Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe

Albert J. van der Meulen; Israel Garcia-Paredes; M. Angeles Alvarez-Sierra; Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende; Kees Hordijk; Adriana Oliver; Paloma Lopez-Guerrero; Veronica Hernandez-Ballarin; Pablo Pelaez-Campomanes

doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004

Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe

Albert J. van der Meulen
, Israel Garcia-Paredes
, M. Angeles Alvarez-Sierra
, Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende
, Kees Hordijk
, Adriana Oliver
, Paloma Lopez-Guerrero
, Veronica Hernandez-Ballarin
, Pablo Pelaez-Campomanes^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Since the proposition in 1975 of the European Neogene Mammal (MN) scale by Pierre Mein, the amount of taxonomical, stratigraphical and chronological information around Europe has increased exponentially. In this paper, the stratigraphical schemes of three of the best studied areas for the Lower and Middle Miocene, the Aragonian type area in Spain and the Upper Freshwater Molasse from the North Alpine Foreland Basin in Switzerland and Bavaria, are compared. The correlation of their local biostratigraphies are discussed. Sixteen rodent's events are studied and ranked in the three areas according to their local biostratigraphy. This study shows, and quantifies for the first time, the significant asynchronies of the different included rodent events. The MN-system is discussed in the light of those results. In accordance, we propose that it is still useful but only in a biochronological way, as a sequence of time-ordered reference localities allowing coarse long-distance correlations. In order to obtain better temporal resolution, this system has to be combined with local biostratigraphies that are well calibrated to the time scale, implementing the information about synchrony and diachrony of mammal events in different areas. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	309-321
Number of pages	13
Journal	Geobios
Volume	44
Issue number	2-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004
Publication status	Published - 2011

Funding

First, we thank the organizers and editors of this volume in honor to our colleague Pierre Mein. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this tribute for his vital contribution to mammal palaeontology. We thank all the colleagues and students that helped us with the field work during many years. We acknowledge Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity-Naturalis (The Netherlands), Institute of Earth Sciences of the Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC (Spain) for the facilities provided to study their collections. We thank Isaac Casanovas and Jordi Agusti for their constructive comments, which helped to improve our manuscript. We acknowledge financial support by the Spanish MICINN projects CGL2004-02094/BTE, CGL2007-65208, CGL2008-04200/BTE and Research Group UCM 910607. IG-P acknowledges the support, in the form of a postdoctoral contract of the FECYT/MICINN. AO and VHB have a FPU and FPI predoctoral grants (MICINN), respectively, and PL-G has a UCM predoctoral grant.

Keywords

Rodentia
Chronology
MN-system
Asynchrony
Central Europe
Spain
ALPINE FORELAND BASIN
ARAGONIAN TYPE AREA
CENTRAL SPAIN
CONTINENTAL SEDIMENTS
GLIRIDAE RODENTIA
STRATIGRAPHY
RECORD
CHRONOLOGY
EVOLUTION
FRAMEWORK

Access to Document

10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004

Cite this

van der Meulen, A. J., Garcia-Paredes, I., Angeles Alvarez-Sierra, M., Ostende, L. W. V. D. H., Hordijk, K., Oliver, A., Lopez-Guerrero, P., Hernandez-Ballarin, V., & Pelaez-Campomanes, P. (2011). Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe. Geobios, 44(2-3), 309-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004

@article{cbc43cd095864f53938cf70364b2f00a,

title = "Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe",

abstract = "Since the proposition in 1975 of the European Neogene Mammal (MN) scale by Pierre Mein, the amount of taxonomical, stratigraphical and chronological information around Europe has increased exponentially. In this paper, the stratigraphical schemes of three of the best studied areas for the Lower and Middle Miocene, the Aragonian type area in Spain and the Upper Freshwater Molasse from the North Alpine Foreland Basin in Switzerland and Bavaria, are compared. The correlation of their local biostratigraphies are discussed. Sixteen rodent's events are studied and ranked in the three areas according to their local biostratigraphy. This study shows, and quantifies for the first time, the significant asynchronies of the different included rodent events. The MN-system is discussed in the light of those results. In accordance, we propose that it is still useful but only in a biochronological way, as a sequence of time-ordered reference localities allowing coarse long-distance correlations. In order to obtain better temporal resolution, this system has to be combined with local biostratigraphies that are well calibrated to the time scale, implementing the information about synchrony and diachrony of mammal events in different areas. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.",

keywords = "Rodentia, Chronology, MN-system, Asynchrony, Central Europe, Spain, ALPINE FORELAND BASIN, ARAGONIAN TYPE AREA, CENTRAL SPAIN, CONTINENTAL SEDIMENTS, GLIRIDAE RODENTIA, STRATIGRAPHY, RECORD, CHRONOLOGY, EVOLUTION, FRAMEWORK",

author = "\{van der Meulen\}, \{Albert J.\} and Israel Garcia-Paredes and \{Angeles Alvarez-Sierra\}, M. and Ostende, \{Lars W. van den Hoek\} and Kees Hordijk and Adriana Oliver and Paloma Lopez-Guerrero and Veronica Hernandez-Ballarin and Pablo Pelaez-Campomanes",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004",

language = "English",

volume = "44",

pages = "309--321",

journal = "Geobios",

issn = "0016-6995",

publisher = "Elsevier Masson s.r.l.",

number = "2-3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe

AU - van der Meulen, Albert J.

AU - Garcia-Paredes, Israel

AU - Angeles Alvarez-Sierra, M.

AU - Ostende, Lars W. van den Hoek

AU - Hordijk, Kees

AU - Oliver, Adriana

AU - Lopez-Guerrero, Paloma

AU - Hernandez-Ballarin, Veronica

AU - Pelaez-Campomanes, Pablo

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Since the proposition in 1975 of the European Neogene Mammal (MN) scale by Pierre Mein, the amount of taxonomical, stratigraphical and chronological information around Europe has increased exponentially. In this paper, the stratigraphical schemes of three of the best studied areas for the Lower and Middle Miocene, the Aragonian type area in Spain and the Upper Freshwater Molasse from the North Alpine Foreland Basin in Switzerland and Bavaria, are compared. The correlation of their local biostratigraphies are discussed. Sixteen rodent's events are studied and ranked in the three areas according to their local biostratigraphy. This study shows, and quantifies for the first time, the significant asynchronies of the different included rodent events. The MN-system is discussed in the light of those results. In accordance, we propose that it is still useful but only in a biochronological way, as a sequence of time-ordered reference localities allowing coarse long-distance correlations. In order to obtain better temporal resolution, this system has to be combined with local biostratigraphies that are well calibrated to the time scale, implementing the information about synchrony and diachrony of mammal events in different areas. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

AB - Since the proposition in 1975 of the European Neogene Mammal (MN) scale by Pierre Mein, the amount of taxonomical, stratigraphical and chronological information around Europe has increased exponentially. In this paper, the stratigraphical schemes of three of the best studied areas for the Lower and Middle Miocene, the Aragonian type area in Spain and the Upper Freshwater Molasse from the North Alpine Foreland Basin in Switzerland and Bavaria, are compared. The correlation of their local biostratigraphies are discussed. Sixteen rodent's events are studied and ranked in the three areas according to their local biostratigraphy. This study shows, and quantifies for the first time, the significant asynchronies of the different included rodent events. The MN-system is discussed in the light of those results. In accordance, we propose that it is still useful but only in a biochronological way, as a sequence of time-ordered reference localities allowing coarse long-distance correlations. In order to obtain better temporal resolution, this system has to be combined with local biostratigraphies that are well calibrated to the time scale, implementing the information about synchrony and diachrony of mammal events in different areas. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

KW - Rodentia

KW - Chronology

KW - MN-system

KW - Asynchrony

KW - Central Europe

KW - Spain

KW - ALPINE FORELAND BASIN

KW - ARAGONIAN TYPE AREA

KW - CENTRAL SPAIN

KW - CONTINENTAL SEDIMENTS

KW - GLIRIDAE RODENTIA

KW - STRATIGRAPHY

KW - RECORD

KW - CHRONOLOGY

KW - EVOLUTION

KW - FRAMEWORK

U2 - 10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004

DO - 10.1016/j.geobios.2010.11.004

M3 - Article

SN - 0016-6995

VL - 44

SP - 309

EP - 321

JO - Geobios

JF - Geobios

IS - 2-3

ER -

Biostratigraphy or biochronology? Lessons from the Early and Middle Miocene small Mammal Events in Europe

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this