Journal
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
Volume 28, Issue 9-10, Pages 947-963Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.12.007
Keywords
-
Funding
- European Union [CE-F12W-CT911-0075]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Here we determined the aminostratigraphy and aminochronology of tufa deposits located in central Spain associated with the Tagus river and some of its tributaries (the Henares, Dulce, Cifuentes, Ruguilla, Trabaque, Escabas and Guadiela rivers). We used aspartic acid and glutamic acid racernization ratios obtained from the ostracod Herpetocypris reptans. Tufa accumulations were found to be of different origins: those in the Henares, Cifuentes and Ruguilla rivers are of paludal origin, while those in the Dulce and Tagus rivers are of fluvial origin. A generally good correspondence was found between the age of the deposits and the position of the terraces above the current thalweg. However, the geomorphological evolution of the Henares, Cifuentes and Ruguilla rivers (infilling of pre-existing valleys) has produced deposits of distinct ages at the same elevation above the current river thalweg, and sometimes, older tufas are located below younger ones. We distinguished eight main tufa-deposition episodes. These occurred predominantly during even Marine Isotopic Stages (MIS), at 406 +/- 90 (MIS 11), 264 +/- 68 (MIS 7e), 189 +/- 40 (MIS 7a), 130 +/- 27 (MIS 65e), 101 +/- 25 (MIS 5c), 32 +/- 10 (MIS 3), 14 +/- 4 (MIS 1), and 6 +/- 2 (MIS 1) ka. These results are in agreement with the dating of similar deposits from nearby areas and other zones of Spain and Europe. The tufa stable-isotope compositions were similar to other examples in central and southern Spain and their plot falls in the same field as other lowland European stream tufas. Oxygen stable isotopes were influenced mainly by temperature and rainfall. The delta C-13 Values indicated a major effect of soil-derived carbon rather than carbon from the catchment area, but moderated in each tributary by evaporation, flow regime and biological effects (photosynthesis). (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available