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Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence of Lezetxiki II Cave (Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) inferred from small vertebrate assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2018

Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga ,
Aitziber Suárez-Bilbao ,
Salvador Bailon ,
Alvaro Arrizabalaga ,
María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso ,
Lee Arnold ,
Martina Demuro  and
Xabier Murelaga
Naroa Garcia-Ibaibarriaga*
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Aitziber Suárez-Bilbao
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain
Salvador Bailon
Affiliation:
UMR 7209 – 7194 (CNRS, MNHN); Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 55 rue Buffon, CP 56, 75005 Paris, France
Alvaro Arrizabalaga
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
María-José Iriarte-Chiapusso
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Geografía, Prehistoria y Arqueología, c/ Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011 Bilbao, Spain
Lee Arnold
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Martina Demuro
Affiliation:
School of Physical Sciences, Environment Institute, and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Xabier Murelaga
Affiliation:
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Dpto. Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain
*
*Corresponding author at: E-mail address: naroa.garcia@ehu.eus (N. Garcia-Ibaibarriaga).
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Abstract

We present a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction based on microfaunal assemblages preserved at Lezetxiki II Cave (Arrasate, Basque Country, Iberian Peninsula) and synthesize previously published and new chronological work from the cave to better understand the environmental history of the region. The stratigraphic sequence of this short gallery ranges from the end of the middle Pleistocene to the middle Holocene and has great micropaleontological relevance for the Iberian Peninsula, especially because it contains the most ancient small vertebrate remains found in the Cantabrian region, likely deposited during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7–6. Thirty-two small vertebrate taxa, including two extinct species, were identified. Environmental reconstruction based on small vertebrates suggests an open landscape at the base of the sequence (three lower levels) that progressively changed to woodland in the upper levels. Other paleoenvironmental data suggest a similar interpretation of the environmental history of the region, and although some uncertainty in the environmental reconstruction and chronology still exists, our data provide a richly detailed record of small vertebrates from an area that likely represented an important late Quaternary migration corridor for species traveling between the Iberian Peninsula and European continent.

Keywords

Small vertebratesPaleoenvironmentMiddle-Upper PleistoceneHoloceneCantabrian RangeIberian Peninsula
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , July 2018 , pp. 164 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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