Escucha Formation
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The Escucha Formation is a geological formation in La Rioja and Teruel provinces of northeastern Spain whose strata date back to the late Aptian to middle Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The approximately 70 m (230 ft) thick formation underlies the Utrillas Formation and overlies Castrillo de la Reina, Benassal & Oliete Formations. The Escucha Formation comprises siltstones, mudstones, sandstones, coal, siltstones and amber, in which several fossil insects were found. The formation was deposited in a variety of continental to paralic (deltaic) environments.
Depositional Environment
The Escucha Formation represents syn-rift depositional environment, deposited in siliciclastic carbonate platforms, coastal siliciclastic environments and other offshore settings. In the basal part of the formation, cobble to boulder-sized dropstones of glacial origin have been identified, representing long-distance iceberg rafting from Arctic sources.
Fossil content
The Escucha Formation has provided the following fossils, among others:
Dinosaurs
| Dinosaurs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxa | Location | Notes | Images |
| Europelta carbonensis | Ariño | ||
| Proa valdearinnoensis | Ariño |
Other dinosaurs
Reptiles
- Aragochersis lignitesta
- Toremys cassiopeia
- Trachydermochelys sp.
- Testudines indet.
- Anteophthalmosuchus escuchae
- Goniopholididae indet.
- Hulkepholis plotos
Fish
Crustaceans
- Cretagourretia salasi
- Joeranina tausi
Insects
| Insects | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxa | Location/site | Notes | Images |
| Alavaraphidia | Peñacerrada I amber | ||
| Amarantoraphidia | Peñacerrada I amber | ||
| Microcostaphron parvus | Peñacerrada I amber | ||
| Radiophron ibericus | Peñacerrada I amber | ||
| Styporaphidia? hispanica | Peñacerrada I amber |
Other arthropods
- Alavia neli
- Archaelagonops alavensis
- Mesozygiella dunlopi
- Cretogarypinus zaragozai
- Ithioreolpium alavensis
- Alavesiaphis margaritae
- Hispanocader lisae
- Alavametra popovi
- Iberovelia quisquilia
- Glaesivelia pulcherrima
- Gymnopollisthrips maior
- G. minor
- Manicapsocidus enigmaticus
- Archaeatropos alavensis
- Preempheria antiqua
- Empheropsocus arilloi
- E. margineglabrus
- Morazatermes krishnai
- Cantabritermes simplex
- Autrigonoforceps iberica
- Hispanelcana alavensis
- H. arilloi
- H. lopezvallei
- Libanophron sugaar
- Hippocoon basajauni
- Burmaphron iratxoak
- B. jentilak
- B. sorginak
- Tagsmiphron olentzero
- Elasmophron mari
- Ectenobythus iberiensis
- Liztor pilosus
- Cretepyris martini
- Zophepyris alavaensis
- Ampulicomorpha perialla
- Microcostaphron parvus
- Archephedrus stolamissus
- Protorhyssalopsis perrichoti
- Spathiopteryx alavarommopsis
- Serphites lamiak
- Aposerphites angustus
- Archaeromma hispanicum
- Galloromma alavaensis
- Alavaromma orchamum
- Tithonoscelio resinalis
- Bruescelio platycephalus
- Electroteleiopsis hebdomas
- Alavascelio delvallei
- Amissascelio temporarius
- Perimoscelio tyrbastes
- Perimoscelio confector
- Proterosceliopsis masneri
- Juxtascelio interitus
- Iberopria perialla
- Iberoevania roblesi
- Cretevania alonsoi
- Iberomaimetsha nihtmara
- Iberomaimetsha rasnitsyni
- Valaa delclosi
- Megalava truncata
- Eosyntexis parva
- Cretasonoma corinformibus
- Penarhytus tenebris
- Prosolierius parvus
- Cretakarenni hispanicus
- Rhizophtoma longus
- Darwinylus marcosi
- Mediumiuga sinespinis
- Archiaustroconops alavensis
- Leptoconops (Leptoconops) zherikhini
- Gerontodacus skalskii
- Chimeromyia alava
- Chimeromyina concilia
- Euliphora grimaldii
- Alavesia subiasi
- Tethepomima holomma
- Tethepomyia buruhandi
- Lysistrata emerita
- Hegalari minor
- Hegalari antzinako
- Alavamanota hispanica
- Allocotocera xavieri
- Cretohaplusia ortunoi
- Eltxo cretaceus
- Helius (Helius) alavensis
- Helius (Helius) spiralis
- Espanoderus barbarae
- Alavaraphidia imperterrita
- Baissoptera cretaceoelectra
- Cretokatianna bucculenta
- Sphyrotheciscus senectus
- Archeallacma dolichopoda
- Katiannasminthurus xenopygus
- Pseudosminthurides stoechus
- Burmisotoma spinulifera
- Protoisotoma autrigoniensis
- Proisotoma communis
- Proleptochelia tenuissima
- Electrotanais monolithus
- Alavatanais carabe
- Alavatanais margulisae
- Eurotanais terminator
- Spinomegops arcanus
- Strieremaeus minguezae
- Iberofoveopsis miguelesi
- Hispanothrips utrillensis
- Aragonitermes teruelensis
- Aragonimantis aenigma
- Mymaropsis turolensis
- Serphites silban
- Galloromma turolensis
- Alavaromma orchamum
- Cretevania rubusensis
- Cretevania alcalai
- Cretevania montoyai
- Actenobius magneoculus
- Arra legalovi
- Leptoconops (Leptoconops) zherikhini
- Atriculicoides sanjusti
- Atriculicoides hispanicus
- Gerontodacus skalskii
- Microphorites utrillensis
- Litoleptis fossilis
- Burmazelmira grimaldii
- Aragomantispa lacerata
- Spinomegops aragonensis
- Ametroproctus valeriae
- Cretaceobodes martinezae
- Trhypochthonius lopezvallei
Invertebrates
Flora
Correlation
| Ma | Age | Paleomap \ Basins | Cantabrian | Olanyà | Cameros | Maestrazgo | Oliete | Galve | Morella | South Iberian | Pre-betic | Lusitanian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Cenomanian | La Cabana | Sopeira | Utrillas | Mosquerela | Caranguejeira | ||||||
| Altamira | Utrillas | |||||||||||
| Eguino | ||||||||||||
| 125 | Albian | Ullaga - Balmaseda | Lluçà | Traiguera | ||||||||
| Monte Grande | Escucha | Escucha | Jijona | |||||||||
| Itxina - Miono | ||||||||||||
| Aptian | Valmaseda - Tellamendi | Ol Gp. - Castrillo | Benassal | Benassal | Olhos | |||||||
| Font | En Gp. - Leza | Morella/Oliete | Oliete | Villaroya | Morella | Capas Rojas | Almargem | |||||
| Patrocinio - Ernaga | Senyús | En Gp. - Jubela | Forcall | Villaroya | Upper Bedoulian | Figueira | ||||||
| Barremian | Vega de Pas | Cabó | Abejar | Xert | Alacón | Xert | Huérguina | Assises | ||||
| Prada | Artoles | Collado | Moutonianum | Papo Seco | ||||||||
| Rúbies | Tera Gp. - Golmayo | Alacón/Blesa | Blesa | Camarillas | Mirambel | |||||||
| 150 | Hauterivian | Ur Gp. - Pinilla | Llacova | Castellar | Tera Gp. - Pinilla | Villares | Porto da Calada | |||||
| hiatus | ||||||||||||
| Huerva | Gaita | |||||||||||
| Valanginian | Villaro | Ur Gp. - Larriba | Ped Gp. - Hortigüela | |||||||||
| Ped Gp. - Hortigüela | Ped Gp. - Piedrahita | |||||||||||
| Peñacoba | Galve | Miravetes | ||||||||||
| Berriasian | Cab Gp. - Arcera | Valdeprado | hiatus | Alfambra | ||||||||
| TdL Gp. - Rupelo | Arzobispo | hiatus | Tollo | |||||||||
| On Gp. - Huérteles Sierra Matute | ||||||||||||
| Tithonian | Lastres | Tera Gp. - Magaña | Higuereles | Tera Gp. - Magaña | Lourinhã | |||||||
| Arzobispo | ||||||||||||
| Ágreda | ||||||||||||
| Legend | Major fossiliferous, oofossiliferous, ichnofossiliferous, coproliferous, minor formation | |||||||||||
| Sources |
See also
- List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
- Monte Grande Formation, Albian formation of the Cantabrian Basin
- Caranguejeira Conglomerate, Aptian to Cenomanian formation of the Lusitanian Basin
- Baltic, Burmese, Dominican and Mexican amber
Bibliography
- Kirkland, J.I.; Alcalá, L.; Loewen, M.A.; Espílez, E.; Mampel, L.; Wiersma, J.P. (2013). . PLoS ONE. 8 (12) e80405. Bibcode:. doi:. PMC . PMID .
- Ortega Blanco, J.; Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Delclòs, X. (2010). . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 55 (2): 265–276. doi:. S2CID .
- Pérez de la Fuente, R.; Peñalver, E.; Delclòs, X.; Engel, M.S. (2012). . ZooKeys (204): 1–40. Bibcode:. doi:. PMC . PMID .
- Pérez García, A.; Espílez, E.; Mampel, L.; Alcalá, L. (2020). "A new basal turtle represented by the two most complete skeletons of Helochelydridae in Europe". Cretaceous Research. 107 104291. Bibcode:. doi:. S2CID .
- Peyrot, Daniel; Rodríguez López, Juan Pedro; Lassaletta, Luis; Meléndez, Nieves; Barrón, Eduardo (2007). "Contributions to the palaeoenvironmental knowledge of the Escucha Formation in the Lower Cretaceous Oliete Sub-basin, Teruel, Spain". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 6 (6–7): 469–481. Bibcode:. doi:.
- Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka, eds. (2004). . Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 1–880. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
Further reading
- L. Alcalá, E. Espílez, L. Mampel, J. I. Kirkland, M. Ortiga, D. Rubio, A. González, D. Ayala, A. Cobos, R. Royo-Torres, F. Gascó and M. D. Pesquero. 2012. A new Lower Cretaceous vertebrate bonebed near Arino (Tereul, Aragon, Spain); found and managed in a joint collaboration between a mining company and a palaeontological park. Geoheritage 4:275-286
- J. I. Canudo, A. Cobos, C. Martín-Closas, X. Murelaga, X. Pereda-Suberbiola, R. Royo-Torres, J. I. Ruiz-Omeñaca and L. M. Sender. 2005. Sobre la presencia de dinosaurios ornitópodos en la Formación Escucha (Cretácico Inferior, Albiense): redescubierto "Iguanodon" en Utrillas (Teruel) [On the presence of ornithopod dinosaurs in the Escucha Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Albian): redescribing "Iguanodon" in Utrillas (Teruel)]. Fundamental 6:51-56
- E. Peñalver, D. A. Grimaldi, and X. Delclos. 2006. Early Cretaceous spider web with its prey. Science 312:1761