Research paper
Integrative stratigraphy and climatic events of a new lower Paleogene reference section from the Betic Cordillera: Río Gor, Granada province, SE Spain
VICTORIANO PUJALTE
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Ap. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain. victoriano.pujalte@ehu.eus
Corresponding author
ESTIBALIZ APELLANIZ
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Ap. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain.
FERNANDO CABALLERO
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Ap. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain.
SIMONETTA MONECHI
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Via La Pira 4, I-50121 Firenze, Italy.
SILVIA ORTIZ
PetroStrat Ltd, Tan-y-Graig, Parc Caer Seion, Conwy,LL32 8FA, Wales, UK.
XABIER ORUE-ETXEBARRIA
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Ap. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain.
FRANCISCO J. RODRÍGUEZ-TOVAR
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, University of Granada, 18002 Granada, Spain.
BIRGER SCHMITZ
Division of Nuclear Physics, Department of Physics, University of Lund, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
ABSTRACT
Research interest in the early Paleogene was greatly enhanced after the recognition of several short-lived warming events in that period (hyperthermals), considered ancient analogues of the ongoing warming of the Earth climate. In the Caravaca and Alamedilla sections, the previously most studied lower Paleogene sections of the Subbetic Zone (Betic Cordillera), only the most prominent of these hyperthermals had been located, the so-called Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum. The Río Gor section, though less studied, is found to comprise a lower Paleogene succession that is more expanded and complete than Caravaca and Alamedilla; it contains record of the Early Late Paleocene and Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Events, and at least one additional Eocene hyperthermal, thus offering an excellent opportunity to study these climatic events in the Subbetic Zone. Study of the Río Gor section is still in progress, this paper summarizing the state-of-the art of ongoing research.
Key words: Early Paleogene, hyperthermals, ELPE, PETM, Río Gor, Subbetic Zone.
How to cite: Pujalte, V., Apellaniz, E., Caballero, F., Monechi, S., Ortiz, S., Orue-Etxebarria, X., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J. & Schmitz, B. 2017. Integrative stratigraphy and climatic events of a new lower Paleogene reference section from the Betic Cordillera: Río Gor, Granada province, SE Spain. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 32 (1), 185-206.
Received 3 November 2016, Accepted 10 March 2017, Published 30 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.7203/sjp.32.1.17039
