Middle Triassic conodonts from northeastern Spain: biostratigraphic implications

Abstract

The facies development of the Spanish Triassic corresponds to the typical three-fold subdivision of the Germanic Facies: Buntsandstein, Muschelkalk and Keuper. Two intervals interpreted as epeiric carbonate platforms: lower Muschelkalk (Anisian) and upper Muschelkalk (Ladinian) are recognized during the Middle Triassic of northeastern Spain. These carbonate intervals are separated by one siliciclastic/evaporitic interval interpreted as sabbkha and saline deposits: middle Muschelkalk facies (Lower Ladinian). In northeastern Spain (Catalonian Coastal Ranges), two Middle Triassic sections comprising lower Muschelkalk facies have yielded the following conodont taxa: Paragondolella bulgarica, P. hanbulogi, P. bifurcata, Neogondolella constricta, N. cornuta, N. excentrica and N. basisymmetrica. The conodont sequence allows recognition of the P. bulgarica and N. constricta zones. These results indicate a middle–upper Pelsonian to upper Illyrian age (middle–upper Anisian), and represent the first conodont-chronostratigraphic approximation for the lower Muschelkalk facies of the western part of the Sephardic Province of the Triassic Tethys Realm.