Javier Ferrer

A new uppermost Albian flora from Teruel province, northeastern Spain

ABSTRACT This paper reports a new Early Cretaceous flora discovered recently near the village of Estercuel (Teruel province, northeastern Spain). The plant bearing beds belong to the uppermost part of the Early Cretaceous succession, at the top of the fluvial deposits of the Utrillas Formation. The site has yielded a diverse assemblage of plant compressions including lycopods and ferns, various gymnosperms as well as terrestrial and aquatic angiosperms. Leaves of aquatic lycopods (Isoetites sp.) constitute a minor component of the palaeobotanical assemblage. Filicales are not very common, with Dicksoniales (Onychiopsis sp.) and a few specimens of Cladophlebis type fronds. The gymnosperms are represented by fragmented remains of long parallel veined Desmiophyllum leaves as well as a great abundance of conifer axis corresponding to the form-genus Pagiophyllum and female cones. Terrestrial angiosperms include pinnately lobed leaves of the genus Myricompia, simple leaves with spatulate lamina and some petiolate leaves both corresponding to angiosperms of uncertain affinity. Aquatic angiosperms consist of Nelumbo-like floral receptacles (Nelumbonaceae, Proteales) and Aquatifolia cf. fluitans (Nympheales). The palynological assemblage is dominated by pollen of gymnosperms (mainly Taxodiaceaepollenites hiatus, Classopollis major and Araucariacites australis). It also includes many angiosperm grains (Afropollis jardinus, Clavatipollenites spp., Dichastopollenites spp., Liliacidites doylei, Monosulcites chaloneri, Penetetrapites mollis, Pennipollis spp., Phimopollenites augathellaensis, Retimonocolpites textus, Rousea spp., Senectotetradites varireticulatus, Stellatopollis barghoornii, Striatopollis spp., Transitoripollis sp. cf. T. similis, Tricolpites spp., Tricolporoidites sp.) and records the first occurrence of tricolporate forms in the uppermost part of the Utrillas Formation. Both macroflora and microflora assemblages present taxa similar to those of the uppermost Albian Shaftesbury Formation in northwestern Alberta in Canada, the uppermost Albian Denton Shale Member of Bokchito Formation in southern Oklahoma, the lower part of the Upper Albian Dakota Formation from the mid-west of North America, and Subzone II C of the Potomac Group, eastern United States. Both macro- and microflora assemblages display boreal influence with some similar taxa to those of the Upper Albian Kome Formation in western Greenland and some taxa as Afropollis jardinus and Stellatopollis barghoornii more frequently found in the tethyan and gondwanan realms. A gondwanan affinity is also indicated by the presence of Klitzschophyllites leaves.

Klitzschophyllites, Aquatic Basal Eudicots (Ranunculales?) from the Upper Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Northeastern Spain

Klitzschophyllites choffatii (Saporta sensu Teixeira) emend. is reported from the upper Albian of the Utrillas Formation at the Plou locality, Teruel Province, northeastern Spain. The species shows obovate microphylls; dense, flabellate primary and secondary veins interconnected by fine, reticulate tertiary veins and intersecting with an intramarginal vein; and small glands in sinuses between triangular teeth. It exhibits more affinities with basal eudicots (especially some Ranunculales) than with monocots. Sedimentological and taphonomic evidence, along with morphofunctional features, supports a freshwater hydrophytic habit for K. choffatii.

Palynological studies of the boundary marls unit (Albian-Cenomanian) from northeastern Spain. Paleophytogeographical implications

ABSTRACT Detailed records of spore-pollen assemblages from four sites located in the Aliaga and Oliete Sub-basins provide new insights into the palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic settings during the Albian-Cenomanian transition in the Maestrazgo Basin (northeastern Spain). Palynological taxa such as Afropollis jardinus Doyle, Jardiné & Doerenkamp, 1982, Elaterosporites klaszii (Jardiné & Magloire) Jardiné, 1967, Equisetosporites ambiguus (Hedlund 1966) Singh, 1983, Gabonisporis pseudoreticulatus Boltenhagen, 1967, Senectotetradites varireticulatus Dettmann, 1973, Stellatopollis barghoornii Doyle, 1975, and the dinoflagellate cyst Cyclonephelium chabaca Below, 1981 indicate a latest Albian age for this unit. Abundance of Gondwanan elements such as Afropollis Doyle, Jardiné & Doerenkamp, 1982, Elaterosporites Jardiné, 1967 and Stellatopollis Doyle, 1975 indicates a northward extension of the paleogeographic distributions of those taxa during this time. Comparison between the studied microflora of the Iberian Range and microfloras from Tethyan and Gondwanan realms allows better understanding of the Tethyan paleogeographic setting.

Les flores du bassin lacustre de Rubielos de Mora. Nouvelles données sur les conditions climatiques au Miocène inférieur dans la région de Teruel (Espagne)

Abstract The stratigraphie and floristic studies of two sections in the lacustrine deposits of the Miocene basin of Rubielos de Mora increase our knowledge of palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions and specify the biochronology of these sites. The lowlands are inhabited by a swampy, or lacustrine, vegetation ( Botryococcus, Sparganium, Potamogeton , Taxodiaceae, Myrica, Nyssa… ), whereas the uplands are covered by a Zelkova mesophilous forest with other temperate elements ( Acer, Betula, Carya… ). The scarcity of thermophilous taxa in this vegetation indicates that the climatic conditions were not the warmest in the Miocene. The rodents faunas of this basin suggest a Ramblian-basal Aragonian age (Lower Miocene).

Singular taphonomic record of a wildfire event from middle Albian deposits of Escucha Formation in northeastern of Spain

A fossil plant assemblage composed of a great amount of macro, meso and microscopical charcoalifed remains occur in a single layer in Albian deposits of the Escucha Formation in northeastern Spain. This assemblage consists fundamentally of fragments of pinnae and pinnules corresponding to the Matoniaceous ferns Weichselia reticulata and Phlebopteris dunkeri also with some gymnosperm wood remains. The features of both the fossil plants and the deposit itself indicate accurate paleoenvironmental conditions related to the action of wildfires over the vegetation growing in freshwater swamp plains during Albian in Southwestern Eurasia.

A new species of Protaxodioxylon (Cupressaceae s.l.) from the late Albian of the Aragonian branch of the Iberian Range (Spain). Palaeoclimatic implications

ABSTRACT In this paper we describe fragments of silicified wood specimens found in “EI Barranquillo” outcrop (Castellote, Teruel, Spain) in the Aragonese branch of the Iberian Range. This new species without any growth ring and with mixed radial pitting could represent an ancestral form of the modern Sequoioideae subfamily. This anatomical study, in association with an observation of the lithological facies, the position and the preservation of the fossil woods, evidences a subtropical climate with abundant precipitation and without seasonal contrasts, during the deposition of the Utrillas Formation.

New reconstruction of Weichselia reticulata (Stokes et Webb) Fontaine in Ward emend. Alvin, 1971 based on fertile remains from the middle Albian of Spain

Exceptionally well-preserved specimens from the middle Albian of Spain corresponding to a nearly complete fertile frond and fragments of pinnae containing soral clusters of the tree fern Weichselia reticulata have provided new data about the structure and arrangement of pinnae and their associated fertile reproductive structure. This new material has been compared with the previous studies, and recostructions of this fern and the new data indicate the segregation of vegetative and fertile fronds within the main stipe of this fern.

Acrostichum, a Pioneering Fern of Floodplain Areas from the Late Oligocene Sariñena Formation of the Iberian Peninsula

Acrostichum is considered today an opportunistic fern in disturbed areas, which indicates the first stages of colonisation of such zones. However, in the fossil record, Acrostichum appears related to fluvio-lacustrine environments, freshwater marshes and mangrove deposits. We report here for first time fossil evidence of Acrostichum that reveals a pioneering behaviour of this fern in the colonisation of perturbed communities in Europe, which corroborates previous assumptions about the paleobiology of Acrostichum. Plant remains were collected from the Chattian (late Oligocene) La Val fossil site (Estadilla, Huesca, northeastern Spain) belonging to the Sariñena Formation, which mainly embraces crevasse splays, levees and floodplain deposits. Evidence shows that Acrostichum grew within the levee’s vegetal community or close to/on the river banks as well as on floodplain areas and closer to/on the shores of ephemeral ponds. But most importantly, the observed co-existence of Equisetum and Acrostichum remains in the same beds indicates that such strata represent short-lived inundated terrains, e.g., floodplains where the water table was temporarily stagnant. Evidence shows wetland environments dominated by pioneering taxa, implying a pioneering role for Acrostichum during the late Oligocene in the Iberian Peninsula.

First macroflora data from La Val (Late Oligocene/Early Miocene), Estadilla (Huesca, Spain)

This paper reports a previously unknown leaf-flora from the Upper Oligocene/Lower Miocene of the Ebro Basin, NE Spain, a period with a relatively poor vascular-plant fossil record in Southern Europe. The presence of Acrostichum sp. is also important. This fern is extremely significant from the point of view of palaeoecology and the depositional environment. The macroflora appears to yield sufficient morphological characteristics to be identified at genus level, and sometimes at species level, although cuticles are not preserved. This article presents the first data obtained from the new outcrop at La Val; the following families have been identified: Pteridaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Equisetaceae, Pinaceae, Lauraceae, Hamamelidaceae, Betulaceae, Myricaceae and Salicaceae. The fossil plant assemblage is correlated with the Cadibona floristic complex (Mai, Tertiäre Vegetationsgeschichte Europas. Methoden und Ergebnisse, Gustav Fischer, Jena, 691 pp., 1995) and suggests a subtropical-to-warm temperate climate, rainy and wet, with a short dry season. The age of the assemblage is Late Oligocene/Early Miocene.

Palynostratigraphic Data for the Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk Facies from the Iberian Ranges (Spain)

This work presents results of a compilation of all published palynological data as well as other unpublished data, on the basis of which a unified palynological biozonation is proposed for the Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk facies from the Iberian Ranges (Spain).