The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Barremian Stage at Río Argos (Caravaca, SE Spain)

Miguel Company; Roque Aguado; François Baudin; Rodolfo Coccioni; Mathieu Martinez; Peter F. Rawson; Helmut Weissert; Jean-François Deconinck; Fabrizio Frontalini; Luca Giusberti; Bruno Granier; Nico M. M. Janssen; Mathieu Moiroud; Fabrice Monna; Luis O; Pierre Pellenard; Laurent Riquier; Gregorio Romero; José Sandoval; José M. Tavera

doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2023/02330

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Communication of IUGS Geological Standards

Episodes 2024; 47(2): 335-379

Published online June 1, 2024

https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/2023/02330

The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Barremian Stage at Río Argos (Caravaca, SE Spain)

Miguel Company^1*, Roque Aguado^2†, François Baudin³, Rodolfo Coccioni⁴, Mathieu Martinez⁵, Peter F. Rawson⁶, Helmut Weissert⁷, Jean-François Deconinck⁸, Fabrizio Frontalini ⁹, Luca Giusberti¹⁰, Bruno Granier¹¹, Nico M. M. Janssen¹², Mathieu Moiroud⁸, Fabrice Monna¹³, Luis O’Dogherty¹⁴, Pierre Pellenard⁸, Laurent Riquier³, Gregorio Romero¹⁵, José Sandoval¹, José M. Tavera¹

¹Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, 18002 Granada, Spain
²Departamento de Geología, CEACTEMA, Universidad de Jaén, 23700 Linares, Spain
³Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris, UMR 7193, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
⁴Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, 61029 Urbino, Italy
⁵Géosciences Rennes, UMR 6118, Université de Rennes, CNRS, 35000 Rennes, France
⁶Scarborough YO11 2SS and Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
⁷Geologisches Institut, ETH Zentrum, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
⁸Biogéosciences, UMR 6282, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CNRS, 21000 Dijon, France
⁹Dipartimento di Scienze Pure e Applicate, Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, 61029 Urbino, Italy
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
¹¹ Département des Sciences de la Terre et de l’Univers, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29238, Brest, France
¹² 3522SV Utrecht, The Netherlands
¹³ CPTC, EA 4178, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 21000 Dijon, France
¹⁴ Departamento Ciencias de la Tierra, CASEM, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
¹⁵ Servicio de Patrimonio Histórico, Consejería de Educación y Cultura de la Región de Murcia, 30005 Murcia, Spain

Correspondence to:^*E-mail: mcompany@ugr.es
^† Deceased February 23, 2023

Received: September 5, 2023; Revised: October 24, 2023; Accepted: October 24, 2023

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Following votes by the Barremian Working Group, the International Subcommission on Cretaceous Stratigraphy and the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences unanimously approved in March 2023 the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Barremian Stage (Lower Cretaceous). The base of the Barremian Stage is defined at the base of bed 171 of the Río Argos section, near Caravaca (SE Spain) and correlated by the first appearance of the ammonite species Taveraidiscus hugii. This event falls within the NC5C calcareous nannofossil Subzone, the Lilliputianella semielongata planktonic foraminiferal Zone, and the Dorothia ouachensis benthic foraminiferal Zone. It roughly coincides with the beginning of a slightly negative trend interval in the δ¹³C curve. Indirect calibration to the magnetostratigraphic scale suggests that the boundary falls in the lowermost part of polarity chron M3r. According to the astrochronological analysis, a time interval of 0.74 myr separates the beginning of the late Hauterivian Faraoni Episode from the base of the Barremian, which is dated at 125.77 MA.