Depositional sequences and ammonoid assemblages in the upper Cenomanian-lower Santonian of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal)

  1. Segura Redondo, Manuel
  2. Barroso Barcenilla, Fernando
  3. Callapez, Pedro M.
  4. García-Hidalgo Pallarés, José F.
  5. Gil Gil, Javier
Zeitschrift:
Geologica acta: an international earth science journal

ISSN: 1695-6133

Datum der Publikation: 2014

Ausgabe: 12

Nummer: 1

Seiten: 19-27

Art: Artikel

Andere Publikationen in: Geologica acta: an international earth science journal

Zusammenfassung

A clear relationship exists between eustatic sea-level rises and falls recorded as cyclical depositional sequences and ammonite faunas during the Cenomanian-Santonian in the Iberian and West Portuguese basins. Most of the faunal turnovers correlate with stratigraphic intervals related to marine transgressions, maximum flooding of the shelf (locally associated to anoxic events), and marine regressions. Specifically, within each depositional sequence, three distinct and identical events of morphological change occur, involving ammonoids belonging to different groups. Transgressive sediments are characterized by moderately ornamented, inflated and evolute morphologies, which are replaced by smooth, involute and compressed oxycones (the most hydrodynamic shells) during maximum flooding (and to a lesser extent at the early highstand) of the sequences. The latter morphologies in turn are replaced by coarsely ornamented and evolute shells during late highstands. We conclude that ammonoid faunal analysis can be used to trace sea-level changes and provides an additional tool for sequence stratigraphy.