Decouverte de deux nouveaux gisements de poissons fossiles messiniens dans le bassin de Nijar-Carboneras (Andalousie Orientale): Signification paleoecologique et implications paleogeographiques

Abstract

Two new fossil fish-Iocalities are reported from the Messinian of the Nijar-Carboneras basin (South Spain). That of Cortijo Ruil, South-West of Nijar, seems to take part in the evaporitic Messinian. It yields a marine, poorly diversified, fish-fauna which characterizes a shallow deposit sedimented relatively near the sea-shore. However, the occurrence of a Myctophid: Lampanyctus licatae (Sauvage) and of a Gonostomatid: Maurolicus muelleri (Gmelin) demonstrates that the Nijar-Carboneras basin was widely open to the sea, the depth of which probably sensibly exceeded 2.000 m. The post-evaporitic locality of Rambla de las Colmenas, westward of Gafares, has provided the species Aphanius crassicaudus (Agassiz), which characterizes the lagoonal Messinian environments of the Mediterranean area.