Selected Larger Benthic Foraminifera (LBF) from the Middle and Late Cretaceous Global Community Maturation Cycles in Two Adjoini
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The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en 1 Selected Larger Benthic Foraminifera (LBF) from the Middle and Late Cretaceous Global Community Maturation Cycles in two adjoining Palaeobioprovinces: Pyrenees and Tethys Lorenzo Consorti PhD Thesis 2017 Facultat de Ciències Departament de Geologia Unitat de Paleontologia The achievement of the present memoir is by Lorenzo Consorti in order to apply for the degree of Doctor in Geology by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament de Geologia. The work has been entirely performed under the tutelage of Dr. Esmeralda Caus (Full Professor, Departament de Geologia, UAB) Dr. Esmeralda Caus Lorenzo Consorti Thesis founded by: - 4-years pre-doc studentship from the X call PIF Department 2013 by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. - Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) who founded this research within the frame of the Projects CGL2012-33160 and CGL2015-69805-P. - “Convocatoria d’ajuts per a estades de curta durada a l’estranger per a l’any 2016 pels becaris de les convocatories PIF UAB” from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Obra social ‘La Caixa’, who founded internship at Department of Geology, University of Western Australia (Perth, Australia) Vidi ego, quod fuerant quondam solidissima tellum Esse fretum, vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul at pelago conchae iacere marinae I saw what was once firm land Become the sea, I have seen earth made from the waters: So far from the sea and sea shells there lying Metamorphosis, XV, 262. Publio Ovidio Nasone (Sulmona, 43 B.C. - Tomi, act. Constantza, 18 A.C.) In memory of my grandmother...... TABLE OF CONTENTS Ackowledgements i Abstract/Resumen/Sommario v Goals and Structure of the dissertation xi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Larger Benthic Foraminifera 1 1.2 Global Community Maturation Cycles 4 1.3 Larger Benthic Foraminifera palaeobioprovinces 6 1.4 Late Cretaceous shallow-water environments 9 Chapter 2 STUDY AREAS 2.1 Pyrenees (Spain) 16 2.2 Iberian Ranges (Spain) 14 2.3 Central Apennines and Southeastern Italy 16 2.4 Zagros Mountains (Iran) 20 Chapter 3 MATERIAL AND METHODS 23 Chapter 4 CONSTRAINS FOR THE MIDDLE CRETACEOUS GCMC 4.1 Overview 27 4.2 Article 1: Praetaberina new genus (Type species: Taberina bingistani Henson, 1948): a stratigraphic marker for the Late Cenomanian 28 4.3 Article 2: Pseudophapydionininae of the Iberian Ranges 41 Chapter 5 ADDING NEW DATA TO THE LATE CRETACEOUS GCMC 5.1 Overview 55 5.2 Article 1: Pseudorhapydionina bilottei n. sp., an endemic foraminifera from the post Cenomanian/Turonian boundary (Pyrenees, NE Spain) 57 5.3 Article 2: Rotaloidean foraminifera from the Upper Cretaceous carbonates of Central and Southern Italy and their chronostratigraphic age 66 5.4 Article 3: New rotaliids (benthic foraminifera) from the Late Cretaceous of the Pyrenees 85 Chapter 6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 6.1 Middle Cretaceous Global Community Maturation Cycle 107 6.2 Late Cretaceous Global Community Maturation Cycle 109 Chapter 7 CONCLUSION 113 Chapter 8 REFERENCES 115 Acknowledgment First I would like to thank Prof. Esmeralda Caus not just for supervising me, but for allowing me the opportunity to enter in the amazing world of Foraminifera studies, advising me in every single step of this PhD work where I’ve always had proper attention and details over the big picture, both inside and outside the academic environment. Thanks to Prof. J. Pons, R. Martinez and E. Vicens from the Unitat de Paleontologia for advices, help and making me feel more than like at home during these last five years. Special thanks to my foram team Raquel, Maru, Erzika and Sergi and the rudist boys Luis and Gerard; without them my PhD years would have definitely been less interesting and funny. There are several people I would like to thank for their invaluable help and experience: Prof. Amelia Calonge for receiving me several times in Alcalá, Prof. Gianluca Frijia for sharing the field trip in Puglia and the many discussions, Prof. Mariano Parente to take us several times in southern Italian Cretaceous outcrops, Dr. Vicent Vicedo for limitless advices on taxonomy of Larger Benthic Foraminifera and the many field trip undertaken together, Dr. Raquel Villalon- ga, Dr. Carme Boix and Dr. Matteo Di Lucia for the support during the study of Pyrenean and Italian foraminifera, Dr. Pio di Manna for teaching details on the geology of the Lepini Mounts, Dr. Antonino Briguglio for advices on foraminifera nomenclature and funny moments at EGU in Vienna. Special thanks goes to my friend and colleague Dr. Luca Giovanni Cardello, his passion for geology and his permanent availability has been crucial in many moments: we will see around again mate! Prof. Maurizio Chiocchini is thanked for sharing his experience on Mesozoic foraminifera from Central Italy and Dr. Maria Rita Pichezzi (ISPRA) for her kind assistance and discussions. Many thanks to Prof. David Haig for his time during my visiting in Perth and for the numerous ‘private’ lessons on the Western Australian geology, recent foraminifera from the WA shelves and for reviewing the English language of the present memory. I am in debt with the UAB thin sections technicians Luis Gordón and Marc Puigvert for their continue availability and kindness. Thanks to Dr. Mohsen Yazdi-Moghadam from NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) and Dr. Ian Sharp from Statoil s.p.a. for allowing the study of several Iranian samples. i Much of the work in this thesis would not have been possible without the opportunity to travel and undertake field works with funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Com- petitiveness (project CGL2012-33160 and CGL2015-69805-P), from the program “Ayuda a la Investigacion de la Sociedad Espanola de Paleontologia” and from the program ‘estades a l’estranger’ of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Surely I will never forget my years in Rome: Prof. Johannes Pignatti, Umberto Nicosia and Maria Alessandra Conti from the university ‘La Sapienza’ are warmly thanked for undertake my (and that of all my companions) preparation in palaeontology as their main mission. Ange- lo, Francy, Ferz, Giulia, Peppe, Piero, Igor, Stefy and all the others from Rome... thanks again for the great time! During my visiting in Perth I’ve been host by Marco and Irene.... I am very grateful for these moments with you guys, many thanks!! There are many friends I really would like to mention here because we spend wonderful and unforgettable moments together in Barcelona: Aldo (also my cousin) Annalaura, Daniela, Fa- bio, Gisella, Karlita, Luis, Marlies, Stefano. Special gratitude goes to my palaeo-friends Mattia, Borja and Dr. Novella Razzolini which have accompanied me along these years as source of deep inspiration.... you are the future my dears! Last but not means the least thanks to Pamela and my family for their encouragement, love, support, expertise, enthusiasm advice and for always being at my side through some tough times. ii iii iv Abstract Architectural and taxonomic study of selected larger benthic Foraminifera from the Upper Cre- taceous of the Tethyan and Pyrenean paleobioprovinces is presented within a context of Middle and Late Cretaceous Global Community Maturation Cycles. Descriptions and determinations of the stratigraphic distributions of some new and revised taxa provide further data in reconstruc- ting evolutionary trends among the larger benthic Foraminifera before and after the Cenoma- nian-Turonian boundary (CTB) extinction. This thesis includes five research papers presenting new data and reviewing existing knowledge from widespread localities (Spain, Italy and Iran). New perspectives are presented on soritoidean palaeobiogeography throughout the carbonate shelves and platforms of Tethyan Ocean during the peak of the Middle Cretaeous GCMC as well as a revision of Praetaberina (ex “Taberina” bingistani) from Southern Italy and Iran. The revision of Praetaberina and chemostratigraphy of the host strata show that the distribution of this genus is limited to the Upper Cenomanian where two species are described from the Apulian Platform and Zagros Mountains respectively. The report of Iberian soritoideans has been crucial in defining their stratigraphic distribution in a area that has been little studied. New data defining the recovery and the evolution of the foraminiferal communities after the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary extinction has enriched knowledge of the Late Cretaceous GCMC of the Pyrenean and Tethyan paleobioprovinces. The new rotaloideans described from these areas have been stratigraphically anchored by means of Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy indicating that two communities evolved separately in each palaeobioprovince. Diversification of these communities started at least during the late Turonian, but the exact timing remains unresolved. Finally the occurrence of the genus Pseudorhapydionina in the Santonian of the Pyerenean palaeobioprovince indicates that this genus was not affected by the