The Tetrapod Fossil Record from the Uppermost Maastrichtian of the Ibero-Armorican Island : an Integrative Review Based on the Outcrops of the Western Tremp Syncline (Aragón, Huesca Province, NE Spain)
Pérez Pueyo, Manuel (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Moreno-Azanza, Miguel (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Vila, Bernat (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Castanera, Diego (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Gasca, José M. (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Puértolas Pascual, Eduardo (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Bádenas, Beatriz (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Canudo, José Ignacio (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	The South-Pyrenean Basin (northeastern Spain) has yielded a rich and diverse record of Upper Cretaceous (uppermost Campanian−uppermost Maastrichtian) vertebrate fossils, including the remains of some of the last European dinosaurs prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. In this work, we update and characterize the vertebrate fossil record of the Arén Sandstone and Tremp formations in the Western Tremp Syncline, which is located in the Aragonese area of the Southern Pyrenees. The transitional and continental successions of these sedimentary units are dated to the late Maastrichtian, and exploration of their outcrops has led to the discovery of numerous fossil remains (bones, eggshells, and tracks) of dinosaurs, including hadrosauroids, sauropods, and theropods, along with other tetrapods such as crocodylomorphs, testudines, pterosaurs, squamates, and amphibians. In particular, this fossil record contains some of the youngest lambeosaurine hadrosaurids (Arenysaurus and Blasisaurus) and Mesozoic crocodylomorphs (Arenysuchus and Agaresuchus subjuniperus) in Europe, complementing the lower Maastrichtian fossil sites of the Eastern Tremp Syncline. In addition, faunal comparison with the fossil record of Hațeg island reveals the great change in the dinosaur assemblages resulting from the arrival of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids on the Ibero-Armorican island, whereas those on Haţeg remained stable. In the light of its paleontological richness, its stratigraphic continuity, and its calibration within the last few hundred thousand years of the Cretaceous, the Western Tremp Syncline is one of the best places in Europe to study the latest vertebrate assemblages of the European Archipelago before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Grants:	Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU16/03064 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca BP2017-00195 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1666
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Late Maastrichtian ; Western Tremp Syncline ; Southern Pyrenees ; Tetrapods ; Ibero-Armorican island
Published in:	Geosciences, Vol. 11, Issue 4 (April 2021) , art. 162, ISSN 2076-3263

DOI: 10.3390/geosciences11040162

37 p, 16.8 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles