Person: Benito Moreno, María Isabel
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First Name
María Isabel
Last Name
Benito Moreno
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Geológicas
Department
Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología
Area
Estratigrafía
Identifiers
12 results
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
Item Influencia del Keuper y de la estructuración tardivarisca en la arquitectura de las unidades sin-extensionales del borde norte de la Cuenca de Cameros(Geotemas, 2016) Suárez González, Pablo; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Mas Mayoral, José Ramón; Quijada, Isabel Emma; Campos Soto, SoniaEste trabajo aporta nuevos datos cartográficos y sedimentológicos para aclarar la controvertida evolución tectónica extensional de la Cuenca de Cameros (N de España). La geometría actual del borde norte de la cuenca representa la continuación de lineaciones tardivariscas NO-SE y SO-NE reconocidas en la Cuenca Vasco-Cantábrica, a lo largo de las cuales se produjo una importante tectónica salina sin-extensional. En la zona de estudio, la distribución irregular de los depósitos plásticos del Keuper es interpretada aquí como debida a una movilización sin-extensional. De este modo, la estructuración tardivarisca del basamento y las movilizaciones de Keuper, asociadas a ella, permiten explicar la arquitectura y distribución de las unidades sin-extensionales del relleno de la cuenca.Item Ice-rafted dropstones at midlatitudes in the Cretaceous of continental Iberia: Comment(Geology, 2024) Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Quijada, Isabel Emma; García Martín, Martín; Pertuz Dominguez, Alejandro; Suárez González, Pablo; Torices Hernández, Angélica; Campos Soto, SoniaItem Revisión cartográfica y estratigráfica del Jurásico Superior-Cretácico Inferior de Villel (Teruel)(Geogaceta, 2018) Pacios, David; Campos Soto, Sonia; Suárez González, Pablo; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Cobos, Alberto; Caus, EsmeraldaEste trabajo presenta nuevos datos cartográficos y estratigráficos del área de Villel (Teruel) y en él se identifican, describen y datan por primera vez unidades de edad mesozoica y cenozoica, incluyendo algunas del Jurásico Superior-Cretácico Inferior. Además, el estudio detallado de los depósitos de la Fm. Villar del Arzobispo, ricos en fósiles de dinosaurios en zonas cercanas, muestra que esta unidad ocupa un área mayor que la descrita previamente en el área de estudio y que se depositó en medios costeros y marinos someros.Item Constraints of applying strontium isotope stratigraphy in coastal and shallow marine environments: insights from Lower Cretaceous carbonates deposited in an active tectonic setting (N Iberian Basin, Spain)(Journal of Iberian Geology, 2020) Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Suárez González, Pablo; Campos Soto, Sonia; Rodríguez Martínez, MartaThe Lower Cretaceous Leza Formation is an essentially carbonate unit deposited at the northernmost active margin of the Cameros Basin (N Spain) under an extensional tectonic regime. This unit is composed of freshwater, marine-influenced, marginal-marine and hypersaline marine carbonate facies, interbedded with variable amounts of alluvial deposits, mainly derived from the erosion of the Jurassic substrate. 87Sr/86Sr, δ18O and δ13C analyses were obtained from carbonate facies of the Eastern and Western sectors of the basin. δ18O values follow the expected trend in both sectors: they are more negative (down to − 7.9‰) in freshwater carbonates and more positive (up to + 2.8‰) in marginal-marine to hypersaline facies. However, independently of the seawater or freshwater influence, in the Western Sector the 87Sr/86Sr values (0.707373–0.707801) are significantly lower and closer to the published Lower Cretaceous seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratios, than those of the Eastern Sector (0.707988–0.709033), where the overall marine influence was relatively high and the alluvial input low. These data strongly suggest that 87Sr/86Sr ratios were mainly controlled by those of the riverine freshwater arriving to the coastal and marine areas after the weathering and erosion of the Jurassic carbonates or siliciclastic rocks, in the Western and Eastern sectors, respectively. Thus, data indicate that, in coastal and shallow marine carbonates, the influence of the riverine water on the 87Sr/86Sr ratios should be systematically evaluated. This is particularly necessary in active tectonic settings, where the uplifted areas are significantly prone to weathering and erosion and where alluvial fan systems commonly developed, eventually discharging into coastal and shallow marine areas.Item ‘Trapping and binding’: A review of the factors controlling the development of fossil agglutinated microbialites and their distribution in space and time(Earth-Science Reviews, 2019) Suárez González, Pablo; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Quijada, Isabel Emma; Mas Mayoral, José Ramón; Campos Soto, SoniaTrapping and binding of allochthonous grains by benthic microbial communities has been considered a fundamental process of microbialite accretion since its discovery in popular shallow-marine modern examples (Bahamas and Shark Bay). However, agglutinated textures are rare in fossil microbialites and, thus, the role of trapping and binding has been debated in the last four decades. Recently, renewed attention on this subject has produced new findings of fossil agglutinated microbialites (those mainly formed by ‘trapping and binding’ and analogous to modern examples), but they are still few and geologically recent (mainly post-Paleozoic) when compared to the 3.5 Gyr long record of microbialites. In order to better understand this discrepancy between modern and fossil examples, an extensive literature review is presented here, providing the first thorough database of agglutinated microbialites, which shows that all of them are formed in shallow-marine environments and most under tidal influence. In addition, a Lower Cretaceous example is described, including very diverse microbialites, each of them formed in a particular paleoenvironment. Some of these microbialites developed in grainy settings, but only those formed in marginal-marine tide-influenced environments accreted mainly by trapping and binding the surrounding grains, being analogous of modern agglutinated microbialites, and matching the environmental pattern observed in the literature database. The combination of the literature review with the case study allows to discuss the factors that control and enhance ‘trapping and binding’: a) occurrence of grains in the microbialite environment; b) frequent currents that mobilize the grains and supply them onto the microbialite surface; c) high concentration and diversity of electrolytes in the water to increase the adhesiveness of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of the microbialite surface; and d) a CaCO3 saturation state not high enough to promote early and strong carbonate precipitation within EPS, which would eventually decrease its availability to adhere grains. Therefore, this review shows that the keys to solve the ‘trapping and binding’ debate may be environmental, because the conjuction of these hydrodynamic and hydrochemical parameters is preferentially achieved in shallow-marine settings and especially in those influenced by tides, at least since Mesozoic times. This explains the limited environmental and stratigraphic distribution of microbialites mainly formed by ‘trapping and binding’, and opens new ways to look, geologically and microbiologically, at this process, so often cited and yet so rare.Item Registro de una transgresión marina en torno al tránsito Jurásico-Cretácico al oeste de la sub-cuenca de Penyagolosa (Teruel)(Geotemas, 2016) Campos Soto, Sonia; Caus Gracia, Esmeralda; Bucur, I.I.; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Suárez González, Pablo; Quijada, Isabel Emma; Fernández, L; Mas Mayoral, José RamónLa Fm. Villar del Arzobispo es una unidad mixta siliciclástico-carbonática que es considerada como la unidad que representa la culminación de la tendencia regresiva del Jurásico terminal-Cretácico basal en la parte suroriental de la Cuenca Ibérica. En el oeste de la sub-cuenca de Penyagolosa (Cuenca del Maestrazgo) esta unidad está formada, en su parte inferior, por una alternancia de carbonatos marinos, areniscas y lutitas y, en la parte media y superior, por lutitas y areniscas, principalmente, que alternan con calizas que se van haciendo progresivamente más abundantes hacia el techo de la unidad. Estas calizas son peloidales, bioclásticas y oolíticas y contienen abundantes fósiles marinos. La presencia de estas facies marinas demuestra la existencia de un periodo transgresivo durante la sedimentación de la parte superior de la unidad. El estudio micropaleontológico ha revelado la presencia de una asociación de foraminíferos dominada por Anchispirocyclina lusitanica y del alga dasycladal Zergabriella embergeri, que indican que el episodio transgresivo tuvo lugar durante el intervalo Titoniense superior-¿Berriasiense inferior?Item Challenges to carbonate-evaporite peritidal facies models and cycles: Insights from Lower Cretaceous stromatolite-bearing deposits (Oncala Group, N Spain)(Sedimentary Geology, 2020) Quijada, I. Emma; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Suárez González, Pablo; Rodríguez Martínez, Marta; Campos Soto, SoniaPeritidal carbonate-evaporite successions, since they are developed in the transition between continental and marine realms, provide essential keys for palaeobathymetric and palaeoclimatic interpretations. As a result, several facies models have been proposed to assist on the interpretation of ancient tidal flat deposits, and peritidal successions have been extensively used for cyclicity analyses. In this study, well-exposed, Lower Cretaceous peritidal deposits (Oncala Group, Cameros Basin, N Spain) are analysed and compared with the most commonly-used present-day analogues (from Shark Bay, the Arabian Gulf and the Bahamas) and with ancient peritidal successions, providing their palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic interpretation, assessing the usefulness and limitations of the facies models, and evaluating the suitability of these deposits for analysis of decimetre to metre-scale cycles. The studied peritidal deposits consist of thinly-bedded to laminated dolostones, dolomitic stromatolites, stromatolite breccias, flat-pebble and edgewise breccias, and calcite and quartz pseudomorphs after anhydrite nodules. Abundant resemblances of the peritidal deposits of the Oncala Group with those of Shark Bay, including that they are largely composed of microbialites and intraclasts, makes the peritidal deposits of the Oncala Group one of the best fossil analogues of this present-day setting. However, the presence of anhydrite nodules indicates pervasive evaporite precipitation in the supratidal zone, which is a feature that does not occur in supratidal flats of Shark Bay, but is characteristic of arid sabkhas of the Arabian Gulf. Nevertheless, the fact that carbonate-evaporite tidal flats of the Oncala Group were laterally related with siliciclastic tidal flats with large freshwater input and broadly inhabited by dinosaurs, suggests that anhydrites precipitated under less arid climates than those of the Arabian Gulf nowadays, pointing to semiarid climatic conditions during deposition. Moreover, the fact that peritidal deposits with anhydrite nodules were exclusively formed in a low-subsidence area of the Cameros Basin suggests that the rate of accommodation space creation also played an important role in their development. Regarding the comparison with other fossil peritidal sediments, the studied deposits show more abundant similarities with Proterozoic and Cambrian successions, composed mainly of stromatolites, microbial laminites, and intraclasts, than with other Mesozoic peritidal deposits, in which bioclasts and burrowing are usually more abundant. This highlights the difficulties for assigning specific features to certain geological ages. Finally, peritidal facies of the Oncala Group may change laterally and vertically to any other facies, showing a patchy lateral distribution of facies and an unsystematic vertical stacking pattern. The sedimentary features of the stromatolite, breccia and thinly-bedded to laminated dolostone facies do not allow their assignment to a unique tidal zone. Moreover, sedimentary features indicative of subaerial exposure, such as anhydrite nodules formed in the capillary zone, occur within any of the carbonate facies and show limited lateral extent. This results in a succession that cannot be clearly subdivided into subsequent shallowing-upward cycles not even by using erosive surfaces or the anhydrite nodule layers as marker horizons of the upper part of the cycles, because their limited lateral extent prevents reliable correlations. Similar composite lateral and vertical facies relationships have been documented both in the present-day analogues and in ancient successions, which suggests that this kind of facies relationships may be common in peritidal successions and highlights the caution that must be taken when trying to perform cyclicity analysis on them.Item Where humid and arid meet: Sedimentology of coastal siliciclastic successions deposited in apparently contrasting climates(Sedimentology, 2022) Campos Soto, Sonia; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Mountney, Nigel P.; Plink-Björklund, Piret; Quijada, Isabel Emma; Suárez González, Pablo; Cobos, AlbertoDeciphering the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic setting of ancient successions that include deposits typical of different climates can be challenging. This is the case in the Late Jurassic succession cropping out in eastern Spain (South-Iberian and western Maestrazgo basins), where deposits characteristic of both arid to semiarid and humid to subhumid settings have been identified through a detailed analysis of eight stratigraphic sections. These sections comprise shallow marine carbonates changing upward and laterally to a predominantly siliciclastic coastal and alluvial succession, including abundant dinosaur remains. Deposition of coastal and alluvial sediments occurred in flood plains, ephemeral and perennial fluvial channels, aeolian dunes, deltas, distributary mouth-bars and associated distributary channels, and shallow water bodies influenced by both fresh and marine waters. Some of these deposits, notably those of aeolian and ephemeral fluvial origin, are characteristic of arid to semiarid climates. However, there are also abundant deposits that can be demonstrably shown to have a coeval origin, which are indicative of permanent water courses: (i) sediments of seasonal discharge fluvial channels with perennial to semi-perennial flow, displaying subcritical and supercritical flow sedimentary structures; (ii) deltaic sediments deposited in permanent freshwater bodies; and (iii) abundant plant and dinosaur remains, especially of herbivorous dinosaurs, which required the presence of permanent water sources and abundant vegetation. These apparently contrasting sedimentary features indicate that deposition occurred under a seasonal climate controlled by monsoonal-type precipitation. These deposits are analogous to those observed nowadays in the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (north-east Brazil), where a subhumid tropical climate with a seasonal precipitation pattern prevails. Thus, this study shows that only through careful facies analysis and interpretation of depositional processes that can be shown to be occurring concurrently in neighbouring and related depositional systems can the detailed palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic setting of complex coastal sedimentary successions be confidently reconstructed in detail.Item Revisiting the age and palaeoenvironments of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous? dinosaur-bearing sedimentary record of eastern Spain: implications for Iberian palaeogeography(Journal of Iberian Geology, 2019) Campos Soto, Sonia; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Cobos, Alberto; Caus, Esmeralda; Quijada, I. Emma; Suárez González, Pablo; Mas Mayoral, José Ramón; Royo Torres, Rafael; Alcalá, LuisAn integrated stratigraphic, palaeontological, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical study of the traditionally considered Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing sedimentary record (DSR) of eastern Spain is accomplished for the first time. Several areas where dinosaur fossils are abundant (western Maestrazgo and South-Iberian basins) have been studied in detail. In all the areas, the DSR comprises a carbonate-dominated lower part (CLP), and an essentially siliciclastic upper part (SUP). Deposition occurred in a shallow-very shallow marine carbonate platform, laterally connected towards the N and W to coastal and alluvial environments. The overall upwards evolution is regressive with a transgresive episode at the uppermost part. The DSR includes deposits previously assigned, depending on the studied area, from the Kimmeridgian to the Barremian (locally even to the Aptian–Albian). However, ages obtained in this work from larger benthic foraminifera (LBF), demonstrate a Kimmeridgian–Tithonian age (locally Kimmeridgian-Early Berriasian?) for the DSR. These findings have important implications regarding the age of dinosaur fossils of these deposits, traditionally assigned to the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition, or even to the Early Cretaceous, erroneously, and have necessitated a deep litho- and chronostratigraphic revision of the units previously established in the studied areas: new data indicate that the DSR is correlatable with deposits of the Villar del Arzobispo Fm and that the usage of the Aldea de Cortés and El Collado Fms, traditionally assigned to the Early Cretaceous, should be avoided. New data also reveal that the DSR should be correlated with other Kimmeridgian–Tithonian dinosaur-bearing deposits of Iberia, such as those of the Cameros Basin, Asturias and Portugal, and have encouraged a revision of the Iberian palaeogeography at that time. In fact, ages obtained from LBF agree with data provided by the systematics of dinosaurs, since dinosaur faunas of eastern Spain are similar to those of the other Late Jurassic Iberian areas, especially to those of the Lusitanian Basin.Item Jurassic Coastal Park: A great diversity of palaeoenvironments for the dinosaurs of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Teruel, eastern Spain)(Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2017) Campos Soto, Sonia; Cobos, Alberto; Caus, Esmeralda; Benito Moreno, María Isabel; Fernández Labrador, Laura; Suarez González, Pablo; Quijada, I. Emma; Mas, Ramón; Royo Torres, Rafael; Alcalá, AlcaláThe Villar del Arzobispo Formation, cropping out in the western Peñagolosa sub-basin (Late Jurassic, eastern Spain), includes abundant dinosaur tracksites and bones, which occur in diverse mixed siliciclastic and carbonate facies deposited from shallow marine to coastal and alluvial paleoenvironments. The lower part of the unit, mainly composed of bioclastic and oolitic limestone, was deposited in an inner carbonate platform, which underwent episodic subaerial exposure and siliciclastic inputs from the emergent areas, and includes scarce dinosaur tracks. This environment evolved into a siliciclastic coastal and alluvial plain that was crossed by channels and affected by periodic flooding events, producing the deposition of splay lobes. Upward, the siliciclastic coastal and alluvial deposits are interbedded with inter- to supratidal limestone beds. These tidal and coastal deposits show the highest abundance, diversity and best preservation of dinosaur tracks and bones of the unit. This setting gradually evolved upward into an inner carbonate platform, producing the deposition of shallow marine bioclastic and oolitic limestone, which includes very scarce dinosaur tracks. The highest abundance, diversity and best preservation of theropod, sauropod, thyreophoran and ornithopod tracks occur at the top of tidal carbonate beds. Tracks also occur in the siliciclastic coastal and alluvial plain deposits, especially in the flood plain deposits, preserved, mainly, as infillings or natural casts. Additionally, very scarce and poorly-preserved tracks occur at the top of shallow marine carbonate beds. Bones may be rticulated and/or associated in the flood plain deposits, whereas they are isolated and dispersed in the splay lobe deposits. Although this unit has been previously assigned to the Tithonian-Berriasian, the analysis of larger benthic foraminifera suggests a Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age for the Villar del Arzobispo Formation. This is consistent with the dinosaur assemblages present in the unit, which are strongly related to other European Late Jurassic faunas.