Iberian Plio-Pleistocene biochronology: micromammalian evidence for MNs and ELMAs calibration in southwestern Europe

Abstract

A multivariate biochronological analysis of the Plio-Pleistocene Iberian rodent fossil record is presented. Among more than 300 fossil sites, 49 sites have been selected. The ordination of the fossil sites selected from the Iberian Peninsula has been achieved by the appearance event ordination method. After calibration of this ordination with geochronological dates at some of the localities, numerical dates are proposed for all the localities studied. Hence, mammal fossil sites non-datable by other means (palaeomagnetism, radiometric dating, etc.) have been dated with a relatively high degree of confidence. Final results allow dating of boundaries between the Plio-Pleistocene European Land Mammal Ages (ELMAS) or the Mammal Neogene (MN) units. These boundaries agree with previous studies using magnetostratigraphical calibration of these scales.