcaniclastic layer 299 0: C- 00 00 00 >- C- c- ~ ~ J: oj o: g; oc " "- "'"t: ~ '" ~ ~ " <t ;) LA NAJA . ~ ;;-::t "ii cr: '" PENALBA '" SIGENA ,;; TARDIENTA V) >00 N NC- Z o- OIQ ~ ~ EL TEJAR ,,00 ~- "0 ~ Uj "~ " ~ ;;~ E 6i= ~ 5 <t :c'" :E ;:] cr:<t CI '" ;:a ~ J:cr: E & ~~ '" ut; J:" O:E ° 3 z W-l ~ 0<t .....l v)z Z co -<W-l ~ t:lQ ....l- « <tV) ex: u ETARD , A ITA/0 o<t <t -z cr: UW-l L.LI W-l <t·z ::> :E- Z N cr:cr: L.LI W-l o<t U 0 CLV) 2b Q z <t z co ~ 0 ....l ~ 0 <t Z ex: <t ·z em L.LI L.LI W-l :E "- d" ECUR 0 ;3: cr: W-l 0 0 EMON fg5I Limestone « CL 0 .....l V) Y2 <t l~A--,,--1 Gypsum N :i <t 8 Shale U ,f Mammal locality lliJ Fine sandstone 29;1 Ash volcanic EFOY Sandstone EISA ~ Silex Nodules UJ Marl - YI 2a .. SE--- NW_ Fig. 2. Lithologic succession in five sections from the Ebro Basin where a volcaniclastic layer has been observed. BIOSTRATIGRAPHY Biozonation with mammals Miocene continental biostratigraphy is primarily based on the evolution of mammals. Limits of large units (continental stages) are traditionally marked with large mammals, and smaller units (biozones) commonly use micromammals. For instance, the Aragonian unit (of stage or superstage ranking) was originally identified as the interval between the first appearance of the horse Anchiterium below and the first appearance of the horse Hipparion above (Daams et aI., 1977). The unit was formally established and characterized for sediments and mammals in the Catalayud-Teruel Basin; it comprises two land mammal stages: Orleanian and Astaracian which would cover MN zones 3 to 8 of Mein (1989). The approximate marine equivalent would be Early (pp) and Middle Miocene (Table 1). Subsequent work (Daams and Freudenthal, 1981, 1989) improved the biostratigraphy but revealed that the base of the Aragonian unit (first appearance of Anchiterium) could not be identified confidently in the type area and the event could not serve as a marker horizon in absence of the key fossil. Daams et al. (1987) redefined the base of 300 C.S. Odin et al. Table I Schematic relation between continental and marine subdivisions (partly after Mein, 1989, and Steininger et aI., 1989) OLIGOCENE AQUITAN. BURDIGALIAN LANGH. SERRA V ALLIAN AGENIAN I ORLEANIAN I ASTARACIAN 2a I 2b I 3 I 4 I 5 6 7 8 Y2 Z A B C 0 E F G "AGENIAN pp" RAMBLIAN ARAGONIAN (2)• (1)• (1) initially presumed location of the dated layer; (2) newly established location according to the fauna discovered in the section at Tardienta. the Aragonian in correspondence with the first appearance of modem cricetid rodents and created the Ramblian regional stage for strata underlying the Aragonian ones. This revision places the 'biozone A' of their previous study (Daams and Freudenthal, 1981) in the Ramblian. They also define the base of their Ramblian stage in correspondence with extinction of the Rhodanomys-Ritteneria group of eomyd rodents. However, this level is not concretely represented in the type area of the Ramblian (Calamocha-Navarrete del Rio in the Catalayud-Teruel Basin). Daams et aI. (1987) identified two local biozones in the Ramblian stage: (1) zone Z would be characterized by the presence of cricetids and large number of glirids (Rodentia); and (2) zone A would show the predominance of the Eomyidae (an extinct family of rodents) with genera Ligerimys and Pseudotheridomys. However, the zonal limit is difficult to identify both in the Catalayud-Teruel and the Ebro basins (Hernandez et aI., 1987; Cuenca et aI., 1993). The distribution of the significant taxa is shown in Fig. 3. Biostratigraphic location of the volcaniclastic layers Our first study of the ash layer (Canudo et aI., 1993) used the information available from Hernandez et aI. (1991) who located the corresponding beds within the Zuera Formation accepted to be Aragonian in age. According to Hernandez et aI. (1991) the Zuera Formation is stratigraphically above the Calizas de Pefialba unit which contains a diagnostic 'pre-Ramblian' fauna including the eomyd Ritteneria (Cuenca et aI., 1989). However, following our recent studies, the Calizas de Pefialba unit appears to be at the very bottom of the Zuera unit. In addition, the age of the ash has been documented with a newly discovered fauna in the Tardienta section (Fig. 2) and this new fauna is pre-Aragonian. The fauna comes from a fluvial silt bed overlaying the ash bed in Tardienta. The age is considered Ramblian based on (1) the presence of the glirids Peridyromys murinus and P. turbatus, Pseudodryomys ibericus and Quercomys daamsi, and the lagomorph Prolagus aff. vasconiensis fortis, and (2) the absence of Ritteneria and cricetids. The 302 C.S. Odin et al. glirids are the most abundant mammal group in the locality. They are usually considered poor for correlation (Alvarez-Sierra et aI. , 1990; Daams, 1990). Nevertheless, because other small mammals are scarce in the Ebro Basin (Cuenca et aI., 1993), glirids are used in this study. Quercomys daamsi represents a more primitive morphological stage compared to Ramblian representatives such as Quercomys parsani; this would suggest a pre-Ram blian age. The Tardienta fauna is almost identical to the close San Juan and La Galocha (1, 2, 3) faunas (Alvarez-Sierra et aI., 1990).