Tidal influence in redbeds: A palaeoenvironmental and biochronostratigraphic reconstruction of the Lower Tremp Formation (South-Central Pyrenees, Spain) around the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary

The Molí del Baró-1 site, a diverse fossil assemblage from the uppermost Maastrichtian of the southern Pyrenees (north-eastern Iberia)

“…Palaeontological and biostratigraphic data indicate a Maastrichtian age for the Cretaceous portion of the Tremp Formation ('grey' and 'lower red' units) in the Tremp Syncline (Riera et al, 2009 andreferences therein, Villalba-Breva andMartín-Closas, 2013;Díez-Canseco et al, 2014).…”

“…1C). The site occurs 70 m below the Tossal de la Doba limestones, and approximately 100 m below the Sant Salvador de Tol o and Suterranya limestones (Riera, 2010;Vila et al, 2012); the latter are dated as Paleocene Díez-Canseco et al, 2014).…”

“…Remains of other vertebrates, such as fish (Kriwet et al, 2007), amphibians and squamates (Blain et al, 2010;Blanco et al, this volume), turtles (Marmi et al, 2012a), crocodylomorphs (Blanco et al, 2014, in press;Pu ertolas Pascual et al, 2014, this volume) and pterosaurs are also found in the same beds. Foraminifera, molluscs and ostracods (Liebau, 1973) as well as charophytes and vascular plants Vicente i Castells, 2002) have provided interesting palaeoecological and biostratigraphical data (Villalba-Breva and Martín-Closas, 2013;Díez-Canseco et al, 2014;Vicente et al, 2015;Villalba-Breva et al, 2015).…”

Maastrichtian−basal Paleocene charophyte biozonation and its calibration to the Global Polarity Time Scale in the southern Pyrenees (Catalonia, Spain)

“…Without a more detailed study including comparison of the cathodoluminesce of the cements in the rock and within the foraminiferal tests it is difficult to determine whether the remaining foraminifera are the result of the reworking of older rocks or may reflect the landward transport of planktonic foraminifera from their marine habitat by nekroplanktonic dispersal. The recent results by Díez-Canseco et al (2014) in the Tremp basin would support the latter view. However, we adopted a cautious scenario for the planktonic foraminifera associated with charophytes, assuming that they can be only used to estimate a maximum age for rocks containing them, as Bralower et al (1998) andPirkenseer et al (2011) proposed for similar situations.…”

“…Recently, Díez-Canseco et al (2014) also report planktonic foraminifera in the Lower Red Unit of the neighbouring Tremp Basin. The sedimentological studies and the petrographical analyses carried out by these authors allow them to propose that fluvial channels of the Lower Red Unit were submitted to a strong tidal influence, allowing the entrance of marine foraminifera by necroplanktonic floatation in the fluvial floodplains.…”