Coralgal buildup in a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession of the upper Eocene Sant Martí Xic Formation (Orís, Vic, SE Ebro basin, Spain)
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
The Upper Eocene San Martí Xic Formation (Orís, Vic, SE Ebro basin, Spain) shows coralgal buildup developed in mixed carbonate siliciclastic deposits. During the upper Eocene, the sedimentation in the Orís area was strongly influenced by global and local factors associated with the Ebro Basin evolution. In particular, from the early Eocene to the Oligocene, the south-eastern margin of the Ebro Basin was affected by the uplift of the Catalan Range thrust. The central part of this zone shows the most pronounced deformation associated with a sin-sedimentary evolution of fan and delta fan depositional systems. These deposits gradually evolved into basin sedimentation with shallow water limestones and clastic sediments corresponding to the last marine event of the Ebro Basin. The stratigraphical series in Orís corresponds to two cycles. A first transgressive sedimentary cycle is characterized by floatstone to rudstone with Discocyclina and Nummulites, developed in a deeper and oligophotic environment associated with more humid conditions. The subsequent regressive cycle shows aggradational and progradational deltaic sediments with Nummulites developed in more arid conditions. Coralgal buildups occur interdigitated with these aggradational and progradational deltaic sediments. Facies analysis allows to better constraining the paleoenvironment where coralgal buildup developed, characterized by high sedimentation rate, mesotrophic conditions and turbid waters. The coralgal buildups of San Martí Xic Formation were thus influenced by both climatic changes and the local detrital input from delta fan system associated with the uplift of the Catalan Range thrust, showing the resilience of Eocene corals to climate changes and related clastic inputs.
Article Details

Aquesta obra està sota una llicència internacional Creative Commons Reconeixement-CompartirIgual 4.0.
(c) A. Mancini, M. Brandano, G. Gaglianone, D. Mannetta, C. Ferràndez-Cañadell,, 2025
Drets d'autor
opyright
Geologica Acta is the property of the UB, GEO3BCN, IDAEA and UAB. Geologica Acta must be cited for any partial or full reproduction. Papers are distributed under the Attribution-Share Alike Creative Commons License. This license allows anyone to reproduce and disseminate the content of the journal and even make derivative works crediting authorship and provenance and distributing possible derivative works under the same or an equivalent license.
Author Rights
Authors retain the copyright on their papers and are authorized to post them on their own web pages or institutional repositories. The copyright was retained by the journal from the year 2003 until 2009. In all cases, the complete citation and a link to the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) of the article must be included.
The authors can use excerpts or reproduce illustrations of their papers in other works without prior permission from Geologica Acta provided the source of the paper including the complete citation is fully acknowledged.
Álvarez, G., Busquets, P., Taberner, C. and Urquiola, M.M., 1994. Facies architecture and coral distribution in a mid Eocene reef tract, South Pyrenean Foreland Basin (NE Spain). Cour. Forsch.-Inst. Senckenberg [Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg], 172, 249–259.
Álvarez, G., Bosence, D., Busquets, P., Darrell, J.G., Franquès, J., Gili, E., Pisera, A., Reguant, S., Rosen, B.R., Salas, R., Serra-Kiel, J., Skelton, P.W., Taberner, C., Travé, A. and Valdeperas, F.X., 1995. Bioconstructions of the Eocene South Pyrenean Foreland Basin (Vic and Igualada Areas) and of the Upper Cretaceous South Central Pyrenees (Tremp area). VII Int. Symp. on Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera (field trip c), Madrid, 68 p.
Álvarez, G., Busquets, P., Franquès, J., 1999. Diversidad, composición y estructura de un arrecife coralino del Bartoniense de la Cuenca del Ebro (extremo nororiental). Temas Geológico-Mineros ITGE 26, 491–494.
Barnolas, A., Busquets, P., Serra-Kiel, J., 1981. Características sedimentológicas de la terminación del ciclo marino del Eoceno superior en el sector oriental de la depresión del Ebro (Catalunya N-E de España). Acta Geol Hispanica 16, 215–221.
Barnolas, A., Reguant, S., Busquets, P., Colombo, F., Vilaplana, M., Serra-Kiel, J., 1983. Mapa geológico de España. Scale 1:50.000, 2nd series, No. 332, Vic. IGME, Madrid, Servicio de Publicaciones del Ministerio de Industria, 23 pp., 1 fold. map.
Barnolas, A., Samsó, J., Serra-Kiel, J., Tosquella, J., 1988. Estructura interna del sistema deposicional de Sant Martí Xic. Geogaceta 5, 69–71.
Barnolas, A., 1992. Evolución sedimentaria de la Cuenca Surpirenaica Oriental durante el Eoceno. Acta Geol Hispanica 27, 15–31.
Bauer, M.P., Tselioudis, G., Rossow, W.B., 2016. A new climatology for investigating storm influences in and on the extratropics. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 55 (5), 1287-1303. doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-15-0245.1.
Beger, M., Sommer, B., Harrison, P.L., Smith, S.D.A., Pandolfi, J.M., 2014. Conserving potential coral reef refuges at high latitudes. Diversity and distribution, 20 (3), 245-257. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12140
Beavington-Penney, S.J., Racey, A., 2004. Ecology of extant nummulitid and other larger benthic foraminifera: applications in palaeoenvironmental analysis. Earth Sci Rev 67, 219–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2004.02.005
Beavington-Penney, S.J., Wright, P.V., Woelkerling, W.J., 2004. Recognising macrophyte-vegetated environments in the rock record: a new criterion using ‘hooked’ forms of crustose coralline red algae. Sediment Geol 166, 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2003.11.022
Bosellini, F., Trevisani, E., 1992. Coral facies and cyclicity in the Castelgomberto Limestone (Early Oligocene, Eastern Lessini Mountains, Northern Italy). Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, 98 (3), 339-352.
Bosellini, F.R., 1998. Diversity, Composition and structure of Late Eocene shelf-edge coral associations (Nago Limestone, Northern Italy). Facies 39, 203–226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02537017
Bosellini, F.R., Russo, A., Vescogni, A., 2001. Messinian reef building assemblages of the Salento Peninsula (southern Italy): palaeobathymetric and palaeoclimatic significance. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 175, 7–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00383-2
Bosellini, F.R., Papazzoni, C.A., 2003. Palaeoecological significance of coral-encrusting foraminiferan associations: a case-study from the upper Eocene of northern Italy. Acta Palaeontol Pol 48, 279–292.
Bosellini, F.R., Vescogni, A., Briguglio, A., Piazza, M., Papazzoni, C., Silvestri, G., Morsilli, M., 2024. Resilient coral reef ecosystems: The case study of turbid-mesophotic coral buildups during the Late Oligocene Warming Event (Tertiary Piedmont Basin, NW Italy). Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 649, 1-19. [10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112330]
Cabello, P., Falivene, O., López-Blanco, M., Howell, J., Arbués, P., Ramos, E., 2010. Modelling facies belt distribution in fan deltas coupling sequence stratigraphy and geostatistics: The Eocene Sant Llorenç del Munt example (Ebro foreland basin, NE Spain). Mar Petrol Geol 27, 254–272.
Cavagnetto, C., Anadón, 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 (3–4), 281-305. https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(95)00096-8
Costa, E., Garcés, M., López-Blanco, M., Serra-Kiel, J., Bernaola, G., Cabrera, L., Beamud, E., 2013. Bartonian-Priabonian marine record of the eastern South Pyrenean foreland basin (NE Spain): a new calibration of the larger foraminifers and calcareous nannofossil biozonation. Geol Acta 11, 177–193.
Dunham, R.J., 1962. Classification of carbonate rocks according to depositional texture. In: Ham W.E. (ed). Classification of Carbonate Rocks. Mem Am Assoc Pet Geol 1, 108–121.
Dupont-Nivet, G., Hoorn, C., Konert, M., 2008. Tibetan uplift prior to the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition: Evidence from pollen analysis of the Xining Basin. Geology, 36 (12), 987–990.https://doi.org/10.1130/G25063A.1
Ferràndez-Cañadell, C., Serra-Kiel, J., 1992. Morphostructure and paleobiology of Discocyclina Gümbel, 1870. J Foram Res, 22 (2),147–165.
Ferrer, J., Rosell, J., Reguant, S., 1968. Síntesis litoestratigráfica del Paleógeno del borde oriental de la depresión del Ebro. Acta Geol Hispanica 3, 54–56.
Gandolfi, A., Giraldo-Gómez, V.M., Luciani, V., Piazza, M., Brombin, V., Crobu, S., Papazzoni, C.A., Pignatti, J., Briguglio, A., 2024. Unraveling ecological signals related to the MECO onset through planktic and benthic foraminiferal records along a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shallow-water succession. Marine Micropaleontology, 190, 102388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2024.102388
Garcés, M., López-Blanco, M., Valero, L., Beamud, E., Muñoz, J.A., Oliva -Urcia, B., Vinyoles, A., Arbués, P., Cabello, P., Cabrera, L., 2020. Paleogeographic and sedimentary evolution of the south-Pyrenean foreland basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 113, 104105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2019.104105
Gómez-Paccard, M., López-Blanco, M., Costa, E., Garcés, M., Beamud, E., Larrasoaña, J.C., 2012. Tectonic and climatic controls on the sequential arrangement of an alluvial fan/fan-delta complex (Montserrat, Eocene, Ebro Basin, NE Spain). Basin Res 24, 437–455.
Insalaco, E., 1998. The descriptive nomenclature and classification of growth fabrics in fossil scleractinian reefs. Sediment Geol 118, 159–186.
Lesser, M.P., Slattery, M., Leichter, J.J., 2009. Ecology of mesophotic coral reefs. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 375, 1–8.
Lokier, S.W., Wilson, M.E.J., Burton, L.M., 2009. Marine biota response to clastic influx: A quantitative approach. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 281, 25–42.
López-Blanco, M., Marzo, M., Piña, J., 2000. Transgressive-regressive sequence hierarchy of foreland, fan-delta clastic wedges (Montserrat and Sant Llorenç del Munt, Middle Eocene, Ebro Basin, NE Spain). Sediment Geol 138, 41–69.
Miller, K.G., Wright, J.D., Fairbanks, R.G., 1991. Unlocking the ice house: Oligocene–Miocene oxygen isotopes, eustasy, and margin erosion. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96(6), 829–6,848.
Morgan, K.M., Perry, C.T., Johnson, J.A., Smithers, S.G., 2017. Nearshore turbid-zone corals exhibit high bleaching tolerance on the great barrier reef following the 2016 ocean warming event. Front. Mar. Sci. 4:224. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00224
Morsilli, M., Bosellini, F.R., Pomar, L., Hallock, P., Aurell, M., Papazzoni, C.A., 2011. Mesophotic coral buildups in a prodelta setting (Late Eocene southern Pyrenees, Spain): a mixed carbonate–silicoclastic system. Sedimentology 59, 766–794.
Muñoz, J.A., Martínez, A., Vergès, J., 1986. Thrust sequences in the eastern Spanish Pyrenees. Jour Structural Geol 8, 399–405.
Nebelsick, J.H., Rasser, M.W., Bassi, D., 2005. Facies dynamics in Eocene to Oligocene circumalpine carbonates. Facies 51, 197–216.
Passchier, S., Falk, C.J., Florindo, F., 2013. Orbitally paced shifts in the particle size of Antarctic continental shelf sediments in response to ice dynamics during the Miocene climatic optimum. Geosphere, 9, 54–62. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES00840.1
Perry, C.T., 2003. Coral reefs in a high-latitude, siliciclastic barrier island setting: reef framework and sediment production at Inhaca Island, southern Mozambique. Coral Reefs 22, 485–497.
Perry, C.T., Smithers, S.G., 2006. Taphonomic signatures of turbid-zone reef development: examples from Paluma Shoals and Lugger Shoal, inshore central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 242, 1–20.
Pomar, L., Baceta, J.I., Hallock, P., Mateu-Vicens, G., Basso, D., 2017. Reef building and carbonate production modes in the west-central Tethys during the Cenozoic.Marine and Petroleum Geology,
, 261-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2017.03.015.
Postigo Mijarra, J.M., Barro, E., Manzaneque, F.G., Morla, C. 2009. Floristic changes in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands (south-west Europe) during the Cenozoic. J. Biogeogr., 36, 2025–2043.
Rasser, M.W., 2009. Coralline red algal limestones of the late Eocene alpine Foreland Basin in Upper Austria: Component analysis, facies and paleocology. Facies 42, 59–92.
Riding, R., 2002. Structure and composition of organic reefs and carbonate mud mounds: concepts and categories. Earth Sci Rev 58, 163–231.
Reuter, M., Bosellini, F.R., Budd, A.F., Ćorić, S., Piller, W.E., Harzhauser, M., 2019. High coral reef connectivity across the Indian Ocean is revealed 6–7 Ma ago by a turbid-water scleractinian assemblage from Tanzania (Eastern Africa). Coral Reefs 38, 1023–1037 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01830-8
Romero, J., Caus, E., Rosell, J., 2002. A model for the palaeoenvironmental distribution of larger foraminifera based on late Middle Eocene deposits on the margin of the South Pyrenean basin (NE Spain). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 179, 43–56.
Rosedy, A., Ives, I., Waheed, Z., Hussein, M.A.L., Sosdian, S., Johnson, K., Santodomingo, N., 2023.
Turbid reefs experience lower coral bleaching effects in NE Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia), Regional Studies in Marine Science, 68, 103268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103268.
Salas, R., 1979. El sistema arrecifal del Eoceno Superior de la Cuenca de Igualada, Barcelona. Master Degree Thesis. University of Barcelona. 196 pp.
Sanders, D., Baron-Szabo, R.C., 2005. Scleractinian assemblages under sediment input: their characteristics and relation to the nutrient input concept. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 216, 139–181.
Sanjuan, J., Martín-Closas, C., Serra-Kiel, J., Gallardo, H., 2012. Stratigraphy and biostratigraphy (charophytes) of the marine-terrestrial transition in the Upper Eocene of the NE Ebro Basin (Catalonia, Spain). Geol Acta 10, 19–31.
Santisteban, C., Taberner, C., 1988. Sedimentary models of siliciclastic deposits and coral reef interactions. In: Doyle LJ, Roberts HH (eds) Carbonate-clastic transitions. Dev Sedimentol 42, 35–76.
Santodomingo, N., Novak, V., Pretković, V., Marshall, N., Di Martino, E., Lo Giudice Capelli, E., Rösler, A., Reich, S., Braga, J.C., Renema, W., Johnson, K.G., 2015. A diverse patch reef from turbid habitats in the Middle Miocene (East Kalimantan, Indonesia). Palaios, 30, 128–149
Santodomingo, N., Renema, W., Johnson, K.G., 2016. Understanding the murky history of the Coral Triangle: Miocene corals and reef habitats in East Kalimantan (Indonesia). Coral Reefs 35, 765–781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-016-1427-y
Saula, E., Picart, J., Mató, E., Llenas, M., Losantos, M., Berástegui, X., Agustí, J., 1994. Evolución geodinámica de la fosa del Empordà y las Sierras Transversales. Acta Geol Hispanica 29, 55-75.
Serra-Kiel, J., Hottinger, L., Caus, E., Drobne, K., Ferràndez, C., Jauhri, A.K., Less, G., Pavlovec, R., Pignatti, J., Samsó J.M., Schaub, H., Sirel, E., Strugo, A., Tambareau, Y., Tosquella, J., Zakrevskaya, E., 1998. Larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Tethyan Paleocene and Eocene. Bull Geol Soc France 169, 281–299.
Serra-Kiel, J., Mató, E., Saula, E., Travé, A., Ferràndez-Cañadell, C., Busquets, P., Samsó, J.M., Tosquella, J., Barnolas, A., Álvarez-Pérez, G., Franquès, J., Romero, J., 2003a. An inventory of marine and transitional Middle/Upper Eocene deposits of the southeastern Pyrenean foreland basin (NE Spain). Geologica Acta 1, 201–229.
Serra-Kiel, J., Mató, E., Saula, E., Travé, A., Ferràndez-Cañadell, C., Busquets, P., Tosquella, J., Vergès, J., 2003b. Marine and transitional Middle/Upper Eocene units of the southeastern Pyrenean foreland basin (NE Spain). Geologica Acta, 1, 177–200.
Sheldon, N.D., Retallack, G.J., 2004. Regional paleoprecipitation records from the late eocene and oligocene of North America. The Journal of Geology, 112, 487–494.
Sola F, Braga JC, Aguirre J (2013) Hooked and tubular coralline algae indicate seagrass beds associated to Mediterranean Messinian reefs (Poniente Basin, Almería, SE Spain). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 374, 218–229.
Sully, S., van Woesik, R., 2020. Turbid reefs moderate coral bleaching under climate-related temperature stress. Global change Biology, 26 (3), 1367-1373. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14948
Taberner, C., Bosence, D.W.J., 1995. An Eocene biodetrital mudmound from the southern Pyrenean foreland basin, Spain: an ancient analogue for Florida Bay mounds? In: Monty C.L.V., Bosence D.W.J., Bridges, P.H., Pratt, B.R. (eds) Carbonate Mud Mounds – Their Origin and Evolution. IAS Spec Publ 23, 423–437.
Tomassetti, L., Bosellini, F., Brandano, M., 2013. Growth and demise of a Burdigalian coral bioconstruction on a granite rocky substrate (Bonifacio Basin, South Corsica). FACIES, 59 (4), 703-716. [10.1007/s10347-012-0341-1]
Utescher, T., Bondarenko, O.V., Mosbrugger, V., 2015. The Cenozoic Cooling – continental signals from the Atlantic and Pacific side of Eurasia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 415, 121-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.01.019
Vergès, J., Fernández, M., Martínez, A., 2002. The Pyrenean orogen: pre-, syn-, and post- collisional evolution. In: Rosenbaum, G., Lister, G., (eds). Reconstruction of the evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogen. J Virtual Explorer 8, 55–74. doi:10.3809/jvirtex.2002.00058
Vilà-Vinyet, J., 2010. Delimitació de la sedimentació sintectònica associada a l’aixecament de l’Anticlinal de Bellmunt (Eocè superior, Bartonià-Priabonià, NE de la Conca de l’Ebre). Master Degree, Universitat de Barcelona.
Wilson, M.E.J., Lokier, S.W., 2002. Siliciclastic and volcaniclastic influences on equatorial carbonates: insights from the Neogene of Indonesia. Sedimentology 49, 583–601.
Woolfe, K.J., Larcombe, P., 1998. Terrigenous sediment accumulation as a regional control on the distribution of reef carbonates. In: Camoin, G.F., Davies, P.J., (eds.). Reefs and Carbonate Platforms in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. IAS Spec. Publ., 25, 295–310.
Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., Billups, K., 2001. Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present. Science, 292 (5517), 686-693. DOI: 10.1126/science.1059412
Zweifler (Zvifler), A., O’Leary, M., Morgan, K., Browne, N.K., 2021. Turbid Coral Reefs: Past, Present and Future—A Review. Diversity, 13(6), 251 https://doi.org/10.3390/d13060251