RT Journal Article
T1 Where humid and arid meet: Sedimentology of coastal siliciclastic successions deposited in apparently contrasting climates
A1 Campos Soto, Sonia
A1 Benito Moreno, María Isabel
A1 Mountney, Nigel P.
A1 Plink-Björklund, Piret
A1 Quijada, Isabel Emma
A1 Suárez González, Pablo
A1 Cobos, Alberto
AB Deciphering 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.
PB Blackwell Publishing Ltd
SN 0037-0746
YR 2022
FD 2022-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/71408
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/71408
LA eng
NO Campos‐Soto S, Benito MI, Mountney NP, Plink‐Björklund P, Quijada IE, Suarez‐Gonzalez P, Cobos A. Where humid and arid meet: Sedimentology of coastal siliciclastic successions deposited in apparently contrasting climates. Sedimentology 2022; 69: 975–1027. [DOI: 10.1111/sed.12958]
NO Research Group E04_20R FOCONTURUCM (910198)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
NO Gobierno de Aragón/FEDER
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO Unidad de Paleontología de Dinosaurios de Teruel
NO Instituto Aragonés de Fomento
NO Dinópolis
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025