Charophytes from the Upper Cretaceous Castilian marine ramp and continental basins (central northern Spain): Fossil assemblages and depositional environments

Abstract

The Upper Cretaceous sedimentary series of the Castilian marine ramp and continental basins (central northern Spain) have yielded numerous charophyte bearing sites which extend within the middle Cenomanian to upper Maastrichtian succession. The purpose of the paper is both to list the recognized charophyte taxa and to describe the sedimentary sequences in which the charophytes were found in order to reconstruct their depositional environments. The charophyte flora comprises 2 families, 15 genera and 28 species, including 3 new taxa: Lamprothamnium elongatum, Lamprothamnium ovoideum, Pseudoharrisichara sedanoensis. Among 27 charophyte bearing sites, 22 were formed during episodes of emersion and terrestrial conditions that interrupted the marine succession of the Castilian ramp, and 5 are from restricted Castilian continental basins that developed from the Campanian–Maastrichtian boundary onwards. The Campanian–Maastrichtian fossiliferous sites allow elucidating floristic and biostratigraphic correlations with the charophyte floras from Catalonia and from the Serrania de Cuenca.