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Stratigraphy and sedimentology of Muschelkalk carbonates of the Southern Iberian Continental Palaeomargin (Siles and Cehegín Formations, Southern Spain)

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Abstract

The Triassic sediments of the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera were deposited on the Southern Iberian Continental Palaeomargin. Two coeval Ladinian formations, namely the Siles Formation and the Cehegín Formation, are described to illustrate the facies and lithostratigraphic variability in the Muschelkalk carbonates. There has been some dispute over the number of carbonate units present in the Siles Formation. Our studies assign a tectonic origin to these recurrent carbonate units. Both formations comprise only one carbonate unit, which is correlated to the Upper Muschelkalk of the Catalan and Germanic basins and some Iberian Range sections. To characterize the sedimentological features of these formations, 14 facies were defined. The most widespread sediment was originally lime mud, although bioclastic deposits are also common. In the facies succession, a main transgressive-regressive sequence could be identified. According to the facies model proposed here, a muddy coastal and shallow-water platform prograded over mid ramp deposits. There is no evidence for a seawards reefal or oolitic-bioclastic sandy barrier. The most significant feature of this sedimentary interpretation is that these carbonate facies show clear characteristics of an epicontinental platform.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr. José López Gómez, Dr. Ana Márquez Aliaga, Dr. Leopoldo Márquez, Dr. Alfredo Arche and Dr. Antonio Goy for their comments and great help with this study. We also thank M. Tucker for his constructive and thoughtful comments on the manuscript, Juan Alberto Pérez Valera and Pablo Plasencia for providing the ammonoid and conodont data and Ana Burton for revising the English. This work was funded by an “Ayuda Puente” from the University of Granada awarded to one of the authors (FPV), the Research Projects BTE 2002-00775, CGL2005-01520/BTE and the Grupo de Investigación de la Junta de Andalucía RNM 0163, along with Projects IGCP 458 and 467.

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  1. Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Avda. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Fernando Pérez-Valera & Alberto Pérez-López

  2. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC- Univ Granada), Avda. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Alberto Pérez-López

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Pérez-Valera, F., Pérez-López, A. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of Muschelkalk carbonates of the Southern Iberian Continental Palaeomargin (Siles and Cehegín Formations, Southern Spain). Facies 54, 61–87 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-007-0125-1

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