Pleistocene to Holocene phases of sedimentation and soil formation in the semiarid SE Spain (Eastern Betic Cordillera)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17735/cyg.v34i1-2.78815Keywords:
Alluvial sedimentation, calcretes, chronology, Quaternary, Betic Cordillera, SE SpainAbstract
This work uses the set of available regional geochronological data (OSL, TL, 14C, Th/U) on alluvial sediments, calcretes and soils for the semiarid SE Spain to build a theoretical time-scale for the most important phases of sedimentation and soil formation occurred in the zone from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. Most of the data come from the set of paleoseismic and paleoclimatic research carried out in the regions of Murcia and Almería over the past years. The gathered geochronological data set has 168 dates, 52 for calcic soils and calcretes and 116 for sediments and covers the last c. 400 ka. The analysis is based in the construction of age-frequency distribution functions discriminating bins of 5 ka, which offer enough resolution to distinguish among different Oxygen Isotopic Stages (OIS). The Holocene dataset is analysed separately discriminating time-bins of 0.5 ka according to the more robust data-data set 14C ages. Calcretes appears as elements developed during the last stages of warm isotopic stages (OIS 9 to 1), whilst sedimentation dominated during the transition between warm-cold isotopic stages, especially during terminations II to I, coinciding with deglaciation periods. During the Holocene the climatic events of 8.2 and 2.4 ka are clearly identified as drier periods with minor sedimentation, but enhanced calcrete formation, especially the first one.
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