First macroflora data from La Val (Late Oligocene/Early Miocene), Estadilla (Huesca, Spain)

Abstract

This paper reports a previously unknown leaf-flora from the Upper Oligocene/Lower Miocene of the Ebro Basin, NE Spain, a period with a relatively poor vascular-plant fossil record in Southern Europe. The presence of Acrostichum sp. is also important. This fern is extremely significant from the point of view of palaeoecology and the depositional environment. The macroflora appears to yield sufficient morphological characteristics to be identified at genus level, and sometimes at species level, although cuticles are not preserved. This article presents the first data obtained from the new outcrop at La Val; the following families have been identified: Pteridaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Equisetaceae, Pinaceae, Lauraceae, Hamamelidaceae, Betulaceae, Myricaceae and Salicaceae. The fossil plant assemblage is correlated with the Cadibona floristic complex (Mai, Tertiäre Vegetationsgeschichte Europas. Methoden und Ergebnisse, Gustav Fischer, Jena, 691 pp., 1995) and suggests a subtropical-to-warm temperate climate, rainy and wet, with a short dry season. The age of the assemblage is Late Oligocene/Early Miocene.

Keywords::

• macroflora
• Late Oligocene/Early Miocene
• NE Iberian Peninsula

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Jose Francisco Lisa, resident of the town of Estadilla, discoverer and promoter of the diffusion of this palaeontological outcrop. We also express our gratitude to his family, and to Luis Miguel Sender, Gabriela Horno, Russell Jones and the editor for their assistance. Finally, we thank the Dirección General de Patrimonio del Gobierno de Aragón for granting the fieldwork permits (expedients: 047/2012 and 047/12-2013), and the unknown reviewer for the invaluable comments about this paper.