The Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata of the southern Pyrenees frequently appear as major scarp and dip slopes like the one shown here. For water supplies rivers are commonly dammed where they cut gorges through such limestone ridges. This particular ridge is the Sierra del Montsec (viewed to the southwest from a returning airliner), south of Tremp, and forming almost the southern limit of the Tremp-Graus basin. Similar strata occur in the area near Pedraforca, Saldes and Seo d'Urgell, further to the northeast.

Internet Sites on the Pedraforca Region

• Vertebrate Remains, Pyrenees. Bone remains of a marine reptile, probably a choristodere have been found in the Eocene Roda Marls near Guardiola de Bergueda in the Catalonian Pyrenees by students carrying out Independent Mapping. The head has not been found and the vertebrate has not been positively identified as yet.
• The Pedraforca Massif. The Pedraforca Massif is one of Catalonia’s most emblematic nature areas with a biological wealth framed within a unique geologic context. This emblematic feature is an outcome of the highly peculiar form of the mountain itself which rises in a most impressive manner within a very small area.The Massif rises to around 1,300 m. with the Upper Pollegó finally reaching 2,497 metres, from a base of only three kilometers. ..In 1982 the area was declared a Nature Reserve of National Interest by the Catalonian Parliament through Bill 6/1982, dated May 6th in order to cope with the preservation of its vegetation and singular beauty. This type of protection is applied to natural areas of small or medium size that present singular characteristics in terms of their scientific, landscaping and educational value. Only traditional farming, animal husbandry and forestry tasks compatible with the specific objects of protection are allowed there.
• Camping El Bergueda. - Very good campsite near Guardiola de Bergueda, and a few miles down the road from Saldes and Pedraforca mountain.
• Grup Espeleologic Pedraforca - Pedraforca Caving.
• Agrupacio Excursionista Pedraforca
• El massís del Pedraforca
• Cadi-Moixero Natural Park, Catalonia
• Geology of the Pyrenees (University of Arizona). Introduction - The Pyrenees orogen is an east-west trending, bivergent mountain belt with two associated foreland basins: the Ebro basin to the south and the Aquitaine basin to the north ... continues.
• Geopubs - Geological Maps of the Pyrenees.

Pyrenees - Catalonian - a Select Bibliography

General Section

(with some references on other parts of the Pyrenees)

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Alonso, J.L., Pulgar, J. A., Garcia-Ramos, J.C. and Barba, P. 1996. Tertiary basins and Alpine tectonics in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). In: Friend, P.F. and Dabrio, C. (editors), Tertiary Basins of Spain. Cambridge University Press, pp. 214-227.
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Anadon, P. et al. 1986. ...Eastern Ebro Basin.. In Allen, P.A. and Homewood, P., Foreland Basins, p. 259.
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Anonymous, 1995. Un dinosaure bergueda unica al mon: un cientic diu que les petjades de Vallcebre son les primeres que es troben d'un gran titanosaure. Tema del dia: dinosaures al Bergueda. Article of the newspaper - "Regio7". Dated 2 September, 1995. Section - Societat - 3. The French palaeontologist Jean le Loeuff has restudied the dinosaur footprints found in 1985 (by Lluis Viladrich) in an old lignite mine (Late Cretaceous, about 70 million years old) at the coll of Fumanya, near Vallcebre, southwest of Guardiola de Bergueda. He attributes them to a large titanosaur. He is working with Albert Martinez of the Servei Geologica de la Generalitat, author of the Geological Guide to Bergueda and Pedraforca (Guia Geologica del Bergueda i el Pedraforca). Jean le Loeuff and Albert Martinez attribute the footprints to a large titanosaur. A section at the end of the article, though, comments that "it is possible" that the footprints are of a titanosaur but they are difficult to study. A photograph shows the footprints on a very steeply dipping surface forming a western wall across a deep quarry, now partly infilled with debris as a result of restoration.

Anonymous, 1997. Le Mineria del Carbo al Bergueda.L'Erol, Revista Cultural del Bergueda , Any 16, Numero 54. 46 pp. Glossy magazine with a theme on the lignite mining in Bergueda, Catalunyia. Well-illustrated, in Catalan, obtainable at the Mining Museum at St. Corneli, 675 ptes.
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Arche, A. 1972. Flysch facies in the Devonian of Central Pyrenees (Spain, France). 24th I.G.C. Section 6. 100 - 106.
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Astre, G. 1925. Sur les limites de la zone tectonique de Pedraforca. C.R. Som. Soc. Geol. France, 2 mars, 63-66.
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Bates, M.P. 1989. Palaeomagnetic evidence for rotation and deformation in the Nogueros Zone, Central Southern Pyrenees, Spain. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 146, 459-476.
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Beaumont, C., Munoz, J.A., Hamilton, J. and Fullsack, P. 2000. Factors controlling the Alpine evolution of the central Pyrenees from a comparison of observations and geodynamical models. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105 (B4), 8121-8145.
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Bertrand, L. 1908. Contribution a l'histoire stratigraphique d'une partie de la vallee de la haute Segre (Pyrenees Catalanes). Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Toulouse, 66, 33-70
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Bilotte, M. 1974. Contribution a l'etude du Senonien sud-Pyrenneen. 1. Stratigraphie du massif de Rasos de Peguera. Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. de Toulouse, 110, 300-307.

Bilotte, M. 1978. Le Cretace superieur des Sierras del Cadi, de Port del Compte et de Oden (Troncon catalan - Pyrenees). C.R. Sc. Phys. et Hist. Nat., Geneve, 13 (1), 16-22.

Billotte, M. 1982. Les series sedimentaires du Mesozoique de la "Nappe de la Pedraforca" est de son " autochtone" (Troncon catalan - Pyrenees), consequences structurales. Cuad. Geol. Iberica, 8, 1.017-1.025.

Billotte, M. 1985. Le Cretace superieur des plates-formes est-pyreneennes. Strata, Toulouse, serie 2, 5, 1-438.
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Bouquet, C. and Stoppel, D. 1981. Contribution l'etude du Trias carbonat, des Pyrenees occidentales et centrales. Bull. du B.R.G.M. (2nd series) sect. 1, no.2, 1980/81, 119-134.
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Burbank, D.W., Puigdefabricas, C.A.I. and Munoz, J.A. 1992. The chronology of the Eocene tectonic stratigraphic development of the eastern Pyrenees foreland basin, northeast Spain. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104, 1101-1120. [This deals with the Baga - Greixer road section and structural aspects of the Pedraforca block].

Burbank, D.W., Verges, J., Munoz, J.A. and Bentham, P. 1992. Coeval hindward and forward-imbrication thrusting in the central southern Pyrenees, Spain: timing and rates of shortening and deposition. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104, 3-17.
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Carreras, J. and Capella, I. 1994. Tectonic levels in the Palaeozoic basement of the Pyrenees: a review and a new interpretation. Journal of Structural Geology, 16, 1509-1524.
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Caus, E., Garcia-Senz, J., Rodes, D. and Simo, A. 1990. Stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian-Barremian) sediments in the Organya Basin, Pyrenees, Spain. Cretaceous Research, 11, 313-320. [Prada limestone - lower part marine with rudists, upper part lagoonal with charophytes.]
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Cavagnetto, C. and Anadon, P. 1996. Preliminary palynological data on floristic and climatic changes during the Middle Eocene - Early Oligocene of the eastern Ebro Basin, northeast Spain. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 92, 281-305.
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Choukroune, P. 1992. Tectonic evolution of the Pyrenees. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, London, 20, 143-158.

Choukroune, P. and Team, E. 1989. Pyrenean deep seismic profile reflection data and the overall structure of an orogenic belt. Tectonics, 8, 23-39.
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Coney, P.J., Munoz, J.A., McClay, K.R. and Evenchick, C.A. 1996. Syntectonic burial and post-tectonic exhumation of the southern Pyrenees foreland fold-thrust belt. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 153, 9-16.
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Dalloni, M. 1910. Etude geologique des Pyrenees de l'Aragon. Ann. Fac. Sci. Marseille, 19, pp 444.

Dalloni, M. 1913. Stratigraphie et tectonique de la region de la vallee de la Haute Segre. Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Toulouse, v. 66.
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De Sitter , L.U. 1959. The structure of the Axial Zone of the Pyrenees in the province of Lerida. Estud. Geol. Inst. Invest. Geol. "Lucas Mallada" (Madrid), 15, 349-360.
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Diaz-Molina , M., Kalin, O, Benito, M.I., Lopez-Martinez, N. and Vicens, E. 2007. Depositional setting and early diagenesis of the dinosaur eggshell-bearing Aren Fm at Bastus, Late Campanian, south-central Pyrenees. Sedimentary Geology. By Margarita Díaz-Molina, Otto Kälin, M. Isabel Benito, Nieves Lopez-Martinez and Enric Vicens
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Diederix , D. 1963. Internal Report. Geol. Min. Inst. Leiden, (Department of Structural Geology).
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Dinares, J. and McClelland, E. 1992. Contrasting rotations within thrust sheets and kinematics of thrust tectonics as derived from palaeomagnetic data: an example from the Southern Pyrenees. In: McClay, K.R. 1992, Thrust Tectonics, 265-275.
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Dixon, R.J. 1987. Scarrkreise from the Triassic Pont de Suert Formation, Central Pyrenees, Spain. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 98, 265-268.
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Drzewiecki , P.A. and Simo, J.A. 1997. Carbonate platform drowning and oceanic anoxic events on a mid-Cretaceous carbonate platform, south-central Pyrenees, Spain. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 67, (4), 698-714.

Durand-Delga, M. 1978. Alpine chains of the Western Mediterranean. pp.163-225 in: Lemoine, 1978. Geological Atlas of Alpine Europe.
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ECORS Pyrenees Team. 1988. The ECORS deep reflection seismic survey across the Pyrenees. Nature, London, 331, 508-510.
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Durand-Delga , M., Meon, H., Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1989. Effets d'une phase tectonique compressive affectant du Miocene superieur, date palynologiquement, dans la zone de la Pedraforca (Pyrenees catalanes, Espagne). C.R. Acad. Science, Paris, 308, II, 1.091-1.098.
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Esteban, 1973. Caliche textures and microcodium. Incomplete reference. (Microcodium is in the Tremp Formation).
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Faure, Ph. 1984. Le Lias de la partie centro-orientale des Pyrenees espagnoles (provs. de Huesca, Lerida et Barcelona). Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Toulouse, 121, 23-37.

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Fitzgerald, P.G., Munoz, J.A., Coney, P.J. and Baldwin, S.L.1999. Asymmetric exhumation across the Pyrenean orogen: implications for the tectonic evolution of a collisional orogen. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 173, 157-170. Abstract: The Pyrenees are a collisional mountain belt formed by convergence between the Afro-Iberian and European plates. Apatite fission track thermochronology from three vertical profiles along the ECORS seismic line constrain the exhumation history of the Pyrenean orogen and hence tectonic models for its formation. In the Eocene there is relatively uniform exhumation across the Pyrenees, but significantly more exhumation occurs on the southern flank of the axial zone in the Oligocene. The variation in exhumation patterns is controlled by a change in how convergence is accommodated within the Pyrenean double-wedge. Accommodation of thrusting on relict extensional features that leads to inversion dominated thrust stacking resulted in relatively slow exhumation in the Eocene. However, subsequent crustal wedging and internal deformation in the upper crust under the stacked duplex of antiformal nappes resulted in extremely rapid exhumation on the southern flank in the Oligocene. The Maladeta profile in the southern axial zone records extremely rapid Early Oligocene exhumation followed by dramatic slowing or cessation of exhumation in the middle Oligocene and the formation of an apatite partial annealing zone (PAZ). This PAZ has subsequently been exhumed 2-3 km since the Middle Miocene, supporting the observations of Coney et al. [J. Geol. Soc. London 153 (1996) 9-16] that the southern flank of the range was buried by less than or equal to 2-3 km of syntectonic conglomerates in the Oligocene and subsequently re-excavated from Late Miocene to Recent. The present-day topographic form of the Pyrenees is largely a relict of topography that formed in the Eocene and the Oligocene. Comparison with paleoclimatic records indicates that the Eocene-Oligocene exhumation patterns are controlled by tectonic forces rather than resulting from an orographic effect due to uplift of the Pyrenees.
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Fox, C.L.I. 1988. Guia il-lustrada dels Fossils de Catalunya. Edicions Cap Roig, Barcelona, 157pp. .
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Friend, P.F. and Dabrio, C.J. 1996. Tertiary Basins of Spain. The Stratigraphic Record of Crustal Kinematics. Cambridge University Press.
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Garwin, L.J. 1985. Fission track dating and tectonics in the eastern Pyrenees. Ph.D. Thesis, Cambridge University, 76pp.
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Gilbert, J.S. and Rogers, N.W. 1989. The significance of garnet in the Permo-Carboniferous volcanic rocks of the Pyrenees. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 146, 477-490.
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Gilham, R. 1992. Sequence stratigraphy of a carbonate ramp in the southeastern Pyrenees. Programme and Abstracts, BSRG, Southampton 1992. [Rodney Gilham of Birkbeck College].
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Guerin-Desjardins, B. and Latreille, M. 1961. Etude geologique dans les Pyrenees espagnoles entre les nos Segre et LLobregat (prov. Lerida et Barcelone). Rev. Inst. Fr. Petrole, 16/9, p. 922-940.
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Habermehl, M.A. 1970. Depositional history and diagenesis of quartz-sand bars and lime-mud environments in the Devonian Basib, Formation (Central Pyrenees, Spain). Leidse Geologische Mededelingen, 46, 1-55.
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Hartevelt, J.J.A. 1970. Geology of the upper Segre and Valira Valleys, Central Pyrenees, Andorra/Spain. Leidse Geologische Mededelingen, v.45, 167-236, published separately 24-11-1970.
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I.G.M.E. 1987. Contribucion de la exploracion petrolifera al conocimiento de la geologia de Espana. Madrid.
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Jones, S., Frostick, L.E. and Astin, T.R. 1999. Climatic and tectonic controls on fluvial incision and aggradation in the Spanish Pyrenees. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 156, 761-769.
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Juan, A. 1995. Cadi-Moixero Natural Park. Catalunya. Pamphlet.
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Keller, P. and Gehring, A.U., 1992. Different weathering stages indicated by the magnetization of limestones - an example from the southeast Pyrenees, Spain. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 111, (1), 49-57. June 1992. Abstract: Paleomagnetic and structural data from the Pedraforca thrust sheet in the southeast Pyrenees show that the chemical weathering of the late Cretaceous limestones is a multistage process. The first weathering stage, of latest Eocene to early Oligocene age, is indicated by a chemical remanent magnetization carried by hematite. The formation of hematite as the dominant weathering product suggests a subtropical climate in northeast Spain during this period. The second weathering stage is indicated by the presence of goethite, which carries a chemical remanent magnetization parallel to the present earth field. This suggests formation of the goethite since the late Pleistocene under cooler climatic conditions similar to the present-day climate in the Pyrenees.

Keller, P., Lowrie, W. and Gehring, A.U. 1994. Paleomagnetic evidence for post-thrusting tectonic rotation in the southeast Pyrenenees, Spain. Tectonophysics, 239 (1-4), 29-42, Dec. 15. 1994. Abstract: The structural framework of the Southeast Pyrenees led to two conflicting interpretations-thrust tectonics vs. wrench tectonics-to explain the geometry of this mountain range. In the present study palaeomagnetic data are presented in an attempt to reserve this conflict. The data reveal different magnetisation directions that indicate tectonic rotations about vertical axes. By means of a regionally homogeneous pattern of rotation, three tectonic units could be distinguished in the Southeast Pyrenees. The Internal Unit in the north reveals no rotation since the Permian. The External Unit to the south shows anticlockwise rotation of 25 degrees, younger than the Early Oligocene. The Pedraforca Unit, placed on the External Unit, shows 57 degrees clockwise rotation which can be assigned to the Neogene. The anticlockwise rotation of the External Unit can be explained by differential compression during the last phase of Pyrenean thrusting, whereas the clockwise rotation of the Pedraforca Unit can be interpreted by post-thrusting tectonics. The rotation pattern of the Southeast Pyrenees provides evidence for both Cretaceous to Paleogene N-S compression and Neogene right-lateral wrench tectonics.
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Lemoine , M. 1978. Geological Atlas of Alpine Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 584p. [see Chapter 6 by Durand-Delga].
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Llac , F. 1979. Les nappes tardi-hercyniennes entre Cerdagne et Llobregat. Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 7, 467-473.
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Luterbacher , H.P. et al. 1991. Carbonate-siliclastic system in Palaeogene of the Southern Pyrenees. In: Sedimentation, Tectonics and Eustasy. Special Publication International Association of Sedimentologists. Pp. 391-407. [Tertiary of Baga, Fornols area etc. Cadi Limestone etc. Tremp.]
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Luzon , A. 2005. Oligocene–Miocene alluvial sedimentation in the northern Ebro Basin, NE Spain: Tectonic control and palaeogeographical evolution. Sedimentary Geology, 177, 19-39. Abstract: The Oligocene–Early Miocene rocks cropping out in the northern Ebro Basin (central sector) comprise conglomerates at the margin of the basin gradually passing into sandstones and mudstones towards more central areas. These rocks belong to the Peraltilla and Sariñena Formations and originated in both small monogenic-conglomerate alluvial fans that fed from the South Pyrenean Sierras directly, and large polygenic-conglomerate fans which drained more internal areas of the Pyrenees. Their lithological, textural and geometrical features, in combination with sedimentary structures, reveal the existence of several lithofacies associations whose lateral and vertical relationships, and distribution throughout time have been used to establish the main features for each type of depositional system. Near the margin of the basin, the Tertiary series is folded and thrusted and several unconformities can be identified. Three tecto-sedimentary units (T3 to T5) have been characterised for the whole area. At the margin, they are bounded by angular or syntectonic unconformities. In more central areas, their correlative conformities can be registered as changes from coarsening- to fining-upward general trends or as sudden shifts in the vertical trend. Fining-upward trends are related to onlaps and record the retrogradational stages of the alluvial fans. In contrast, coarsening-upward trends record the progradation of the fans. Stratigraphic and sedimentological studies permit to establish the palaeogeographical evolution of the area during Oligocene and Early Miocene times. Also, it can be demonstrated that during periods of tectonic activity in the Pyrenees the alluvial fans prograded whereas during the stages of relative tectonic inactivity the fans retrograded.
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Martinez , A., Verges, J. and Munoz, J.A. 1988. Secuencias de propagacion del sistema de cabalgamientos de la terminacion oriental del manto del Pedraforca y relacion con los conglomerados sinorogenicos. Acta Geol. Hisp., 23, 119-128.

Martinez, A. 19?? Guia Geologica del Bergueda i el Pedraforca. (Geological Guide to Bergueda and Pedraforca).
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Masriera , A. and Ullastre, J. 1990. Yacimientos ineditos de carofitas que contribuyen a fijar el limite Cretacico-Terciario en el Pineo Catalan. Rev. Soc. Geol. Espana, 3 (1-2), 33-41. [Significant paper on dating by charophytes - reference to the footprint bed of near Valcebre, the Valcebre (Rognac) Limestone etc.]
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Mattauer , M. 1968. Les traits stucturaux essentiels de la chaine Pyreneenne. Rev. Geograph. Phys. Geol. Dyn., Ser. 2, 10 (3), 3-12.

Mattauer, M. 1985. Presentation d'un modele lithospherique de la chaine des Pyrenees. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 322, IIa, 345-359.
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McCaig , A. 1986. Thick and thin-skinned tectonics in the Pyrenees. Tectonophysics, 129, 319-342.
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McClay , K.R., Muñoz, J-A., and García-Senz, J., 2004. Extensional Salt Tectonics in a Contractional Orogen: A newly identified tectonic event in the Spanish Pyrenees. Geology, 32, 737 - 740.
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Mey, P.H.W. 1967. Evolution of the Pyrenean basins during the Upper Palaeozoic. In: International Symposium on the Devonian System, Calgary, vol.2, 1157-1166 (Ed. Oswald, D.H.).

Mey, P.H.W. 1967. Geology of the Upper Ribagorzana and Baliera valleys, Central Pyrenees, Spain. Leidse Geol. Med., 41, 153-220.

Mey, P.H.W. 1968. The geology of the Upper Ribagorzana and Tor valleys, Central Pyrenees, Spain. Leidse Geol. Med., 41, 229-292.

Mey, P.H.W., Nagtegaal, P.J.C., Roberti, K.J. & Hartevelt, J.J.A. 1968. Lithostratigraphic subdivision of post-Hercynian deposits in the South-Central Pyrenees, Spain. Leidse Geol. Med., 41, 221-228.
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Mirouse , R., Barrouquere, G., Bessiere, G., Delvolve, J-J. et Perret, M-F. 1983. Amorce de la Sedimentation Synorogenique dans les Pyrenees Varisques. Donnees chronologique; implications palaeogeographique. Geologische Rundschau, 72, 253-281. [Lower Carboniferous detrital deposits associated with Variscan uplift. Conodont dating.]

Mirouse, R. 1988. De couverte geologique des Pyrenees occidentales. Editions du B.R.G.M., B.P.6009, 45060, Orleans Cedex 2, France. ISBN 2-7159-0418-5 BRGM (also published by Elf Aquitaine with different number - SNEA), 84p.
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Molenaar, N. 1990. Calcite cementation in shallow marine Eocene sandstones and constraints of early diagenesis. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 147, 759-768. [Tremp - Graus Basin]
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Megias, A.G. and Posadas, M. 1981. Precisiones sobre la colacion del Manto del Pedraforca (Pirineo Oriental, Espana). Est. Geol., 37, 221-225.
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Meigs, A.J., Verges, J. and Burbank, D.W. 1996. Ten-million year history of a thrust sheet. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 108, 1608-1625.
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Morris , R.G., Sinclair, H.D. and Yelland, A.J. 1998. Exhumation of the Pyrenean orogen: implications for sediment discharge. Basin Research, 10, 69-85.
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Munoz , J.A. 1992. Evolution of a continental collision belt. ECORS Pyrenees crustal balanced cross-section. In McClay, K.R. (ed.) Thrust Tectonics. Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 235-246.

Munoz, J.A., Coney, P.J., McClay, K.R. and Evenchick, C.A. 1997. Discussion on syntectonic burial and post-tectonic exhumation of the southern Pyrenees foreland fold-thrust belt - Reply. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 154, 362-365.

Munoz, J.A., Martinez, A. and Verges, J. 1986. Thrust sequences in the Spanish Eastern Pyrenees. Journal of Structural Geology, 8, 399-405.

Munoz, J.A., McClay, K.R. and Poblet, J. 1994. Synchronous extension and contraction in frontal thrust sheets of the Spanish Pyrenees. Geology, 22, 921-924.
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Museu de la Cienca i de la Tecnica de Catalunya. 1997. Les Mines de Cerc. 23 pp. Quaderns de didactica i difusio - 11. Museu de la Mines de Cercs. History of Cretaceous Lignite Mining at Cerc, north of Berga. Obtainable at the Mining Museum at St. Corneli, Cercs. (In Catalan, with good illustrations).

Nagtegaal, P.J.C. 1969. Sedimentology, palaeoclimatology and diagenesis of post- Hercynian continental deposits in the South-Central Pyrenees, Spain. Leidse Geol. Med. , 42, 143-238. (Good paper on the Aguiro, Erill Castell, Malpas, Peranera and Bunter - Pont de Suert region. ).
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Nijman , W. 1990. Thrust sheet rotation? - The South Pyrenean Tertiary Basin configuration reconsidered. Geodinamica Acta, 4 (1), 17-42.
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Oms , O., Dinares-Turell, E., Vicens, R., Estrada, B., Vila, A., Galobart, A. and Bravo, A.M. 2007. Integrated stratigraphy from the Vallcebre Basin (southeastern Pyrenees, Spain): new insights on the continental Cretaceous/Tertiary transition in southwest Europe. Palaeogeography, vol. ?, pp. ?. (unedited manuscript available on the internet as a PDF file).
Abstract: An integrated sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic, and paleontological study of the Vallcebre section (south eastern Pyrenees, Spain) is carried out in order to define and portray the transition from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary in a continental setting. A robust magnetostratigraphy is correlated to the standard polarity scale in light of known biochronological constraints (charophyte, marine invertebrates, eggshells and other dinosaur remains). Our results show that this section is among the thickest stratigraphic records for the continental Maastrichtian in the Old World. Sedimentology indicates a progressive regression from marine through lagoonal to entirely continental environments. The section is dominated by mudstones deposited under low energy conditions. Exceptionally, a basin-wide regression maximum is recorded some time before the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (K/T). This regression maximum is marked by the input of coarse grained (alluvial) sediments that record a dramatic change in the landscape (quiet mud plains changed to sandy floodplains deposited by high-energy currents). After a period of renewed quiescence following the regression maximum, a Cenozoic flooding took place. Such terminal Cretaceous sequence of events has been recorded in shorter sections in several other basins from southwestern Europe. This energetic sediment input suggests that some time before the K/T event, a sudden paleoenvironmental reorganization took place in the continental basins of south western Europe.
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Orti , F. Orti, Rosell, L., Salvany, J. and Ingles, M. 1997. Chert in continental evaporites of the Ebro and Calatayud basins (Spain): distribution and significance. In: A. Ruinos-Millan and M. Bustillo, Editors, Siliceous Rocks and Culture, Universidad de Granada (Spain), Monografica, Arte y Arqueologia vol. 42 (1997), pp. 78–89.
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Passchier , C.W. 1982. Pseudotachylyte and the development of ultramylonite bands in the Saint-Barthélemy Massif, French Pyrenees. Journal of Structural Geology, 4, 69-79
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Poblet , J., Munoz, J.A., Trave, A. and Serra-Kiel, J. 1998. Quantifying the kinematics of detachment folds using three-dimensional geometry: Application to the Mediano anticline (Pyrenees, Spain). Geological Society of America Bulletin, 110, 111-125. Abstract: The kinematics of detachment folds have been described by three different models: (1) hinge migration is responsible for fold amplification, (2) fold amplification is due to Limb rotation, and (3) both hinge migration and limb rotation cause fold amplification, ri numerical method is proposed to determine which of these mechanisms is responsible for the formation of natural detachment folds, This procedure consists of measuring and plotting geometric data collected from cross sections constructed across the termination of a fold where shortening dies out laterally, or in an area with a lateral shortening gradient, Assuming that observed spatial variations in fold geometry reflect temporal geometric evolution, the procedure allows determination of equations that govern the kinematics of the particular detachment fold analyzed, To validate the results obtained from the application of this technique to natural examples, they must be contrasted with other indicators of fold-amplification mechanisms such as micro- structures, mesostructures, and syntectonic sediment patterns, This analysis is applied to an asymmetric growth fold, the Mediano anti-cline in the Southern Pyrenees of Spain, and shows that it grew due to limb rotation and minor hinge migration, These data, coupled with analysis of the growth stratal patterns using reverse and forward modeling techniques, are used to derive deformation rates and to display the kinematics of this fold.
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Pons, J.M. 1986. Distribution of rudists in the Upper Cretaceous of South Pyrenees. Grupo Espanol del Mesozoico.
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Pous, J., Munoz, J.A., Ledo, J. and Liesa, M. 1995. Partial melting of a subducted continental lower crust in the Pyrenees. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 152, 217-220.

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Puigdefabregas, C., Munoz, J.A. and Marzo, M. 1986. Thrust belt development in the eastern Pyrenees and related depositional sequences in the southern foreland basin. Special Publication International Association of Sedimentologists, No. 8, pp. 229-246. Edited by Allen, P.A. and Homewood, P. 1986. Foreland Basins. [This paper is important in relation to the Baga area and elsewhere in dating the history of thrusting and reporting its effects on sedimentation. Pedraforca thrust etc. The Pedraforca mass was moving south in the Lutetian. See also Anadon in same volume and other papers.]

Puigdefabregas, C., Munoz, J.A. and Marzo, M. 1986. Thrust belt development in the Eastern Pyrenees and related depositional sequences in the southern foreland basin. In: Foreland Basins, Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists, pp. 229-246.

Puigdefabregas, C., Munoz, J.A. and Verges, J. 1992. Thrusting and foreland basin evolution in the Southern Pyrenees. In: McClay, K.R. (eds), 1992, Thrust Tectonics, 247-254, Chapman and Hall, London.

Puigdefabregas, C. and Souquet, P. 1986. Tecto-sedimentary cycles and depositional sequences of the Mesozoic and Tertiary from the Pyrenees. Tectonophysics, 129, 173-203.
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Rat , P. 1957. Carte Geologique des Pays Basco-Cantabriques entre St. Sebastian et Santander. [A coloured - Geological map of the Basque - Cantabrian country between Saint Sebastian and Santader, northwestern Spain.] 1:200,000. [This shows the Purbeckian and Valanginian near Ramales, southeast of Santander. The author states that "near Ramales, a series of calcareous-sandy strata lies above the Callovian. They contain beds with ostracods, serpulids and spirocyclinas, and correspond to the Purbeckien."]

Rat, P. 1960. Sur l'age at la nature des couches de base du Wealdien dans la province de Santander et a ses abords (Espagne). [On the age and nature of the beds at the base of the Wealden in the province of Santander and its surround (Spain).] Comptes Rendus des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences, France, t. 251, pp. 2207-2209. [Extract: 1. To the southeasst of Santander, near Ramales, the sandy clay complex does not rest directly on the marine Jurassic. It is effectively separated from the Callovian with Macrocephalites by: a. About 150m of dark brackish beds, limestones or sandy marls, with serpulids, spirocylinas and ostracods (Macrodentina, Cypridea) which he has compared to the Serpulite of Germany and the Purbeckian of England...."

Rat, P. 1962. Contribution a l'etude stratigraphiques du Purbeckien-Wealdien de la region de Santander (Espagne). [Contribution to the stratigraphic study of the Purbeckian-Wealden of the region of Santander (Spain)]. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 7th Series, tome 4, pp. 3-12. By Pierre Rat. Abstract: The strata, traditionally named Wealden in the Santander part of the Cantabrian Mountains comprises in reality: 1. a lower sequence partly lacustrine, partly brackish, which rests on the marine Callovian and has fossils such as ostracods and Iberina which lead one to compare it both by age and facies with the Purbeckian. The upper sequence, or Wealden in the strict sense, rarely rests directly on the Callovian. Towards the northwest is the Urgonian Complex. [Graphic logs, charophytes, ostracod photographs, Dictyocythere, and a correlation diagram showing the relationship to the Dorset strata.]

Rat, P. 1963. A propos du Wealdien cantabrique; transgression et regressions marine climatique. Note de M. Pierre Rat, presentee by M. Pierre Pruvost. [On the Cantabrian Wealden (including Purbeck); marine transgressions and regressions of climatic origin.] Comptes Rendus Academie des Sciences, France, tome 256, pp. 455-457. Seance du Janvier 1963. [Discusses the effect of changes in the rainfall regime, such as an increase in rainfall as producing a seaward movement of the freshwater facies, and thus an apparent regression. With a diagram of this.]

Rat, P. 1963. Problemes du Cretace Inferieur dans les Pyrenees et le Nord de l'Espagne. [Problems of the Lower Cretaceous in the Pyrenees and the north of Spain.] Sonderdruck aus der Geologischen Rundshau, Band 53, pp. 205-220. Abstract: Through recent publications, the major facts or new trends in the stratigraphy of lower Cretaceous are examined. A considerable extension of emerged areas marks the Upper Jurassic (Post-Callovian). A new paleogeography is thus starting. Henceforth terrigenous deposits (clay and sand) are almost continuously conflicting with a mostly calcareous marine sedimentation. The former are highly dependent on local conditions; the latter, unchanging over long periods in all the Mediterranean areas, is the result of really uniform geographical factors: e. g. Rudist limestones, Orbitolina series. In the course of time, a rather quiet but varied sedimentation (lacustrian, brackish or even marine) precedes, in different places, the dumping of huge quantities of "Wealden" sandstones. Elsewhere the discovery of marine Neocomian changes our views on the Aptian transgression. Lastly the detrital albian occurrence of Utrillas beds seems to be widely spread. A climatic change might be responsible for it.

Rat, P. and Salomon, J. 1966. Donnes nouvelles sur la stratigraphie et les variations sedimentaires de la serie purbecko-wealdienne au S de Santander (Espagne). By Pierre Rat and Jean Salomon. [New observations on the stratigraphy and the sedimentary variations of the Purbeck-Wealden Series to the south of Santander, Spain.]. Journal not known, pp. 216-217, 16 June, 1966. [Beds with the pellet Favreina and ostracods.]
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Roca , E. 1996. The Neogene Cerdanya and Seu d'Urgell intramontane basin (Eastern Pyrenees). Pp 114-119 in: Friend, P.F. and Dabrio, C.J. 1996. Tertiary Basins of Spain: the Stratigraphic Record of Crustal Kinematics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 400pp. (SOC Library - GRE - FRI. [Relevant to student mapping near Martinet and Bellver and also Seu d'Urgell. Note the fault systems - Le Pet Fault - strike-slip fault and associated normal faults.]
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Rocarol, R.C. & Badia, R.L. 1986. Apunts de geologia de l'Alta Ribagorca: El Pont de Suert i els seus voltans. Centre d'Estudis i Museu de l'Alta Ribagorca, C/ Palanca, Pont de Suert.
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Roest, W.R. and Srivastava. 1991. Kinematics of the plate boundaries between Eurasia, Iberia and Africa in the North Atlantic from the late Cretaceous to the present. Geology, 19, 613-616.
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Salas , R. 1986. The origin of Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous dolomite in Eastern Iberian Ranges (El Maestrat, Spain). Abstract only. XI Congreso Espanol de Sedimentologia, Barcelona. One page. .
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Sans , M., Munoz, J.A. and Verges, J. 1996. Triangle zone and thrust wedge geometries related to evaporitic horizons (southern Pyrenees). Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 44, 375-384. Abstract: The South Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt triangle zone developed above Eocene to Oligocene foreland evaporitic levels, The triangle zone, Oligocene in age, dies eastwards and westwards where the thrust front becomes south-directed and emergent. The eastern and western terminations of the triangle zone coincide with the edges of the evaporitic basins. The frontal thrust wedge defines abrupt changes in trend related to the depositional orientation of evaporitic limits: the NE-SW Suria Anticline, the NW-SE Sanaiija Anticline and the E-W Barbastro-Balaguer Anticline. The thrust wedge is formed commonly at pinch-outs of salt without changes in structural level, although in some localities the thrust wedge developed above a thrust ramp geometry. Constrained timing and structural evolution of the foreland fold-and-thrust belt indicate the existence of northern and previous thrust wedges located at the Oliana and Puig-reig anticlines and the Sanaiija Anticline that have been abandoned as deformation progressed southward. Frontal thrust wedges were incorporated into the triangle zone which widened as new frontal thrust wedges developed forwards, at the southern edge of higher evaporitic levels. The exposed example is well understood because of continuous field exposures, syntectonic sedimentary relationships and new, good quality seismic profiles as well as subsurface control from oil and potash exploration wells.
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Seguret , M. 1969. La nappe de Pedraforca: nouvelle unite allochtone du versant sud des Pyrenees. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 269, 552-555.

Seguret, M. 1972. Etude Tectonique des Nappes et Series Decollees de la Partie Centrale du Versant Sud des Pyrenees. Publications de l'Universite des sciences et techniques du Languedoc (Ustela). Series Geologie Structurale No. 2., 151pp + plates. [Thrusts to the south. Pedraforca Nappe etc. Gavarnie, South Pyreneean central, etc. Some palaeogeographic maps, Cretaceous etc. ]
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Shoemaker , S.J. and Garver, J.I. 2000. Exhumation history of the Pyrenees using detrital zircon thermochronology. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with program, v. 32, n.1, p. 74. Abstract: Detrital Fission Track Thermochronology is used to decipher the exhumation evolution of orogenic systems. This continuing study focuses on the Late Cretaceous to Tertiary Pyrenean Orogenic Belt, a doubly vergent orogenic system located between France and Spain. The north-vergent thrusts of the northern zone (France) were active from the Late Cretaceous to Eocene. South-vergent thrust sheets of the southern zone (Spain) were active in the Late Cretaceous to Oligo-Miocene. The Pyrenean Orogeny followed mid-Cretaceous transtension related to the opening of the Bay of Biscay, which in turn followed Hercynian rifting characterized by high geothermal gradients and widespread thermal resetting. Samples for this study are coincident with the ECORS seismic transect. As a baseline, detrital zircons from modern river sediments were dated to characterize the cooling ages of either side of the orogen. Data show that sediments shed off the north, draining the older section of the orogen (Ariege River, France), are dominated by mid-Cretaceous (~110 Ma, ~53%) and Late Cretaceous (~67 Ma, ~30%) cooling ages. Sediments shed off the south (Segre River, Spain) are dominated by Eocene (~47 Ma, ~60%) cooling ages, with equal fractions (~20%) of mid-Cretaceous (~91 Ma) and lower Mesozoic ( ~240 Ma) cooling ages. To understand long term exhumation, syn-orogenic strata were sampled on the north side of the orogen. Initial results from an Oligocene sample indicate that the main zircon population is dominated by post-Hercynian cooling ages (~215-240 Ma, ~77%), with a lesser fraction (~23%) related to the Late Cretaceous initiation of the Pyrenean orogeny (~75-65 Ma). Combined, the cooling ages in the northern Pyrenees (Recent to Oligocene) suggest that over the last 35 Ma, progressive exhumation removed an upper crustal layer dominated by Hercynian cooling ages and exposed a lower level characterized by mid-Cretaceous cooling.
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Soquet, P. 1967. Le Cretace Superieur sub-Pyreneen en Catalogne, Aragon et Navarre. These, Fac. Science, Toulouse, 529p.
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Souriau, A. and Granet, M.A. 1995. A tomographic study of the lithosphere beneath the Pyrenees from local and teleseismic data. Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, B9, 18117-18134.
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Speksnijder, A. 1985. Anatomy of strike-slip controlled sedimentary basin, Permian of the Southern Pyrenees, Spain. Sedimentary Geology, 44, 179-223.
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Strasser, A. and Davaud, E. 1983. Black pebbles of the Purbeckian (Swiss and French Jura): lithology, geochemistry and origin. Eclogae geol. Helv., 76/3, 551-580. [relevant to Tremp Formation]

Strasser, A. 1984. Black-pebble occurrence and genesis in Holocene carbonate sediments (Florida Keys, Bahamas, and Tunisia). Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54, 1097-1109. [re Tremp Formation].
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Suppe, J., Sabat, F., Munoz, J.A., Poblet, J., Roca, E. and Verges, J. 1997. Bed-by-bed fold growth by kink-band migration: Sant Llorenc de Morunys, eastern Pyrenees. Journal of Structural Geology, 19, 443-461. Abstract: Growth strata deposited over and against the flank of the Sant Llorenc de Morunys fold during its final stages of deformation have been mapped at high resolution as the basis for unraveling the kinematics of fold growth. We use restoration techniques based on normal balancing assumptions to decipher the detailed kinematic history of folding. The progressive restorations, as well as balanced forward modeling, show that the last few hundred meters of fold growth were dominated by kink-band migration of a sort that is typical of much fault-related folding. The kink-band migration has produced complex anticlinal hinge-zone geometry, including segmented fold hinges linked by disconformities and unconformities, which has direct and detailed explanation in terms of fluctuations in deposition rate relative to curved-hinge kink-band migration rate. Large fluctuations in the convolution of non-steady sedimentation and deformation are demonstrated, although the absolute fluctuations in deformation and sedimentation are unknown. At a length scale of 100 m, kink-band migration with little or no deposition is interspersed with sedimentation with little or no deformation. At the length scale of 500 m, deposition ranges from 200% to 50% of uplift.
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Tall geologic del Pirineu central (Geological cross-section of the central Pyrenees). 1993. Servei Geologic de Catalunya, Institut Cartografic de Catalunya, Barcelona.
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Teixell, A. 1996. The Anso transect of the southern Pyrenees: basement and cover thrust geometries. Journal of the Geological Society, 153, 301-310.

Teixell, A. 1998. Crustal structure and orogenic material budget in the West-Central Pyrenees. Tectonics, 17, 395-406.
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Ullastre, J., Durand-Delga, M. and Masriera, A. 1990. Relaciones tectonicas y sedimentarias entre la series del Cadi y la zona del Pedraforca (Pirineo catalan). Tectonic and sedimentary relations between the Cadi Unit and the Pedraforca Unit (Catalonian Pyrenees, Spain). Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona. 1, 163-207 (1990). (Mueseo de Geologia. Parc de la Ciutadella. 08003, Barcelona, Spain). Key Paper. Slightly modified extracts from the Abstract (in English): The Pedraforca Unit forms, to the east of the Segre Fault, the eastern part of the allochthonous series of the southern Pyrenees. It was generally accepted that the material of the Pedraforca Unit, mainly Mesozoic, is made up of a group of allochthonous units ("Pedraforca nappe" in the Seguret sense) coming from the north and displacing over the Eocene of the Cadi Unit; this last unit (relative authochthonous) is constituted of sedimentary strata superposed on the Palaeozoic rocks of the Pyrenees Axial Zone to the southeast of Andorra. This interpretation is rejected by the authors... We remember the essential stratigraphic characteristics of the Cadi Unit and those of the Pedraforca Unit (eastern prolongation of the allochthonous series of the southern Pyrenees situated to the west of the Segre). We insist on the comon stratigraphical series of both units (marine Upper Senonian, Maestrichtian-Palaeocene of "garumnian" facies, marine Lower-Middle Eocene). In both units we observe the suppression of stratigraphical series from west to the east. We demonstrate that the lithological succession of the western Cadi (sector of Fornols) and the succession of the most eastern part of the Pedraforca Unit (sector to the southwest of La Pobla de Lillet) have some very peculiar characteristics, exclusively of these two sectors: heavy mineral assemblages in Maestrichtian sandstones, typical detrital beds ("La Nou conglomerates" "Fornols breccias"), onlap deposition of the Ilerdian.. But at present these two sectors are separated by 40km from west to east. Then we propose to displace the eastern point of the Pedraforca Unit to neighbouring western part of the Cadi Unit displacing towards the west the "Central Unit of the southern Pyrenees"... This movement would have been carried out principally along the Cadi Fault, a big fault, (it passes south of Baga and north of Pedraforca) with a strike slip and a vertical slip of kilometric order, between the Cadi Unit and the Pedraforca Unit. After noting the several explanation proposed for the tectonic emplacement of the Pedraforca Unit, the authors describe in detail some important sectors situated along the Cadi Fault or in its proximity, between the Palaeozoic klippe of the Montsec de Tost (Nogueras Unit) and the south of La Pobla de Lillet. This fault with its steep dip to the south, intersects the different formations of the Eocene series of the Cadi Unit. Various tectonic arguments justify the strike slip theory for this fault, whose age is essentially Middle Upper Eocene, but which has reacted in an important way during the Neogene. ...Therefore we cannot consider the "Cadi Fault" as the basal thrust plane of a "Pedraforca Nappe" of Eocene age, which would have been made in almost vertical position in past times. We consider it to be a deep fault affecting the basement with a prolongation towards the west, in the interior of Nogueras Unit. At the same time the Cadi Fault connects to the southwest, with the deep Segre Fault. The Cadi and Segre Faults are partially strike-slip faults, both delimit a crustal block which, during the emplacement (in the Eocene) of the allochthonous units of the southern Pyrenees, would have displaced towards the east with a certain clockwise rotation, with respect to the Axial Zone and to the basement of the "Central Unit of the Southern Pyrenees" to the W of the Segre.
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Van Hoorn, B. 1970. Sedimentology and paleogeography of a turbidite basin in Spain. Leidse Geol. Mededelingen, 45, 73-154.
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Verges, J. 1996. Quantified vertical motions and tectonic evolution. In: Tertiary Basin of Spain. The Stratigraphic Record of Crustal Kinematics. Eds. Friend, P.C. and Dabrio, C.J. Cambridge University Press.

Verges, J., Fernandez, M., and Martinez, A. 2002. The Pyrenean Orogen: pre-, syn-, and post-collisional evolution. In: Rosenbaum, G. and Lister, G.S. (eds), Reconstruction of the Evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogeny. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, pp. 57-76.

Verges, J. and Munoz, J.A. 1990. Thrust sequences in the southern central Pyrenees. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 8, 265-271.

Verges, J., Munoz, J.A. and Martinez, A. 1992. South Pyrenean fold and thrust belt: The role of foreland evaporitic levels in thrust geometry. In McClay, K.R. (eds): Thrust Tectonics, 255-264. Chapman Hall, London.
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Vincent, S.J. 1999. The role of sediment supply in controlling alluvial architecture: an example from the Spanish Pyrenees. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 156, 749-759. [northern margin of Tremp-Graus Basin].
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Virgili, C. 1958. El Triassico de los Catalanides. Bol. Inst. Geol. Min. Esp., 69, 856p.

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Whalley, P.E.S. and Jarzembowski, E.A. 1985. Fossil insects from the Lithographic Limestone of Montsech (late Jurassic - early Cretaceous), Lerida Province, Spain. Bulletin of the British Museum, Natural History (Geology), 38 (5): 381-412. Abstract: Fossil insects from the Lithographic Limestone (Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous), Montsech, Lerida, Spain are described; their affinities and faunal significance are discussed. Seven orders of insects are represented (Ephemeroptera, Blattodea, Odonata, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera), three of which are previously unknown from this locality. The following six new species are described: Mesopalingea lerida gen. et sp. nov. (mayfly), Artitocoblatta hispanica (cockroach), Condalia woottoni gen. et sp. nov. (dragonfly), Wonnacottella pulcherrima gen. et sp. nov. (paleontinid), Chrysobotris (?) ballae (buprestid beetle) and Eobelus solutus (eobelid weevil).
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Warrak, M. 1974. The petrology and origin of dedolomitized, veined or brecciated carbonate rocks, the "cornieules ", in the Frejus region, French Alps. Journal of the Geological Society, London , 130, 229-247. [Relevant to cargneules, rahwackes or evaporite breccias, particularly in the Pont du Suert Formation (Trias).]
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Williams, G.D. 1985. Thrust tectonics in the south central Pyrenees. Journal of Structural Geology, 7, 11-17.

Williams, G.D. & Fischer, M.W. 1984. A balanced section across the Pyrenean orogenic belt. Tectonics, 3, 773-780.
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Yelland, A. 1991. Thermo-Tectonics of the Pyrenees and Provence from Fission Track Studies. Ph.D. Thesis, Birkbeck College, University of London.
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Yuste, A., Luzon, A. and Baulaz, B. 2004. Provenance of Oligocene–Miocene alluvial and fluvial fans of the northern Ebro Basin (NE Spain): an XRD, petrographic and SEM study. Sedimentary Geology, 172, 251-268. Abstract: This paper combines stratigraphic and sedimentological data with XRD, petrographic and SEM techniques in order to investigate the fluvial and alluvial fans that were developed during the Oligocene and the Lower Miocene in the central area of the northern Ebro Basin (Spain), and their respective source areas. The proximal sectors of the coeval depositional systems can be separated on the basis of lithofacies criteria. Conglomerate features reveal that the source areas for the alluvial fans were limited to the South Pyrenean Sierras, whereas those of the fluvial fans included more northern Pyrenean areas, such as the Axial Zone or the clastic Tremp-Graus Basin. Far from the basin margin, the distal alluvial facies interdigitate with the middle-distal fluvial deposits. In these areas, only detailed mineralogical and petrographic analysis of the rocks can determine their origin. Thus, the methods used have allowed us to differentiate between authigenic and detrital phases. On the basis of these observations, three different types of coarse sandstone petrofacies have been distinguished: (1) carbonate-rich sandstone, (2) high-quartz sandstone and (3) high lithic-fragment sandstone (rich in shale and feldspars grains). The first corresponds to the alluvial samples and corroborates the South Pyrenean Sierras as alluvial fans source area. The high-quartz and the high lithic-fragment sandstone correspond to the fluvial samples and evidence that the drainage basin of the fluvial fans included the clastic Tremp-Graus Basin and the Axial Zone. The high lithic-fragment petrofacies is representative of the most ancient fluvial rocks whereas the high-quartz sandstone corresponds to the recent and nonconforming fluvial rocks. This change in the fluvial petrofacies allows us to recognise the changing importance of each region as a source area of the fluvial fans over time, which can be correlated with Pyrenean tectonic activity during the Oligocene.
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Zandvliet, J. 1960. The geology of the upper Salat and Pallaresa valleys, central Pyrenees, France/Spain.
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Zeyen, H. and Fernandez, M. 1994. Integrated lithospheric modelling combining thermal, gravity, and local isostasy analysis: application to the NE Spanish Geotransect. Journal of Geophysics Research, 99, 18089-18102.
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Zwart, H.J. 1979. The Geology of the Central Pyrenees. Leidse Geologische. Mededelingen, Deel 50, Aflevering 1, 1-74 and enclosures - Geological Map of the Central Pyrenees 1:50,000 in 10 sheets of which Sheet 10 is the Segre-Valira, Andorra, Spain Sheet [includes the Cadi] plus 6 cross sections, 4 geological maps on various scales and four plates.

Pyrenees, Spain - Bibliographies

Author - unknown - 199? Bibliografia del Bergueda. At least 25 pages.

Pyrenees, Spain - Conglomerates, Collegats, Late Palaeogene

Coney, P.J., Munoz, J.A., McClay, K.R. and Evenchick, C.A. 1996. Syntectonic burial and post-tectonic exhumation of the southern Pyrenees foreland fold-thrust belt. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 153, 9-16.

Cretaceous - General

Bilotte, M. 1974. Contribution a l'etude du Senonien sud-Pyrenneen. 1. Stratigraphie du massif de Rasos de Peguera. Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. de Toulouse, 110, 300-307.

Bilotte, M. 1978. Le Cretace superieur des Sierras del Cadi, de Port del Compte et de Oden (Troncon catalan -Pyrenees). C.R. Sc. Phys. et Hist. Nat., Geneve, 13 (1), 16-22.

Billotte, M. 1982. Les series sedimentaires du Mesozoique de la "Nappe de la Pedraforca" est de son " autochtone" (Troncon catalan - Pyrenees), consequences structurales. Cuad. Geol. Iberica, 8, 1.017-1.025.

Billotte, M. 1985. Le Cretace superieur des plates-formes est-pyreneennes. Strata, Toulouse, serie 2, 5, 1-438.

Fiest, M. and Columbo, f. 1983. La limite Cretace - Tertiare dans le nord-est de l'Espagne, du point de vue des Charophytes. Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10 (3-4), 303-326.

Keller, P. and Gehring, A.U., 1992. Different weathering stages indicated by the magnetization of limestones - an example from the southeast Pyrenees, Spain. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 111, (1), 49-57. June 1992. Abstract: Paleomagnetic and structural data from the Pedraforca thrust sheet in the southeast Pyrenees show that the chemical weathering of the late Cretaceous limestones is a multistage process. The first weathering stage, of latest Eocene to early Oligocene age, is indicated by a chemical remanent magnetization carried by hematite. The formation of hematite as the dominant weathering product suggests a subtropical climate in northeast Spain during this period. The second weathering stage is indicated by the presence of goethite, which carries a chemical remanent magnetization parallel to the present earth field. This suggests formation of the goethite since the late Pleistocene under cooler climatic conditions similar to the present-day climate in the Pyrenees.

Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1981. Contribution des mineraux lourds a la lithostratigraphie du Cretace terminal des Pyrenees catalanes et quelques consequences paleogeographiques et tectoniques. C.R. Acad. Sc. Paris, 293, 179-182.

Megias, A.G. 1982. Nueva hiptesis paleogeografica sobre el Cretacico surpirenaico. Cuad. Geol. Iberica, 8, 1.005-1.015.

Museu de la Cienca i de la Tecnica de Catalunya. 1997. Les Mines de Cerc. 23 pp. Museu de la Mines de Cercs. History of Cretaceous Lignite Mining at Cerc, north of Berga. From the museum of mines at Cerc.

Cretaceous Dinosaurs (Footprints etc)

Anonymous, 1995. ( A dinosaur of Bergueda unique in the world; the footprints of Vallcebre are the first which have been found of a great titanosaur) Un dinosaure bergueda unica al mon: un cientic diu que les petjades de Vallcebre son les primeres que es troben d'un gran titanosaure. Tema del dia: dinosaures al Bergueda. Article of the newspaper - "Regio7". Dated 2 September, 1995. Section - Societat - 3. The French palaeontologist Jean le Loeuff has restudied the dinosaur footprints found in 1985 (by Lluis Viladrich) in an old lignite mine (Late Cretaceous, about 70 million years old) at the coll of Fumanya, near Vallcebre, southwest of Guardiola de Bergueda. He attributes them to a large titanosaur. He is working with Albert Martinez of the Servei Geologica de la Generalitat, author of the Geological Guide to Bergueda and Pedraforca (Guia Geologica del Bergueda i el Pedraforca). Jean le Loeuff and Albert Martinez attribute the footprints to a large titanosaur. A section at the end of the article, though, comments that "it is possible" that the footprints are of a titanosaur but they are difficult to study. A photograph shows the footprints on a very steeply dipping surface forming a western wall across a deep quarry, now partly infilled with debris as a result of restoration.

Cretaceous - Fauna, General

Bataller, J.R. 1936. Revisio d'una faunula cretacica recollida al Pedraforca. Butll. Inst. Cat. Hist. Nat. , Barcelona, 36, 85-90.

Calzada, S. 1974. Rhynchonella sardanyolae = Viarhynchia n. gen. Cerdanyolae del Cretacico superior (Prepirineo catalan). Acta Geol. Hisp., 9 (5), 169-173.

Cretaceous - Tertiary Boundary Fiest, M. and Columbo, f. 1983. La limite Cretace - Tertiare dans le nord-est de l'Espagne, du point de vue des Charophytes. Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10 (3-4), 303-326.

Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1982. Essai de synthese stratigraphique des couches continentales de la fin du Cretace des Pyrenees catalanes (NE de l'Espagne). Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10 (3-4), 283-290.

Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1985. Puntualizacion acerca de las relaciones entre el Eoceno marino de Montcalb - La Corriu, el de Sant Llorenc de Morunys y los conglomerados continentales encajantes (Pireneo catalan). Estudios geol., 41, 385-390.

Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1990. Yacimientos ineditos de carofitas que contribuyen a fijar el limite Cretacico-terciario en el Pineo Catalan. Rev. Soc. Geol. Espana, 3 (1-2), 33-41. (Significant paper on dating by charophytes - reference to the footprint bed of near Valcebre, the Valcebre (Rognac) Limestone etc.)

Ullastre, J. and Masriera, A. 1983. Le passage Cretace - Tertiaire dans les regions sud-Pyreneennes de la Catalogne: donnees nouvelles. Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10, (3-4), 217-281.

Paleogene - General

Betzler, C. 1989. The upper Paleocene to middle Eocene between the Rio Segre and Rio Llobregat (Eastern South Pyrenees): facies, stratigraphy and structural evolution. Tubinger Geow. Arb, A, 2.

Betzler, C. 1989. A carbonate complex in an active foreland basin: the Palaeogene of the Sierra del Port del Compte and the Sierra de Cadi. Geodinamica Acta, Paris, 3, 207-220.

Hottinger, L. 1960. Recherches sur les Alveolines du Paleocene et de l'Eocene. Mem. Suisses Paleont. , 75-76.

Reille, J.L. et Seguret, M. 1969. Sur la presence d'olistolithes dans l'Eocene marin de la Sierra del Cadi (versant sud des Pyrenees orientales) et sur leur signification. C.R. Acad. Sc. Paris, 268, 1.845-1.848.

Rudists and Rudist Reefs (Cretaceous)

• Bibliography of Rudist Bivalves Please see this for more references or rudists in addition to those given below. It is a useful bibliography.
• Database on Rudist Palaeontology
• Cretaceous Rudists from Egypt
• Rudists - Enclyopaedia Brittanica Brief mention of rudists in this example extract regarding the Cretaceous : "The marine realm can be divided into two paleobiogeographic regions, the Tethys and the boreal. The division is based on the occurrence of rudist-dominated organic reeflike structures. Rudists were large, rather unusual bivalves that had one valve shaped like a cylindrical vase and another that resembled a flattened cap. The rudists were generally dominant over the corals as framework builders. They rarely existed outside the Tethyan region, and the few varieties found elsewhere did not create reeflike structures. Rudist reeflike structures of Cretaceous age serve as reservoir rocks for petroleum in Mexico, Venezuela, and the Middle East."

Carannante, G., Graziano, R., Pappone, G., Ruberti, D., and Simone, L. 1999. Depositional system and response to sea level oscillations of the Senonian rudist-bearing carbonate shelves. Examples from central Mediterranean areas. Facies, 40, 1-24. Abstract: In the Late Cretaceous the carbonate platforms modified the organization of their depositional systems owing to vast and complex geologic events. In this view, detailed analyses have been made on Senonian shelf-to- slope rudist-bearing limestones resting on pre-Coniacian erosive surfaces or slope facies in the Nurra region (northwestern Sardinia, Italy), in the central-southern Apennines and in the Gargano area (central-southern Italy). The main characteristic of the analyzed deposits is the spreading of rudists in a context of foramol-type calcite-dominated benthonic sediment-producer communities....The reconstructed Senonian depositional environments match a large complex of unprotected shelves that produced loose, diagenetically stable mollusc-dominated bioclastic debris which were not involved in significant in situ cementation processes. High energy episodes led to repeated and more or less total remobilization of the sedimentary sheet. On the shelves, both storm- and wind-induced currents and waves exercised a strong driving control on the sedimentary arrangement of the shifting biogenic sediments. The latter constituted large coalescing sheets of winnowed, loose, fine-to-coarse skeletal sands. Sandy sediments were easily involved in remobilization processes across the shelves toward the redepositional sites. Transport modality largely depended on the granular composition of the sediments. The early and almost continuous sweeping of the finer fraction (bioeroded-derived silt) resulted in an effective pre-sorting of the skeletal debris stored in the Senonian open shelf settings. In situ preservation potentiality of the produced skeletal material was low and huge amounts of sands may have concurred in forming slope aprons....In the studied successions a two-stage evolution is documented during the Senonian....All over the latest Turonian-early Campanian interval the rudist-bearing shallow neritic platforms retreated, with seabed opening and deepening, and an underfeeding of the slope occurred. Probably, only where rudists strongly dominated the shelf assemblages (as in the case of the southern Tethyan carbonate platforms), their relatively high rate of bioclastic sediment production and supply might partially compensate for the increased accommodation space reducing the effects of the early Senonian transgressive phase....In the late Senonian a huge amount of foramol skeletal sands prograded over the upper slope by means of impressive gravitative flows suggesting that main depocenters moved down-slope. The persistence of healthy, producing foramol open-shelves may be inferred by the occurrence of compo; sitionally coherent displaced skeletal sands even if reduced findings of late Campanian-Maastrichtian shallow water timestones are known characterized by a clear upward shallowing trend. A reduced accommodation space in shallow water settings may have enhanced the high off-bank sand dispersion via an increased winnowing action exerted on loose foramol-bioclastic sediments in periods in which the shelf tops were exposed to intense current winnowing. The generalized down-slope migration of the main depocenters occurred during the late Senonian regressive phase.... Owing to the peculiar characteristics of the foramol-type open shelves (e.g., physiography, sediment production and composition), the sediment distribution patterns of the Senonian rudist-bearing carbonate factories and their response to sea level fluctuations were strongly modified with respect to the commonly accepted carbonate platform chlorozoan standard model. Major progradational episodes of marginal sands occurred during both relative lowstands and terminal highstands of sea level. During transgressive phases only where the sediment production was sustained (southern Tethyan carbonate platforms), the rudist-bearing depositional systems might have dampened the typical drowning tendency of the foramol open shelves.

Caus, E., Garcia-Senz, J., Rodes, D. and Simo, A. 1990. Stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian-Barremian) sediments in the Organya Basin, Pyrenees, Spain. Cretaceous Research, 11, 313-320. Prada limestone - lower part marine with rudists, upper part lagoonal with charophytes. .

Fernandez-Mendiola, P.A. and Garcia-Mondejar, J. 1997. Isolated carbonate platform of Caniego, Spain: A test of the latest Albian worldwide sea-level changes. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109 (2), 176-194. Abstract: The upper Albian Caniego carbonate platform consists of a 20-m-thick unit of rudist- and coral-bearing limestones that crops out at the northern margin of the Mena diapir in northern Spain, The limestones were deposited on top of a slowly subsiding area, the Mena paleohigh, a diapiric-induced horst bounded by synsedimentary faults, The Caniego limestones originated in shallow warm tropical waters following a widespread marine transgression at the base of the foraminifera Rotalipora appenninica zone (ammonite Stoliczkaia dispar zone), Around the middle part of the appenninica zone the Caniego limestones underwent subaerial exposure and karst development, Fibrous calcite cements filled the bulk of the fissure-dike and dissolution cavities, Field, petrological, and geochemical data indicate that the fibrous calcites are meteoric flowstones, delta(18)O values in these cements range from -3 parts per thousand to -4.5 parts per thousand and delta(13)C values range from -7 parts per thousand to -14 parts per thousand (relative to the Peedee belemnite [PDB] standard), Thick wedges of nearshore shallow-marine siliciclastic sediments were deposited in paleotrough areas surrounding the Caniego paleohigh while the platform was subaerially exposed, The carbonate platform was drowned in early Cenomanian time and hardground-condensed facies developed during this period (Rotalipora brotzeni zone), Deeper water noncondensed marry sedimentation was reestablished in the mid-Cenomanian (Rotalipora reicheli zone), Comparison of the Iberian Caniego limestones with worldwide successions suggests a coincidence in the timing of platform formation emergence and drowning in several basins of different lithospheric plates, Nevertheless, an overall lack of coordination of sea-level histories from different basins may be related to tectonic movements of the lithospheric plates, Plate rearrangement is invoked as the primary control on relative sea-level changes and sequence development.

Gili, E., Masse, J-P. and Skelton, P.W. 1995. Rudists as gregarious sediment-dwellers, not reef-builders, on Cretaceous carbonate platforms. Palaeo, Palaeo, Palaeo, 118, Nos. 2-3, 245-268.

Gomez-Perez, I., Fernandez-Mendiola, P.A. and Garcia-Mondejar, J. 1999. Depositional architecture of a rimmed carbonate platform (Albian, Gorbea, western Pyrenees). Sedimentology, 46 (2), 337-356. Abstract: A Lower Cretaceous carbonate platform depositional system with a rimmed margin and an adjacent oversteepened slope was analysed in order to determine its depositional architecture and major depositional controls. The platform is made up of coral, rudist, orbitolinid and algal limestones and, in a 12-km dip transect, there is a gradation from lagoon to platform margin, slope and basin environments, each characterized by distinctive sedimentological features and facies associations, The rimmed platform is an aggradational system developed during approximately 4.2 million years of fluctuating relative sea-level rise, and it is bounded by unconformities at its base and top. internal cyclicity in the construction of the system is evident, mainly in platform interior and slope settings. The seven recognized sequences average 0.6 million years in duration and are related to minor relative sea-level changes. Carbonate deposition occurred in shallow- and deep-water settings during periods of high relative sea level. Reduced rates of sea-level rise led to the development of shallowing upward sequences and, eventually, to the exposure of the shallowest parts of the platform during relative sea-level falls. During low relative sea level, erosion surfaces developed on the slope, and gravitational resedimentation occurred at the toe of slope. Basinwards, resedimented units pinch out over distances of a few hundred metres, Active faults controlled sedimentation at the platform margin, promoting the development of steep slopes (up to 35 degrees) and preventing progradation of the shallow-water platform, despite high sediment production rates. The development of sequences is interpreted to be related to tectonic activity.

Masse, J.P. and Maresca, M.G. 1997. Late Aptian Radiolitidae (rudist bivalves) from the Mediterranean and Southwest Asiatic regions: Taxonomic, biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic aspects Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 128, (1-4), 1010-110. Abstract: The onset of the Radiolitidae in the mid-Aptian was subsequently followed by a diversification and a geographic spreading of the group during the late Aptian. From the Mediterranean and Southwest Asian regions are recorded four species of Eoradiolites and one species of Praeradiolites, all well defined. Moreover at least two species of Eoradiolites and two species of Praeradiolites, with a poorly defined taxonomic status, are also present. The geographic distribution of the Mediterranean faunas runs from Southern France, Spain, Italy, Bosnia, East Serbia, Lebanon to Algeria. The southwest Asian faunas are documented from Western China, North India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The age of the radiolitid-bearing localities is discussed and/or documented after micropalaeontological assemblages. Mediterranean and Southwest Asian faunas are remarkably different: the former group is dominated by typical cellular shelled forms (Eoradiolites katzeri-E. plicatus being the cardinal taxa) whereas the latter is dominated by acellular forms (Eoradiolites gilgitensis being the cardinal taxon). Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the late Aptian palaeoenvironments place the Mediterranean fauna on the northern and the southern margin of the ''Mediterranean Seuil'' without any significant dissimilarities in composition, while the southwest Asian faunas are restricted to the northern margin of Tethys. These two bioprovinces are both located in the tropical domain of the northern hemisphere. The existence in southern Russia of a wide marine embayment connected to high latitude cool waters suggests a possible thermal barrier between the Southwest Asian and Mediterranean faunas, close to the Caucasus. The corresponding faunal groups, with common origin, could have derived from isolation of founder populations coupled with some adaptive divergence during the rapid dispersion of the family at an early stage of evolutionary maturity.

Sanders, D. 1999. Shell disintegration and taphonomic loss in rudist biostromes. Lethaia, 32, (2), 101-112. Abstract: Radiolitid biostromes in the Upper Cretaceous of Austria and Italy record a marked taphonomic loss controlled mainly by the composition of the biocoenosis, lay the density of rudist colonization, by the style of radiolitid shell disintegration and by early diagenetic processes. Radiolitid shells consisted of a calcitic ostracum and an originally aragonitic hypostracum. The attached valve of most radiolitids was built of (1) an outermost ostracal layer of delicate calcite lamellae, (2) a thick layer of 'boxwork ostracum' built of radial funnel plates and cell walls, (3) a thin, inner 'ostracal layer 3' of thick-walled boxwork, and (4) the hypostracum that formed the innermost shell layer. The attached valve disintegrated by spalling of radial funnel plates of layer 2, and by selective removal of the boxwork ostracum. In the free valve, the ostracum consisted of two layers: (a) an inner, lid-shaped layer of dense calcite, and (b) an outer layer composed of calcite lamellae. The free valve disintegrated by spalling into ostracal and hypostracal portions, by spalling of the ostracum into layers a and b, and by disintegration of layer b into packages of calcite lamellae and individual lamellae. The specific style of disintegration of the radiolitids was aided or induced by discontinuities in shell structure. Lamellar fragments from the ostracum of the upper valve and from the radial funnel plates of the lower valve locally are abundant in free-valve - funnel-plate floatstones that comprise the matrix of or occur in lenses within radiolitid biostromes. In biostromes with an open parautochthonous fabric, selective removal of the boxwork ostracum of the attached valve occurred by mechanical spalling and, most probably, by early diagenetic dissolution. Complete removal of the boxwork ostracum yielded thin, relict shells composed of the 'ostracal layer 3' and the hypostracum. During early diagenesis, the hypostracum was replaced by blocky calcite spar, or was dissolved and became filled by internal sediments. The combination of both selective removal of boxwork ostracum and early diagenetic dissolution of aragonite locally resulted in the formation of ghost biostromes that entirely or largely consist of faint relies of radiolitids. The syndepositional formation of radiolitid shell relies and the presence of radiolitid ghost biostromes produced by biostratinomic and early diagenetic processes show that rudist biostromes can undergo marked taphonomic loss during fossilization. The presence of ghost biostromes with a burrowed, open parautochthonous rudist fabric indicates that the final preservation of a rudist biostrome was directly influenced by the characteristics of the biocoenosis, including unpreserved burrowing taxa. Rudist biostromes maybe of markedly different taphonomy as a result of the taxonomic composition of the entire assemblage and the density of colonization by the rudists.

Sano, S.I.1995. Litho- and biofacies of Early Cretaceous rudist-bearing carbonate sediments in northeastern Japan. Sedimentary Geology, 99, 165-178.

Steuber, T. 1999. Isotopic and chemical intra-shell variations in low-Mg calcite of rudist bivalves (Mollusca-Hippuritacea): disequilibrium fractionations and late Cretaceous seasonality. International Journal of Earth Sciences. 88 (3), 551-570. Oct. 1999. Abstract: Isotopic (delta(13)C, delta(18)O) and elemental (Mg, Sr, Mn, Fe) compositions were analysed in sclerochronological profiles of several shells of late Cretaceous rudist bivalves from Greece, Turkey, Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula. The preservation of original compositions of low-Mg calcite of outer shell layers is indicated by constant and high Sr, generally low Fe and Mn, and the preservation of fibrous-prismatic ultrastructures. Cyclic variations in delta(18)O and Mg are interpreted to reflect. seasonal temperature/salinity cycles and, thus, annual growth increments. In shells of Torreites, amplitudes of correlated delta(13)C and delta(18)O cycles cannot be related to reasonable palaeotemperatures or salinity. This isotopic pattern reflects vital fractionations of an extent which is unknown from modern bivalves. In contrast, almost identical ranges and amplitudes of delta(18)O cycles are observed in 13 shells of five species from Santonian-Campanian localities in central Greece and northern Turkey, suggesting that seasonal variations in environmental conditions were recorded without significant vital fractionations. The effect of seasonal salinity changes on delta(18)O of the shells is evaluated, and mean palaeotemperatures are constrained within the range of 30-32.5 degrees C. The annual range of temperature was estimated to be 7 degrees C, assuming a constant salinity. This agrees with other isotopic proxies of Late Cretaceous palaeotemperatures, and with global circulation models which predict higher low-latitude sea-surface temperatures than the present ones.

Structure, Tectonism

Astre, G. 1925. Sur les limites de la zone tectonique de Pedraforca. C.R. Som. Soc. Geol. France, 2 mars, 63-66.

Billotte, M. 1982. Les series sedimentaires du Mesozoique de la "Nappe de la Pedraforca" est de son " autochtone" (Troncon catalan - Pyrenees), consequences structurales. Cuad. Geol. Iberica, 8, 1.017-1.025.

Duran-Delga, M. 1989. Effets d'une phase tectonique compresive, affectant du Miocene superieur, data palynologiquement, dan la zone de la Pedraforca (Pyrenees Catalnes, Espagne). C.R. Acad. Sc. Paris, 308, serie ll , 1091-1098.

Fontbote, J.M., Munoz, J.A. and Santanach, P. 1986. On the consistency of proposed models for the Pyrenees with the structure of the eastern parts of the belt. Tectonophysics, 129, 291-301.

Garrido-Megias, A. 1972. Sobre las colocacion del manto de Pedraforca y sus consecuencias: una nueva unidad tectonica independiente, " el manto del Monsec". Bol. Geol. y Min. Espana, 83 (3) 242-248.

Keller, P., Lowrie, W. and Gehring, A.U. 1994. Paleomagnetic evidence for post-thrusting tectonic rotation in the southeast Pyrenenees, Spain. Tectonophysics, 239 (1-4), 29-42, Dec. 15. 1994. Abstract: The structural framework of the Southeast Pyrenees led to two conflicting interpretations-thrust tectonics vs. wrench tectonics-to explain the geometry of this mountain range. In the present study palaeomagnetic data are presented in an attempt to reserve this conflict. The data reveal different magnetisation directions that indicate tectonic rotations about vertical axes. By means of a regionally homogeneous pattern of rotation, three tectonic units could be distinguished in the Southeast Pyrenees. The Internal Unit in the north reveals no rotation since the Permian. The External Unit to the south shows anticlockwise rotation of 25 degrees, younger than the Early Oligocene. The Pedraforca Unit, placed on the External Unit, shows 57 degrees clockwise rotation which can be assigned to the Neogene. The anticlockwise rotation of the External Unit can be explained by differential compression during the last phase of Pyrenean thrusting, whereas the clockwise rotation of the Pedraforca Unit can be interpreted by post-thrusting tectonics. The rotation pattern of the Southeast Pyrenees provides evidence for both Cretaceous to Paleogene N-S compression and Neogene right-lateral wrench tectonics.

Mattauer, M. 1968. Les traits stucturaux essentiels de la chaine Pyreneenne. Rev. Geograph. Phys. Geol. Dyn., Ser. 2, 10 (3), 3-12.

McCaig, A. 1986. Thick and thin-skinned tectonics in the Pyrenees. Tectonophysics, 129, 319-342.

Megias, A.G. 1988. La tectonica pirenaica en relacion con la evolucion alpina del margen noriberico. Rev. Soc. Geol. Espana, 1 (3-4), 365-372.

Mey, P.H.W. 1967. Evolution of the Pyrenean basins during the Upper Palaeozoic. International Symposium on the Devonian System, Calgary, vol.2, 1157-1166 (Ed. Oswald, D.H.).

Seguret, M. 1972. Etude tectonique des nappes et series decollees de la partie centrale du versant sud des pyrenees. Publications de l'Universite des sciences et techniques du Languedoc (Ustela). Series Geologie Structurale No. 2. 151pp + plates. [Thrusts to the south. Pedraforca Nappe etc. Gavarnie, South Pyreneean central, etc. Some palaeogeographic maps, Cretaceous etc. Useful publication.]

Speksnijder, A. 1985. Anatomy of strike-slip controlled sedimentary basin, Permian of the Southern Pyrenees, Spain. Sedimentary Geology, 44, 179-223.

Ullastre, J., Durand-Delga, M. and Masriera, A. 1990. Relaciones tectonicas y sedimentarias entre la series del Cadi y la zona del Pedraforca (Pirineo catalan). Tectonic and sedimentary relations between the Cadi Unit and the Pedraforca Unit (Catalonian Pyrenees, Spain). Treballs del Museu de Geologia de Barcelona. 1, 163-207 (1990). (Mueseo de Geologia. Parc de la Ciutadella. 08003, Barcelona, Spain). Key Paper. Slightly modified extracts from the Abstract (in English): The Pedraforca Unit forms, to the east of the Segre Fault, the eastern part of the allochthonous series of the southern Pyrenees. It was generally accepted that the material of the Pedraforca Unit, mainly Mesozoic, is made up of a group of allochthonous units ("Pedraforca nappe" in the Seguret sense) coming from the north and displacing over the Eocene of the Cadi Unit; this last unit (relative authochthonous) is constituted of sedimentary strata superposed on the Palaeozoic rocks of the Pyrenees Axial Zone to the southeast of Andorra. This interpretation is rejected by the authors... We remember the essential stratigraphic characteristics of the Cadi Unit and those of the Pedraforca Unit (eastern prolongation of the allochthonous series of the southern Pyrenees situated to the west of the Segre). We insist on the comon stratigraphical series of both units (marine Upper Senonian, Maestrichtian-Palaeocene of "garumnian" facies, marine Lower-Middle Eocene). In both units we observe the suppression of stratigraphical series from west to the east. We demonstrate that the lithological succession of the western Cadi (sector of Fornols) and the succession of the most eastern part of the Pedraforca Unit (sector to the southwest of La Pobla de Lillet) have some very peculiar characteristics, exclusively of these two sectors: heavy mineral assemblages in Maestrichtian sandstones, typical detrital beds ("La Nou conglomerates" "Fornols breccias"), onlap deposition of the Ilerdian.. But at present these two sectors are separated by 40km from west to east. Then we propose to displace the eastern point of the Pedraforca Unit to neighbouring western part of the Cadi Unit displacing towards the west the "Central Unit of the southern Pyrenees"... This movement would have been carried out principally along the Cadi Fault, a big fault, (it passes south of Baga and north of Pedraforca) with a strike slip and a vertical slip of kilometric order, between the Cadi Unit and the Pedraforca Unit. After noting the several explanation proposed for the tectonic emplacement of the Pedraforca Unit, the authors describe in detail some important sectors situated along the Cadi Fault or in its proximity, between the Palaeozoic klippe of the Montsec de Tost (Nogueras Unit) and the south of La Pobla de Lillet. This fault with its steep dip to the south, intersects the different formations of the Eocene series of the Cadi Unit. Various tectonic arguments justify the strike slip theory for this fault, whose age is essentially Middle Upper Eocene, but which has reacted in an important way during the Neogene. ...Therefore we cannot consider the "Cadi Fault" as the basal thrust plane of a "Pedraforca Nappe" of Eocene age, which would have been made in almost vertical position in past times. We consider it to be a deep fault affecting the basement with a prolongation towards the west, in the interior of Nogueras Unit. At the same time the Cadi Fault connects to the southwest, with the deep Segre Fault. The Cadi and Segre Faults are partially strike-slip faults, both delimit a crustal block which, during the emplacement (in the Eocene) of the allochthonous units of the southern Pyrenees, would have displaced towards the east with a certain clockwise rotation, with respect to the Axial Zone and to the basement of the "Central Unit of the Southern Pyrenees" to the W of the Segre.

Williams, G.D. 1985. Thrust tectonics in the south central Pyrenees. Journal of Structural Geology, 7, 11-17.

Williams , G.D. & Fischer, M.W. 1984. A balanced section across the Pyrenean orogenic belt. Tectonics, 3, 773-780.

Tremp Formation ("Garumnien")

Fiest , M. and Columbo, f. 1983. La limite Cretace - Tertiare dans le nord-est de l'Espagne, du point de vue des Charophytes. Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10 (3-4), 303-326.

Masriera , A. and Ullastre, J. 1982. Essai de synthese stratigraphique des couches continentales de la fin du Cretace des Pyrenees catalanes (NE de l'Espagne). Geol. Mediterraneenne, 10 (3-4), 283-290.

Wright, V.P. and Platt, N.H. Seasonal wetland carbonate sequences and dynamic catenas: a re-appraisal of palustrine limestones. Sedimentary Geology, 99, 65-71. [Relevant to the Rognac limestone, but not a reference to the Pyrenees]

Valcebre Limestone (" Rognac, Rognacien ")

Masriera, A. and Ullastre, J. 1990. New records of charophytes which contribute to fix the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in the Catalonian Pyrenees (Spain). Rev. Soc. Geol. Espana, 3, 33-42. [ Charophytes show the K/T boundary is at about the base of the Vallcebre Limestone (the " Rognac ") and above the " sandstone with reptiles " of Maastrichtian age. The " sandstone with reptiles " has fossil footprints. The Vallcebre Limestone is Danian-Montian. Useful reference list.]

Volcanics - Eril Castell etc.

Morre, N. et Thiebaut, J. 1964. Constitution de quelques roches volcanologique Permiennes de la Sierra del Cadi. Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 7th Series, VI, fasc 3, Paris, pp. 389-396.

Puga, E. & Fontbote, J.M. 1981. Estudio petrologico de las rocas volcanicas del Permico de Greixer (Pirineo Catalan). Acta Geologica Hispanica, T. 14, pp. 80-89.