IGCP Spanish National Committee
Prof. Dr. Marcos A. Lamolda (Chairman). Prof. J. A. Muñoz (Spanish Commission- UNESCO); Dr. V. Gabaldón (Instituto Tecnológico y Geominero de España-ITGE); Dr. J. R. Pélaez (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-CSIC); Dr. P. Anadón; Dr. Mª A. Bustillo; Dr. F. Gervilla; Dr. J. C. Gutiérrez Marco; Prof. E. Liñán; Dr. J. Martínez-Frias; Prof. E. Martínez-García; Dr. T. Palacios; Dr. J. Mª Pons; Dr. J. Saavedra; Dr. R. Salas; Prof. I. Zamarreño; Prof. C. Zazo.
Two new members, Dr. J. Mª Pons (project no. 362 'Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous') and Dr. R. Salas (project no. 369 'Peritethyan Rift Basins').
Dr. R. Julià (project 256), Dr. E. Caus (project 286)and Dr. E. Molina (project 308) left the committee once their projects have finished in 1994.
2. Committee activities
The annual meeting of the Spanish National Committee was held at Madrid, on June 14th, Comisión Española de Cooperación con la UNESCO headquarters, with Prof. M. Lamolda in the chair. The meeting was attended by 7 members. The committee reviewed the projects newly adopted by the Board in January-February. Three proposals were provisionally approved (projects 363, 366 and 369), two of them formaly organized, projects no. 362 'Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous' (Dr. J.M. Pons) and project no. 369 'Peritethyan Rift Basins' (Dr. R. Salas).
For academic year 1994-1995, Comision Española de Cooperación con la UNESCO made available 1500000 pta. to provide asistence for Spaniard participation in the IGCP. This amount was spent in support of:
a) Spaniard national representative in attending IGCP business meeting.
b) Spaniard scientists actively participating in IGCP project, to attend IGCP annual meetings.
c) Spaniard project working group meetings
d) IGCP "Boletín Informativo' no. 19
3. National participations in ongoing IGCP projects
Project no. 317 'Paleoweathering Records and Paleosurfaces' (Dr. Mª A. Bustillo)
During 1995, the Spanish Working Group have developed the following topics: calcretes, silcretes, transformation and neoformation of clay mineral, paleokarst and their relations with paleosurfaces. In the "Meseta Central" of the Iberian Peninsula a relationship between the paleogeomorphology and the paleoweathering profiles have been carried out. In the playa silcretes from the Madrid Basin, bacterial influence in the silica precipitation has been discussed. Members of the Spanish Working Group have attended the Annual Meeting of the International Working Group. They participated in the session "Stability and evolution of continental paleolandscapes", in the Working Meeting of the Project 317, and in the Field-trip organized by the French Working Group. All these activities took place during the 16th Regional Meeting of Sedimentology. This project ends this year and the Spanishworking group have planned the final meeting for November 28th, in the Department of Geology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, at Madrid.
Project no. 318 'Marine Polymetallic Oxides' (Dr. Jesús Martínez-Frias)
The Spanish Working Group has concentrated research in three areas: 1) Las Herrerías deposit, Vera-Garrucha Basin (Southeast Iberia); 2) Deception Island, South Shetland, Antarctic Peninsula; and 3) Tenerife and La Gomera (Canary Islands). The main results are the following: 1- The deposit of Las Herrerías (Betic Cordillera) is an interesting example of Late Tortonian-Late Messinnian ages, seafloor, hydrothermal mineralization rich in Fe, Mn, Ag, and base metal sulphides. Variable, strike, subvertical N-S N190E and N150E fault are the responsible for the present topography of Las Herrerías area and they constitute the main control of the mineralizing solutions. Mineralization consists of a simple paragenesis of Fe-Mn oxides and hydroxides, barite, jasper, siderite, native silver, galena, sphalerite, chalcopytite, gypsum, chalcedony, alunite and quartz (scarce). Fluid inclusion study indicates that the metal-rich hydrothermal solutions were deposited under a range of temperatures between 360ºC-160ºC, undergoing a progressive loss of vapour and an increase of salinity. 2- The research carried out in Deception Island (Antarctica) correlates the submerged volcanic and hydrothermal structures detected through seimic reflection profiles with geochemical distribution patterns of the volcanic sediments which make up the seefloor of the island. A comparison of subaerial and submarine volcanic events is also carried out and three groups of submerged seimo-depositional units are defined. A model is proposed according to which the highest contents of Fe-Mn-Zn are related to volcanic cones, mounds and vents formed in relation to extensional normal low-angle faults. The As-Ba anomalies, active furaroles and hot-springs are associated to later tensional faults. 3- The Tenerife and La Gomera Alkaline Complexes (Canary Islands, Spain) comprise a group of small syenite and alkali gabbro outcrops, and constitute the oldest magmatic episodes. Mineralizaton is found as metric to decametric patches and infills of fractures within the intrusive outcrops, without a definite tectonic orientation. Our results and their correlation with pre-existent data could represent a common ancient basement for these two islands, the metallogenetic characteristics of which should be studied in order to define the importance of the metallic oxides and sulphides as possible mineral deposits of economic interst.
Project no. 319 'Global Paleogeography of the Late Precambrian and Early Paleozoic' (Dr. Eladio Liñán)
During the year 1995, the Spanish Working Group has focused on detailed studies of Precambrian and Cambrian successions of central and southern Spain, studying their palaeontological contents, palaeoecology, sedimentology, stable isotopes, geo-chemistry and structural geology. On the other hand, further research has been carried out on international biostratigraphic correlation and palaeobiogeographic analyses (using trilobites, archaeocyatha, acritarchs and trace fossils), which allow to refine the palaeogeographic reconstructions of certain areas. The correlation of the Spanish Cambrian events with other perigondwanic and Baltic areas has been also subject of investigation. The Fourth International Annual Meeting was held in Spain and Portugal from 19 to 30th September 1995; 46 delegates from 13 countries attended. During the conference in Salamanca (Spain) it was decided to organise the Fifth (and last) Annual Meeting of the IGCP Project 319 in Russia. The preliminary schedule looks at a two-days conference in Ufa and a several days-field trip around the Southern Urals in order to visit Vendian and Ordovician sections.
Project no. 320 'Neoproterozoic Events and Resources' (Dr. Teodoro Palacios)
The principal activity during 1995 has been a field-excursion and Workshop on the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Transect of Sierra Morena and Montes de Toledo, Spain and the Neoproterozoic-Lower Cambrian in Central-Western part of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain-Portugal, during the XIIIrd Geological Meeting of the West of the Iberian Peninsula /Annual Meeting IGCP Proyect 319 and Regional Meeting IGCP Proyect 320: 'Characterization and evolution of the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian Basin', Salamanca, September 19th-30th, with participants from ten countries (Germany, Canada, China, Spain, Italy, United States, Portugal, United Kingdom, Russia, Sweden). Cambrian shelly fossils (probably Anabarella plana and Bemella jacutica) are reported in central Spain in rocks attributed to the Neoproterozoic "upper Alcudian". This data are in agreement with a lower-middle Tommotian age. Collaborative research carried out by the spanish group and members of Sweden and Germany has generated substantial new knowledge about, paleobiological, biostratigraphical, sedimentological, petrological, geochemical, isotopic, structural and geochronological data.
Project no. 324 'GLOPALS' (Dr. Pedro Anadón)
The Spanish Group of the IGCP 324 has carried out fruitful and stimulating activities during 1995, the last active year for the project. The main activities and presentation of results have been in relation to the IGCP 324 Annual Meeting - First Limnogeological Congress in Copenhagen, the IGCP 324 Symposium in the 16th Regional European Meeting of the International Association of Sedimentologists, Aix-les-Bains, France and the GLOPALS Symposium in the XIIIrd Congreso Español de Sedimentología. The last IGCP 324 activity is being the organization of the International meeting on 'Recent and Lacustrine systems in convergent margins', at Antofagasta, Chile, 12-18 November, 1995. The IGCP 324 Symposium in the XIIIrd Congreso Español de Sedimentología has been the most popular and widely attended meeting of the IGCP 324 Spanish Working Group. This symposium held at Teruel, June 29th, comprised the presentation of 18 contributions and a business meeting for planning futures activities. The IGCP 324 International meeting at Aix-les-Bains was devoted to the 'Preservation in lacustrine basins: cycles, rhythm, single events - session IGCP 324'. Four contributions were presented by members of the Spanish WG. An important participation of spaniards in the IGCP 324 Annual Meeting-First Limnogeological Congress in Copenhagen, August 21st-25th, took place. There, the entire meeting was devoted to the goals and objectives of the IGCP 324.
Project no. 336 'Intraplate Magmatism and Metallogeny' (Dr. Fernando Gervilla)
The scientific activities of the Spanish Working Group of the IGCP Project 336 have been focused on different geologic areas. These areas include: 1) Sierras Pampeanas (San Luis Province, Argentina) where a set of mafic-ultramafic bodies hosting PGE- bearing Ni-Cu mineralizations occurs; 2) Cordillera Frontal (Mendoza Province, Argentina) where Au-bearing Cu ores occur; 3) the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera (South Spain) where Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic basic magmatism occurs supplying important constrains on the geodinamic evolution of this area; and 4) the Almadén Syncline (Ciudad Real Province, Central Spain) where the largest mercury deposit in the world occurs associated to a paleozoic basic volcanism. The results of this research work have been presented in the XV Reunión de la Sociedad Española de Mineralogía held at Sitges (Barcelona) and in the Annual Meeting of the IGCP Project 336 which took place in Duluth, Minesota (USA). Next year it is also planned to attend the annual meeting of the project, which will have a field conference in Finland.
Project no. 345 'Andean Lithospheric Evolution' (Dr. Julio Saavedra)
Two communitations were presented in the IIIrd Hutton Symposium on Granites, held at Maryland (USA), with collaborations of spaniard members. In this meeting was asked to the 345 project the organization for the V Symposium in Sudamerica (c. 2005), possibility now in study. The spaniard team sended 6 manuscripts for publication in several journals, all accepted and in press just now. During the Argentinian Geological Congres, 1996, will be held a symposium about project 345 topics, where the Working Group will present the main achievements of the project, especially on geochronology, isotopes, geochemistry, petrology and mineralogy of an E-W transect from Cordoba to the Precordillera (San Juan).
Project no. 350 'Cretaceous Environmental Change in E & S Asia' (Dr. Marcos A. Lamolda)
The Cenomanian-Turonian boundary, in Tibet, has a good record of the global anoxic oceanic event - AOE II of the literature - in the upper part of the Lengqingre Formation. By the study of foraminiferal abundance and diversity, planktonic and benthonic foraminifera ratios, and the ratio of keeled/non-keeled planktonic foraminifera allow us suggesting that the onset of oxygen-depleted condition formed in the upper part of the Rotalipora cushmani Zone, and continued during the Whiteinella archaeocretacea Zone. Those results were presented as a contribution: Foraminiferal Assemblages in the Gamba Zongshan section (Tibet): its response to the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event, in the annual meeting IGCP project 350 at Quezon City, Philippines. As an extension of our Tibetan works, we have started studies in Pakistan. A joint research program with the Geological Survey of Pakistan, at Quetta, has been established. Our studies deal with the Goru Formation, from near Quetta in Northern Balochistan to Las Bella District, near Karachi. We have continued with our study of Tibetan materials. In early July, Xu Yulin, China Univ. Geosciences and M.A. Lamolda, Univ. Pais Vasco, went to the Tibetan Gamba Section for sampling and researching on the Cenomanian-Turonian transition.
Project no. 351 'Early Paleozoic Evolution in NW Gondwana' (Dr. Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco)
The scientific activities carried out during late 1994 and 1995 by the Spanish Working Group were focused mainly on some biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical aspects of the Ordovician and Silurian rocks from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as those relative to other countries related through the perigondwanan margin. New biochronological criteria were adopted in the realization of high-resolution stratigraphic correlations based on a regional standard Mediterranean scale. The boundaries between Oretanian and Dobrotivian stages have been accurately precised and redefined. Many remarkable data were obtained in the study of trilobites, brachiopods, graptolites, conodonts, microproblematica and ichnofossils, and their palaecological and palaeogeographical consequences have been analysed. The most significative results deal with the characterization of a new Silurian deep-water sequence in the NW of the Central Iberian Zone; the evaluation of the influence of the "sardic movements" in the developpment of unconformities beneath the Upper Ordovician sucessions both in the former area as in the southern part of the Central Iberian Zone; the global extinction events recorded at the Llandovery of the Iberian Cordillera as well as in the Homerian of the Ossa Morena Zone; the open shelf sediments with mesopelagic graptolites recognized in the Tremadoc of the Montagne Noire region of SE France and in the late Ashgill shales of the Ligerian terrane; the palaeogeographic significance of the development of Neseuretus-sandstone facies in the Middle Ordovician of the Moroccan Coastal Meseta, which are currently being analyzed, etc. These main results have been presented in 22 papers and symposia proceedings, as well as in several manuscripts in press or almost finished. The later will be presented in the forthcoming meetings for 1996 dealing with the Silurian stratigraphy, the Spanish Geological Congress and the Palaeontological Society Conference.
Project no. 362 'Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous' (Dr. José Mª Pons)
The Spanish Working Group was formaly established in September of this year, at Brussels, during the II Symposium on Cretaceous Stages Boundaries. Nevertheless, some members were active since the Ist General Meeting at Coimbra in 1993. In order to contribute and fulfill the main objectives of the project, the Spanish WG has concentrated his activity on biostratigraphic aspects of the Cretaceous in Spain. The distribution of macrofossils (nerineids, rudists, ammonites, brachiopods and echinoids) and microfossils (foraminifers and calcareous nannoplankton) have been studied for several intervals of the Lower and Upper Cretaceous. Studied areas are the Basquecantabrian Region, the Pyrenees, the Betic Cordillera, eastern Spain and the Balearic Islands, as well as the Atlantic Atlas, in Morocco. During 1995, members of the Spanish WG participated at the IV European Echinoderm Colloquium and contributed with one communication; at the IInd Symposium on Cretaceous Stages Boundaries with five communications, and to the Annual Meeting of the IGCP project no. 362 'Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous' with one communication. For 1996 it is planed to publish results in the special volume in Cretaceous Reseach, to continue our works in same areas and to participate at the special meetins under the scope of the project 362.
Project no. 367 'Late Quaternary coastal records of rapid change' (Dr. Caridad Zazo)
One of the most important objectives within those of the Project 367 consist on the evaluation and dating of rapid coastal changes. Most of the contributions presented by the members of the Spanish WG were devoted to study different aspects that formerly had been treated in our country in a very limited way. These aspects are:
-Meaning of the changes in prevailing winds in the analyses of littoral dunes.
-Coastal progradation/erosion in relation to barrier island-lagoon systems, so widely represented in our coasts.
-Study of drillings under the point of views of rapid changes in sedimentary environment. Including analyses of pollen, diatoms, planktonic/benthic foraminifera, magnetic characterization of sediments, etc.
-Particularly, it stand out the effort made in the analysis of the coastal evolution for the last 7,000 years, as well as the use of multidisciplinary work with the incorporation of archaelogy and a greater use of dating technichs, not only 14C, but TL and OSL.
It is also remarkable the active participation of the members of the WG in three international and two national congresses.
Project no. 369 'Peritethyan Rift Basins' (Dr. Ramón Salas)
The Spanish Working Group was constituted at Teruel, in June, during the XIIIrd Spanish Congress of Sedimentology. The Spanish WG consits of the following sections:
1.- Triasic Rift Systems.
2.- Rift Systems developped during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.
3.- Neogene Rift Systems.
4.- Magmatism and evolution of Rift Basins.
5.- Extensive tectonic structures, Rift Basins and later inversion.
Members of the Spanish WG attended the 2nd Annual Meeting of the project 369, at Mamaia (Romania), contributing with a communication on: 'Mesozoic Evolution of the Iberian Basin (Iberian Range, Spain): an intracratonic rift system'.
Project no. '376: Laurentian-Gondwanan connections' (Dr. Enrique Martínez-García)
Research carried out by the Spanish Working Group of IGCP Project 376 on the evolution of Gondwanan peripheral areas propose the extension of the West Asturian Leonese, Galician Castillian, and East Lusitanian Alcudian zones of the Iberian Massif into southern France, Brittany and the eastern Appalachians. Future meetings of the group will intend to reconcile the different data concerning geological aspects of all zones. Diverse North American and Canadian geologists have shown interest on these correlations and a future cooperative programme has been considered.
Th Spanish WG also participated in the XIIIrd Reunión de Geología del Oeste Peninsular, held in Salamanca, September1995, with presentation of several papers. Dr. E. Martínez García also participated in a Round Table under the heading of "Correlation of the Paleozoic in the Iberian Massif with western Europe and eastern North America". Dr. Martínez García was also proposed as the organizer, jointly with the Universidad de Vila Real (Portugal), of the XIVth Reunión sobre Geología del Oeste Peninsular, in1997. In October1995 the Annual Meeting of IGCP Project 376 was held at Jujuy (Argentina), with a field-trip to the Easter Cordillera, Puna and Andes of northern Argentina and Chile. During 1996 a field meeting of the Spanish WG will be held at Puebla de Sanabria (Zamora, NW Spain), visiting several allochthonous units in the Sanabria Tectonic Window and discussing their correlation with other in the Iberian Massif. A meeting on the geology of South America will also be attended at the University of Rennes within the scientific activities of the Spanish WG.
4. IGCP Meetings to be organized or supported during 1996 in Spain
* Annual Meetings of the Spanish Working Groups
* Symposium on 'Peritethyan Rift Basins in Spain'. IVo Congreso Geológico de España, Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), July 1st-5th 1996
Spanish National Committee
* Annual Meeting. Madrid, May 1996
* Symposium IGCP in Spain. IVo Congreso Geológico de España. Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), July 1st-5th 1996