The Macro-Flora from the Middle–Late Cenomanian Paleontological Area of Algora (Guadalajara, Central Spain) and Its Paleobiogeographical and Paleoenvironmental Implications

TL;DR

This study identifies plant fossils from 96 million years ago in Spain, revealing insights into ancient ecosystems and plant dispersal in Europe and Africa.

Contribution

The study presents the first well-defined macro-flora from the Cenomanian period in Spain.

Findings

The Algora site contains macro-plant remains including ferns, conifers, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.

The plant assemblage suggests a mix of Central European and northern Gondwana influences in Iberia.

This is the main vertebrate and plant fossil site for the basal Late Cretaceous in southwestern Europe.

Abstract

Macroscopic plant remains from the beggining of the Late Cretaceous are not very abundant in the Iberian Peninsula, and there are also very few records of them in southwestern Europe. Therefore, the plant macro-remains assemblage from the Algora vertebrate site in central Spain, dating back approximately 96 million years, provides very important information about the types of plants and environments in which dinosaurs and other vertebrates lived in southern Europe during the early Late Cretaceous.

The middle–late Cenomanian paleontological area of Algora represents the main concentration of vertebrate remains from the basal Late Cretaceous for southwestern Europe. An unpublished macro-plant assemblage is studied here, being recognized as composed of ferns, conifers, and various other types of gymnosperms and angiosperms, constituting the first well-defined reference of a Cenomanian macro-flora in Spain. Comparison of this assemblage with other coeval ones from the western Tethys region suggests a possible influence of both Central European Laurasian plant elements and those from northern Gondwana (originating in North Africa and the Middle East) in this area of the Iberian Plate, a key region for understanding the dispersal of fauna and flora during the early Late Cretaceous.

Figures