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Title:
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The age of the"Grande Coupure" mammal turnover: New constraints from the Eocene Oligocene record of the Eastern Ebro Basin (NE Spain.)
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Author:
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Costa Gisbert, Elisenda; Garcés Crespo, Miguel; Sáez, Alberto; Cabrera, Lluís; López Blanco, Miguel
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Other authors:
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Universitat de Barcelona |
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Abstract:
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The Grande Coupure represents a major terrestrial faunal turnover recorded in Eurasia associated with the overall climate shift at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. During this event, a large number of European Eocene endemic mammals became extinct and new Asian immigrants appeared. The absolute age of the Grande Coupure, however, has remained controversial for decades. The Late Eocene-Oligocene continental record of the Eastern Ebro Basin (NE Spain) constitutes a unique opportunity to build a robust magnetostratigraphy- based chronostratigraphy which can contribute with independent age constraints for this important turnover. This study presents new magnetostratigraphic data of a 495-m-thick section (Moià-Santpedor) that ranges from 36.1 Ma to 33.3 Ma. The integration of the new results with previous litho- bio- and magnetostratigraphic records of the Ebro Basin yields accurate ages for the immediately pre- and post-Grand Coupure mammal fossil assemblages found in the study area, bracketing the Grande Coupure to an age embracing the Eocene-Oligocene transition, with a maximum allowable lag of 0.5 Myr with respect to this boundary. The shift to drier conditions that accompanied the global cooling at the Eocene-Oligocene transition probably determined the sedimentary trends in the Eastern Ebro Basin. The occurrence and expansion of an amalgamated-channel sandstone unit is interpreted as the forced response of the fluvial fan system to the transient retraction of the central-basin lake systems. The new results from the Ebro Basin allow us to revisit correlations for the controversial Eocene-Oligocene record of the Hampshire Basin (Isle of Wight, UK), and their implications for the calibration of the Mammal Palaeogene reference levels MP18 to MP21. |
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Subject(s):
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-Mamífers fòssils
-Eocè
-Oligocè
-Ebre, Depressió de l'
-Fossil mammals
-Eocene Epoch
-Oligocene
-Ebro River Watershed (Spain) |
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Rights:
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(c) Elsevier B.V., 2011
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Document type:
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Article
Article - Accepted version |
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Published by:
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Elsevier B.V.
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