Puerto de la Cadena (Pliocene of Spain)

Also known as Barranco del Cigarrón, Autovía

Where: Murcia, Spain (37.9° N, 1.2° W: paleocoordinates 38.0° N, 1.5° W)

• coordinate stated in text

When: CI-10 Member (Cigarron Formation), Early/Lower Pliocene (5.3 - 3.6 Ma)

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; medium-grained, coarse, conglomeratic sandstone

• the Puerto de la Cadena, microfossils are concentrated in vegetated areas of the floodplain
• The Cigarrón Unit at the Puerto de la Cadena site is represented by a sand and lutite alternating succession (Fig. 2). The sandy facies association is characterized by coarse sediments (mainly sands, but also microconglomerates and conglomerates), that are mainly organized in sets of trough and planar cross-stratification. These sets have a thickness of between a few centimeters and a meter, and most of them have an erosive base that exhibits a basal lag with intraformational mud clasts, fragmentary bones and plant fossil remains. They fine upwards, with frequent reactivation surfaces.

•The macrovertebrate fossil remains are mainly located in the conglomeratic layers of the sands or in the basal lag of the sedimentary sets. The sand components are medium-sized to coarse siliciclastic grains with very little matrix and no cement. Cross-bedding in the sed- imentary sets exhibits internal lamina that are variably inclined, from quasi-horizontal to 30°, and in most cases points towards N55°E.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils, microfossils

Collected in 2009-2011

• housed at the Museo Arqueológico de Murcia (MAM; Murcia, Spain)

Primary reference: P. Pinero, J. Agusti, O. Oms, I. Fierro, P. Montoya, S. Mansino, F. Ruiz-Sanchez, D. M. Alba, M. T. Alberdi, H.-A. Blain, C. Laplana, J. Made, A. V. Mazo, J. Morales, X. Murelaga, A. Perez-Garcia, F. Perez-Valera, J. A. Perez-Valera, P. Sevilla, J. M. Soria, and G. Romero. 2017. Early Pliocene continental vertebrate Fauna at Puerto de la Cadena (SE Spain) and its bearing on the marine-continental correlation of the Late Neogene of Eastern Betics. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 185681: authorized by Evangelos Vlachos, entered by Evangelos Vlachos on 09.05.2017, edited by Jonathan Marcot

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• The taxonomic list is a combination of the material of several individual collections in the greater site of the Puerto de la Cadena (e.g., Autovía, Barranco del Cigarrón)
unclassified
  -
Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Gomphotheriidae
Anancus arvernensis Croizet and Jobert 1828 gomphothere
 Carnivora - Canidae
Eucyon monticinensis Rook 1992 canine
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Cervidae indet. Gray 1821 deer
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bovidae indet. Gray 1821 antelope
sp. 1, 2, 3
Parabos sp. Arambourg and Piveteau 1929 antelope
Gazella aff. lydekkeri Pilgrim 1937 gazelle
 Artiodactyla - Giraffidae
Sivatherium cf. hendeyi Harris 1976 giraffe
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Dihoplus schleiermacheri Kaup 1834 rhinoceros
vel Dihoplus megarhinus
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Hipparion aff. fissurae Crusafont and Sondaar 1971 hipparionine horse
 Lagomorpha - Leporidae
Trischizolagus maritsae de Bruijn et al. 1970 rabbit
 Lagomorpha - Ochotonidae
 Rodentia - Muridae
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Apocricetus cf. barrierei Mein and Michaux 1970 mouse
Ruscinomys lasallei Adrover 1969 mouse
 Primates - Cercopithecidae
Macaca sp. Lacépède 1799 macaque
Reptilia
 Loricata -
Crocodylia indet. crocodilian
 Squamata - Crotalidae
Vipera sp. Laurenti 1768 pit viper
 Squamata - Colubridae
Malpolon sp. Fitzinger 1826 colubrid snake
gr. monspessulanus-mlynarski
 Testudines - Testudinidae
Alatochelon myrteum n. gen. n. sp. Pérez-García et al. 2020 turtle
Titanochelon sp. Pérez-García and Vlachos 2014 turtle
 Testudines - Trionychidae
Trionychidae indet. Gray 1825 softshell turtle