Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Pliocene fan-delta system of the Vera Basin (SE Spain): Fossil assemblages, ichnology and taphonomy

Abstract

The marine fossil assemblages of the Pliocene of south Spain constitute the record of the marine fauna that colonised the western part of the Mediterranean after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This work focuses on the analysis of lithofacies and fossil assemblages including trace fossils, invertebrates, and vertebrates with special attention to taphonomic features, for interpreting palaeoenvironmental conditions in the Vera Basin (SE Spain). The sedimentary sequences of the northern region of the Vera Basin display diverse stratigraphical, sedimentological, and palaeontological features that correspond to the evolution of a fan-delta in a narrow basin. The Vera Basin was characterised by shallow-marine shelf conditions during the early-mid Pliocene (Cuevas Formation). The basin emergence with the development of Gilbert-type fan deltas (Vera Member), and a protected, partially-enclosed marine embayment (Almanzora Member) occurred during the mid-late Pliocene due to regional uplift and movements of the Palomares strike-slip Fault along the eastern basin margin. The progradation of the central fan-delta lobes and the interaction with marginal fan-delta resulted in the partitioning of the basin that formed a small sub-basin with restricted stagnant conditions that favoured a Konservat Fossil-Lagerstätte. The high input of siliciclasts due to the uplift context of the margins of the basin favoured a high sedimentation rate and the fast burial of vertebrate remains. Fossil marine mammals occurs from shallow shelf deposits (Cuevas Formation) to bottomset (Cuevas Formation-Vera Member transition) and lower part of the clinoforms in the foreset (Vera Member). Cetacean remains are usually recorded not only in the relatively deep-water silty marls and sandy marls of the outer shelf and distal facies of the fan-delta (Espiritu Santo Formation), but also in the shallower coarse sands and conglomerates (Cuevas Formation and Espiritu Santo Formation). Sirenian remains, in contrast, are only recorded in coarse sand facies (Cuevas Formation and Espiritu Santo Formation) associated to charcoal wood fragments deposited in shallow waters near the shoreline. This narrow and relatively protected basin is interpreted as an area of reproduction and nursery of juveniles on the basis of the presence of cetaceans.