Sedimentology of Pleistocene palustrine tufas and associated deposits of the Ebrón Valley (Iberian Ranges, Spain)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.44131.593Keywords:
Palustrine tufa, low-energy deposition, facies model, Pleistocene, Iberian RangesAbstract
Extensive palustrine tufa deposits are not common in the geological record, in part due to their liability to erosion. This work discusses the formation and preservation factors that allow the wide development of such facies, taking the example of a Middle-Late Pleistocene dominantly palustrine area that formed downstream of a high-slope stepped tufa fluvial stretch, in the Ebrón river Valley (south Iberian Range). The study case (Los Santos area) consists of coarse detrital sediments at the base, associated with pronounced incisions on the underlying deposits, followed by a variety of tufa and associated carbonate facies, with a minimum thickness of 19 m. The most abundant facies are the phytoclastic rudstones, carbonate sands and silts with gastropods and ostracods and up-growing stem boundstones. Less common are moss boundstones, down-growing stem boundstones and bioclastic limestones. Up to five simple vertical sequences of facies (facies associations) are characterized. The sedimentary facies model corresponds to a low-slope and wide stretch at the end of a stepped, cascade-barrage fluvial system, with extensive palustrine areas, shallow ponded areas, at places with stagnant conditions, and small cascades. Variations of bedrock lithology, from Mesozoic carbonate rocks upstream to Neogene alluvial rocks downstream, allowed the gentle sloping and wide low-layering surface at the distal termination of the fluvial system, with overall low-energy facies, which supports the absence of stromatolites. Indeed, the lack of vigorous erosional processes enabled a dense cover of hydrophilous plants to thrive on diverse environments and the accumulation and preservation of organic matter. The small thickness of the studied deposits, compared to that of upstream deposits, is consistent with a reduction of dissolved calcium and bicarbonate contents downstream (linked to the distal position from the carbonate aquifer sourced springs), and with the diminishing mechanical CO2-degassing in low-gradient environments.
Downloads
References
Álvaro, M. & 38 authors (1994). Mapa Geológico de la Península Ibérica, Baleares y Canarias. Scale 1:1,000,000. Instituto Tecnológico Geominero de España and Instituto Geológico e Mineiro de Portugal. Madrid.
Arenas, C.; Gutiérrez, F.; Osácar, C. & Sancho, C. (2000). Sedimentology and geochemistry of fluvio-lacustrine tufa deposits controlled by evaporite solution subsidence in the central Ebro Depression, NE Spain. Sedimentology, 47: 883-909. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3091.2000.00329.x
Arenas-Abad, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Pardo-Tirapu, G. & Sancho-Marcén, C. (2010). Fluvial and Associated Carbonate Deposits. In: Carbonates in continental setting (Alonso-Zarza, A.M. & Tanner, L.H., Eds.), Developments in Sedimentology, Elsevier, 61: 133-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0070-4571(09)06103-2
Arenas, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Pardo, G. & Sancho, C. (2014a). Sedimentology and depositional architecture of tufas deposited in stepped fluvial systems of changing slope: Lessons from the Quaternary Anamanza valley (Iberian Range, Spain). Sedimentology, 61: 133-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12053
Arenas, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Auqué, L.; Sancho, C.; Osácar, C. & Pardo, G. (2014b). Intrinsic and extrinsic controls of spatial and temporal variations in modern fluvial tufa sedimentation: A thirteen-year record from a semi-arid environment. Sedimentology, 61: 90-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12045
Arenas, C.; Auqué, L.; Osacar, M.C.; Sancho, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M. & Pardo, G. (2015). Current tufa sedimentation in a high discharge river: A comparison with other synchronous tufa records in the Iberian Range (Spain). Sedimentary Geology, 325: 132-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.05.007
Auler, A.S. & Smart, P.L. (2001). Late Quaternary paleoclimate in semiarid northeastern Brazil from U-series dating of travertine and water-table speleothems. Quaternary Research, 55: 159-167. https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.2000.2213
Brogi, A.; Capezzuoli, E.; Kele, S.; Baykara, M.O. & Shen, C-C. (2017). Key travertine tectofacies for neotectonics and palaeoseismicity reconstruction: effects of hydrothermal overpressured fluid injection. Journal of the Geological Society, 174(4): 679-699. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2016-124
Buccino, G.; D'Argenio, B.; Ferreri, V.; Brancaccio, L.; Panichi, C. & Stanzione, D. (1978). Il travertini della bassa Valle del Tanagrio (Campania): Studio geomorphologico, sedimentologico e geochimico. Bolletino della Societá Geologica Italiana, 97: 617-646.
Capezzuoli, E.; Gandin, A. & Sandrelli, F. (2010). Calcareous tufa as indicators of climatic variability: A case from the Southern Tuscany (Italy). In: Tufas, Speleothems and Stromatolites: Unravelling the physical and microbial controls (Pedley, M. & Rogerson, M., Eds). Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 336: 263-281. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP336.14
Capezzuoli, E.; Gandin, A. & Pedley, M. (2014). Decoding tufa and travertine (freshwater carbonates) in the sedimentary record: The state of the art. Sedimentology, 61: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12075
Cremaschi, M.; Zerboni, A.; Spotl, C. & Felletti, F. (2010). The calcareous tufa in the Tadrart Acacus Mt. (SW Fezzan, Libya). An early Holocene palaeoclimate archive in the central Sahara. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 287: 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.01.019
Della Porta, G., (2015). Carbonate build-ups in lacustrine, hydrothermal and fluvial settings: Comparing depositional geometry, fabric types and geochemical signature. In: Microbial Carbonates in Space and Time: Implications for Global Exploration and Production (Bosence, D.W.J.; Gibbons, K.A.; Le Heron, D.P.; Morgan, W.A.; Pritchard, T. & Vining, B.A., Eds.), Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 418: 17-68. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP418.4
Della Porta, G.; Croci, A.; Martini, M. & Kele, S. (2017). Depositional architecture, facies character and geochemical signature of the Tivoli travertines (Pleistocene, Acque Albule Basin, Central Italy). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 123: 487-540.
Durán, J.J. (1989). Geocronología de los depósitos asociados al karst en España. In: El karst en España (Durán, J.J. & Martínez, J. (Eds.). Monografías Sociedad Española de Geomorfología, 4: 243-256.
Freytet, P. & Plaziat, J.-C. (1982). Continental Carbonate Sedimentation and Pedogenesis -Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary of Southern France. In: Contributions to Sedimentology (Purser, B.H., Ed.), Springer-Verlag, Stuttgart, 12: 213 pp.
Gibbard, P.L.; Boreham, S.; Cohen, K.M. & Moscariello, A. (2005). Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years. Boreas, 34.
Goudie, A.S.; Viles, H.A. & Pentecost, A. (1993). The late-Holocene tufa decline in Europe. The Holocene, 3(2): 181-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369300300211
Gradziński, M.; Hercman, H.; Jaskiewicz, M. & Szczurek, S. (2013). Holocene tufa in the Slovak Karst: facies, sedimentary environments and depositional history. Geological Quarterly, 57 (4): 769-788. https://doi.org/10.7306/gq.1131
Heimann, A. & Sass, E. (1989). Travertines in Northern Hula Valley, Israel. Sedimentology, 36: 95-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.1989.tb00822.x
Henchiri, M. (2014). Quaternary paludal tufas from the Ben Younes spring system, Gafsa, southwestern Tunisia: interactions between tectonics and climate. Quaternary International, 338: 71-87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.12.024
Henning, G.J.; Grün, R. & Brunnacker, K. (1983). Speleothems, travertines and paleoclimates. Quaternary Research, 20: 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(83)90063-7
Huerta, P.; Armenteros, I.; Merino Tomé, Ó.; Rodríguez Gonzálvez, P.; Silva, P.G.; González Aguilera, D. & Carrasco-García, P. (2016). 3-D modelling of a fossil tufa outcrop. The example of La Peña del Manto (Soria, Spain). Sedimentary Geology, 333: 130-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.013
Lozano, M.V.; Sancho, C.; Arenas, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Ortiz, J.E.; Torres, T.; Pardo, G.; Osacar, M.C. & Auqué, L. (2012). Analisis preliminar de las tobas cuaternarias del Río Ebrón (Castielfabib, Valencia, Cordillera Ibérica). Geogaceta, 51: 51-54.
Mancini, A.; Capezzuoli, E.; Erthal, M. & Swennen, R. (2019). Hierarchical approach to define travertine depositional systems: 3D conceptual morphological model and possible applications. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 103: 549-563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.02.021
Martín Algarra, A.; Martín-Martín, M.; Andreo, B.; Julià, R. & González-Gómez, C. (2003). Sedimentary patterns in perched spring travertines near Granada (Spain) as indicators of the paleohydrological and paleoclimatological evolution of a karst massif. Sedimentary Geology, 161: 217-228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(03)00115-5
Martini, I. & Capezzuoli, E. (2014). Interdigitated fluvial clastic deposits and calcareous tufa testifying an uplift of the catchment area: An example from the Pianizzoli area (southern Tuscany, Italy). Sedimentary Geology, 299: 60-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2013.11.001
Miall, A.D. (1978). Lithofacies Types and Vertical Profile Models in Braided River Deposits: A Summary. In: Fluvial Sedimentology (Miall, A.D., Ed.), Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 5, Calgary, 597-604.
Moeyersons, J.; Nyssen, J.; Poesen, J.; Deckers, J. & Haile, M. (2006). Age and backfill/overfill stratigraphy of two tufa dams, Tigray Highlands, Ethiopia: Evidence for Late Pleistocene and Holocene wet conditions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 230: 165-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.013
Mohammadi, Z.; Claes, H.; Capezzuoli, E.; Mozafari, M.; Soete, J.; Aratman, C. & Swennen, R. (2020). Lateral and vertical variations in sedimentology and geochemistry of sub-horizontal laminated travertines (Çakmak quarry, Denizli Basin, Turkey). Quaternary International, 540: 146-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.11.041
Ortiz, J.E.; Torres, T.; Delgado, A.; Reyes, E. & Díaz-Bautista, A. (2009). A review of the Tagus river tufa deposits (central Spain): Age and palaeoenvironmental record. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28: 947-963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.12.007
Özkul, M.; Gökgöz, A. & Horvatincic, N. (2010). Study from the Denizli Province, Western Turkey springline tufa deposits and associated spring waters: A case study from the Denizli Province, Western Turkey. In: Tufas and Speleothems: Unravelling the Microbial and Physical Controls (Pedley, H.M. & Rogerson, M., Eds.), Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 336: 245-262. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP336.13
Pazzaglia, F.; Barchi, M.R.; Buratti, N.; Cherin, M.; Pandolfi, L. & Ricci, M., (2013). Pleistocene calcareous tufa from the Ellera basin (Umbria, central Italy) as a key for an integrated paleoenvironmental and tectonic reconstruction. Quaternary International, 292: 59-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.11.020
Pedley, H.M. (2009). Tufas and travertines of the Mediterranean region: a testing ground for freshwater carbonate concepts and developments. Sedimentology, 56: 221-246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2008.01012.x
Pedley, H.M., Andrews, J., Ordóñez, S., González-Martín, J.A., García Del Cura, M.A. & Taylor, D. (1996). Does climate control the morphological fabric of freshwater carbonates? a comparative study of Holocene barrage tufas from Spain and Britain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 121: 239-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(95)00080-1
Pedley, H.M.; Ordóñez, S.; González Martín, J.A. & García del Cura, M.A. (2003). Sedimentology of Quaternary perched springline and paludal tufas: Criteria for recognition, with examples from Guadalajara Province, Spain. Sedimentology, 50: 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3091.2003.00502.x
Pentecost, A. (2005). Travertine. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 445 pp.
Sancho, C.; Arenas, C.; Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Pardo, G.; Lozano, M.V.; Peña-Monné, J.L.; Hellstrom, J.; Ortiz, J.E.; Osácar, M.C.; Auqué, L. & Torres, T. (2015). Climatic implications of the quaternary fluvial tufa record in the NE Iberian Peninsula over the last 500 ka. Quaternary Research, 84 (3): 398-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2015.08.003
Toker, E. (2017). Quaternary Fluvial Tufas from Sarikavak Area, Denizli, Southwestern Turkey: Facies and depositional systems. Quaternary International, 437: 37-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.06.034
Valero Garcés, B.L.; Moreno, A.; Navas, A.; Mata, P., Machín, J.; Delgado Huertas, A., González Sampériz, P., Schwalb, A.; Morellón, M.; Cheng, H. & Edwards, R.L. (2008). The Taravilla lake and tufa deposits (Central Iberian Range, Spain) as palaeohydrological and palaeoclimatic indicators. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 259: 136-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.10.004
Vázquez-Urbez, M.; Arenas, C. & Pardo, G. (2012). A sedimentary facies model for stepped, fluvial tufa systems in the Iberian range (Spain): The quaternary Piedra and Mesa valleys. Sedimentology, 59: 502-526. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2011.01262.x
Viles, H.A. & Pentecost, A. (2007). Tufa and travertine. In: Geochemical Sediments and Landscapes (Nash, D. & McLaren, S., Eds.). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 173-199. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470712917.ch6
Viles, H.A.; Taylor, M.P.; Nicoll, K. & Neumann, S. (2007). Facies evidence of hydroclimatic regime shifts in tufa depositional sequences from the arid Naukluft Mountains, Namibia. Sedimentary Geology, 195: 39- 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.07.007
Violante, C.; Ferreri, V.; D'Argenio, B. & Golubic, S. (1994). Quaternary travertines at Rochetta a Volturno (Isernia, Central Italy). Facies analysis and sedimentary model of an organogenic carbonate system. PreMeeting Fieldtrip Guidebook, A1. International Association of Sedimentologist, Ischia '94, 15th regional meeting, Italy, 3-23.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
