El Jurásico Medio de la Cuenca Catalana: unidades litoestratigráficas y elementos paleogeográficos.

Abstract

The palaeogeography and facies distribution of the Catalan Basin during the Middle Jurassic are reconstructed, on the basis of outcrops and logs data. A new lithostratigraphic classification valid for the Catalan Basin is defined and its equivalence with the correlative units in the lberian Basin and Majorca is discussed. A system of arched, listric-shaped faults dipping towards the Mediterranean sea was a major factor determining the differentiation of the subsident Platform of Tortosa. From a palaeobiogeographical point of view, the ammonite and brachiopod recorded associations from the Platform of Tortosa are taxonornically similar to the associations of the epicontinental European basins. The Catalan Basin and Majorca were two geographically separate areas, maintaining separate biogeographical and taphonomic dispersal ways in the Middle Jurassic. Yet in the Catalan Basin expanded, outer shelf sections were developed during the Garantiana Biochron (Upper Bajocian). During this episode the basin reached the maximum bathymetric values and acted as a biogeographical dispersal area for some taxonomic groups characteristic of the West-Tethys.