Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ghbi20 Download by: [UNAM Ciudad Universitaria] Date: 12 February 2016, At: 14:19 Historical Biology An International Journal of Paleobiology ISSN: 0891-2963 (Print) 1029-2381 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ghbi20 Preliminary palaeobotanical notes on the Early Cretaceous Cintura Formation (Sonora, Mexico) Uxue Villanueva-Amadoz, Laura Calvillo-Canadell, Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferriz & Hugo Beraldi-Campesi To cite this article: Uxue Villanueva-Amadoz, Laura Calvillo-Canadell, Sergio R. S. Cevallos- Ferriz & Hugo Beraldi-Campesi (2015) Preliminary palaeobotanical notes on the Early Cretaceous Cintura Formation (Sonora, Mexico), Historical Biology, 27:3-4, 405-413, DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2014.915821 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2014.915821 Published online: 09 May 2014. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 81 View related articles View Crossmark data
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ghbi20
Download by: [UNAM Ciudad Universitaria] Date: 12 February 2016, At: 14:19
Historical BiologyAn International Journal of Paleobiology
Preliminary palaeobotanical notes on the EarlyCretaceous Cintura Formation (Sonora, Mexico)
Uxue Villanueva-Amadoz, Laura Calvillo-Canadell, Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferriz& Hugo Beraldi-Campesi
To cite this article: Uxue Villanueva-Amadoz, Laura Calvillo-Canadell, Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferriz & Hugo Beraldi-Campesi (2015) Preliminary palaeobotanical notes on the EarlyCretaceous Cintura Formation (Sonora, Mexico), Historical Biology, 27:3-4, 405-413, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2014.915821
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2014.915821
Preliminary palaeobotanical notes on the Early Cretaceous Cintura Formation (Sonora, Mexico)
Uxue Villanueva-Amadoza*, Laura Calvillo-Canadellb1, Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferrizb2 and Hugo Beraldi-Campesib3
aERNO, Instituto de Geologıa, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), L.D. Colosio y Madrid S/N, Campus Unison,Apartado Postal 1039, C.P. 83000 Hermosillo, Mexico; bDpto. de Paleontologıa, Instituto de Geologıa, Universidad Nacional Autonomade Mexico (UNAM), 04510 Mexico, D.F., Mexico
(Received 30 November 2013; accepted 14 April 2014; first published online 9 May 2014)
The Cintura Formation of Albian–Cenomanian age in the Cabullona Basin yielded an important fossil flora, includingpalynomorphs, leaf impressions and fossil trunks. At the base of the Marquechi Member a poorly preserved palynomorphassemblage is recognised. The palynological assemblage is dominated by gymnosperms, mainly by cheirolepidiacean genusClassopollis. A noteworthy feature is the presence of angiosperm pollen grains of the genera Clavatipollenites,Retimonocolpites and Tucanopollis. A rich, diverse and well-preserved macroflora of leaf impressions has been observed inthe uppermost part of this formation belonging to the San Juan Member. There are at least eight morphospecies of leavesincluding an abundance of taxa with possible botanical affinities to the family Sapindaceae. The angiosperm pollen grainstogether with the sapindalean leaves constitute the oldest record of such remains in Mexico.
thickness of 319m on the northern side of this mountain
chain, decreasing to 170m in its southern side.
Sedimentological studies of the Cintura Formation
have also been carried out at the Cabullona locality
(Grijalva-Noriega 1996). Its lower limit with the Mural
Limestone Formation is abrupt to transitional at Sierra El
Chanate (Jacques-Ayala 1991) and transitional at Cabul-
lona and the upper limit is unconformable (erosional to
angular) with the Pozo Duro Formation of the El Chanate
Group (Grijalva-Noriega 1996).
Grijalva-Noriega (1996) divided this formation into
three members at the Cabullona locality: (a) Lower or
Marquechi, which represents a lower deltaic plain; (b)
Middle or San Marcos, which suggests a shallow marine to
fluvial facies and (c) Upper or San Juan, indicating an upper
deltaic plain with interdistributary and fluvial environments.
The Cintura Formation overlies the Mural Limestone
Formation, the later dated as late Aptian–early Albian on
the basis of marine fauna in 12 localities from Sonora
including the Cerro Caloso at Cabullona (Gonzalez-Leon
et al. 2008). An early Albian age was assigned to the
Cintura Formation based on the presence of ammonites
and oysters within the Lower Member and also by the
calpionelid Colomiella recta Bonet and the foraminifer
genus Favusella Michael in the Upper Member (Rosales-
Domınguez et al. 1995).
Figure 1. (Above) The location of the studied outcrop in the Cabullona Basin, Sonora, Mexico. (Below) The studied section andgeological map showing the facies distribution of the Cintura Formation near Cabullona village (modified from Grijalva-Noriega 1996).
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Materials and methods
Sixty-one palynological samples collected from the entire
profile were processed using the standard palynological
method (Erdtman 1943; Batten 1999); however, only six
samples at the base of this formation, corresponding to the
morphs (Figure 2). Due to the scarcity of palynomorphs in
some levels, for each stratigraphic level a total of four
slides have been observed for taxonomic determinations.
The palynomorphs were studied under two optical
transmitted light microscopes, an Olympus BX50 and a
Zeiss Axioskop 40, using differential interference contrast.
All palynomorphs were photographed at 1000x magnifi-
cation with a Zeiss AxiocamMRC camera. Several images
were taken at different focal planes for each palynomorph
in order to restore the depth of field using CombineZM
program (Bercovici et al. 2009). The nomenclature of each
palynomorph shown in Figure 2 indicates first the acronym
of the site with its stratigraphic level followed by the slide
number and finally the England Finder coordinates.
Palaeobotanical content
Palynological data
The six fossilised samples at the base yielded gymnosperm
pollen grains which are abundant, whereas fern spores are
less common and angiosperm pollen grains are scarce (see
Table 1 and Figure 3(a–aj)). These assemblages are
Figure 2. Stratigraphic log of the lowermost part of the Marquechi Member of the Cintura Formation, showing location ofpalynomorph-bearing samples.
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Table 1. List of palynomorphs and their abundance in six samples (indicated as 1–3, 5, 6 and 8) at the base of the Marquechi Member ofthe Cintura Formation in the Cerro Caloso area (CCAL) near Cabullona, Sonora, Mexico.
Figure 4. (Colour online) Leaf impressions displaying variability and diversity among the leaf types. (a) Leaf with rounded apex andtapering base, (b and c) part and counterpart of leaf with rounded apex and base, and brochidodromous secondary venation, (d) leaf withacuminate apex, (e) leaf with acute apex and rounded base, (f) leaf with tapering base and up to third order veins and (g) leaf with highorder venation pattern. Scale in all photographs represents 1 cm.
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dominated by cheirolepidiacean conifer pollen
grains (Classopollis spp.), and to lesser extent, by
gymnosperms of the morphospecies Exesipollenites
tumulus and araucariacean conifer pollen grains (Inaper-
hallei) are also abundant in pollen assemblages and at
certain level the presence of isoetalean spore Peromono-
lites allensis and verrucate trilete spores of the
morphogenus Leptolepidites is noticeable.
The aquatic freshwater spores Ovoidites parvus and
Triporoletes sp. cf. T. radiatus have been observed, which
may have been transported by watercourses.
Angiosperm pollen grains are represented by a few
monocolpates by the presence of Clavatipollenites tenellis
attributed to the Chloranthaceae, two different mor-
phologies of the genus Retimonocolpites and the
morphogenus Tucanopollis.
There is a clear marine influence at the base of this
formation based on the presence of poorly preserved
marine dinocysts such as Oligosphaeridium sp. and other
undetermined dinoflagellate cysts.
Macroflora
A single short visit to the leaf locality suggests that the
material is well preserved and that diversity is high. The
abundant fossil trunks and compressions of macroflora are
restricted to the San JuanMember at the top of the sequence.
The fossil trunks lie scattered within a thick sandstone layer.
Above it, we found plant macrofossils that occur in probable
swamp-marsh deposits that pass laterally into a thick coal
seam. There is a characteristic clayey stratum about 30 cm in
thickness containing isoetalean leaves (Isoetites sp.) and
above it a rich assemblage of angiosperm leaves in shales.
Angiosperm leaves in the Cintura Formation are important,
given the small number of floras of this agewith angiosperm
macrofossils and the fact that theywere previously unknown
in this region. Leaf architecture in most of the fossil material
suggests that the new leaf types could represent members of
Sapindales (Figure 4(a–c)) based on the presence of pinnate
venation, semi-craspedodromous secondary venation and a
marginal vein (Hickey andWolfe 1975;Martınez-Millan and
Cevallos-Ferriz 2005; Daly et al. 2011). However, perhaps
the most important difference with Sapindales, and an
indication of the need for further collections and detailed
comparisons to wide up not only leaf types but also the idea
of variation and diversity among the leaves of this locality is
the fact that the most conspicuous feature of leaves of
Sapindales is that they are usually pinnately compound, but
so far there is no evidence that the Cintura fossils were
leaflets of compound leaves rather than simple leaves.
Discussion
The palynological assemblages are poorly preserved
possibly as a result of the regressive sequence at the
base of the Cintura Formation, high subsidence rates and
high tectonic activity in the area of north-central Sonora
(Lawton et al. 2004). Although for mid-Cretaceous times
we should expect tricolpate/tricolporate pollen grains,
only monocolpate angiosperm pollen grains are present.
The absence of the tricolpate/tricolporate pollen could be
due to taphonomical processes, either because of a higher
fragility of this type of pollen grains or due to
palaeodepositional processes that did not allow the
preservation or establishment of this type of plants.
From monocolpate grains in this study, the observed grain
of the genus Tucanopollis (Figure 3(af)) is morphologi-
cally similar to that described by Brenner (1963) as
Monosulcites chaloneri, which Goczan and Juhasz (1984)
transferred to Crassipollis. Moreover, in the upper part of
the sequence a rich and diverse assemblage of fossil leaves
have been found, indicating that a community of this type
of plants was well established for that time.
The chronostratigraphic position of the flora from the
Upper Member of the Cintura Formation in Cabullona
locality would correspond to an early Albian age based on
marine fauna (Rosales-Domınguez et al. 1995). The
presence of the schizaeacean fern spore Plicatella
potomacensis (Figure 3(g)) indicates an age no younger
than Albian for the base of the Marquechi Member of the
Cintura Formation as this taxon does not cross the Albian–
Cenomanian boundary (Singh 1971; Benson 2006).
Other known floras at essentially the same palaeola-
titude and age are those previously described from the
Cretaceous of Texas and Oklahoma. For example, the flora
of the predominantly marine Glen Rose Limestone
Formation in Texas, dated as early Albian by sequence
stratigraphy and ammonite, echinoid and foraminiferal
zonations (Young 1974; Mancini and Scott 2006a, 2006b;
Smith and Rader 2009), is similar in being dominated by
Cheirolepidiaceae represented by genera Classopollis and
Pseudofrenelopsis (Watson 1977). However, it differs in
containing few tricolpate pollen, so far described only in
an abstract (Beach 1981). Moreover, the palynological
assemblages from the Cintura Formation differ more from
that of the middle Albian of Oklahoma, which contains
diverse tricolpates as well as monosulcate angiosperms
(Hedlund and Norris 1968; Srivastava 1975). The
palynological data from Texas and Oklahoma would also
favour an early Albian age for the Marquechi Member.
Consistent with its lower palaeolatitude, this palyno-
flora differs from the better known palynofloras of the
eastern USA (Potomac Group) and Europe (the typical
southern Laurasian province) in being dominated by
Classopollis and containing relatively few fern spores,
such as floras of Brazil and Africa near the palaeoequator
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(Northern Gondwana province). However, the abundance
of Classopollis could be a function of facies as well as
climate, since there is much evidence that Cheirolepidia-
ceae dominated coastal vegetation at this time. The
angiosperm pollen is noteworthy in being entirely
monosulcate, as in the Aptian of Europe and the Potomac,
with none of the tricolpates that appear in the early or
middle Albian in those areas. However, this may not rule
out an early Albian age, since tricolpates were still rare at
that time and might be missed or not represented in
marginally preserved floras. In this respect the flora differs
significantly from that of Brazil and Africa, where
tricolpates are regularly present in the Aptian (e.g.
Heimhofer and Hochuli 2010).
In recent years, Cretaceous macroflora localities from
northern and southern Mexico have yielded diverse
assemblages of leaf types with members of Sapindales
being widely distributed, while the other plants seem to
represent more local elements. The venation features of the
leaf impressions from the Upper Member of the Cintura
Formation as indicating a relationship with Sapindales are
also widespread in monosulcate groups. The characteristic
features are their festooned brochidodromous secondary
veins, intersecondaries, and reticulate tertiary venation
(Figure 4(e and f)) that resemble leaves from Zone I (Aptian
or early Albian) in the Potomac Group, which have been
compared with magnoliids and taxa now placed in the
ANITA grade (Wolfe et al. 1975; Hickey and Doyle 1977;
Upchurch 1984; Doyle 2007).
Conclusions
The Cintura Formation yielded an interesting assemblage of
palaeobotanical remains including palynomorphs composed
mainly of cheirolepidiacean pollen grains at the base of the
sequence, corresponding to theMarquechiMember, and also
fossil trunks and fossil leaves in the upper part of theSan Juan
Member. The age of the base of this formation is presumably
not younger than Albian based on the presence of Plicatella
potomacensis. Moreover, the comparison of the studied
assemblageswith those previously described fromTexas and
Oklahoma would favour an early rather than middle or late
Albian age. Another important contribution of this study is
the report in the upper Cintura Formation of angiosperm
leaves, similar to those from Zone I in the Potomac Group,
given the small number of floras of this agewith angiosperm
macrofossils and the fact that theywere previously unknown
in this region.Noteworthy features are the presence of a basal
layer containing isoetalean leaves and above it, shaly
deposits with sapindalean-like leaves together with seven
other leaf morphospecies. The sapindalean macroflora
record from the Cintura Formation constitutes the oldest
record of this group in Mexico. Studies underway will
produce a more complete idea of the flora during the
Cretaceous in low latitudes of North America.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Antonio Altamira for taking photographs ofmacrofossils and also an anonymous reviewer and JamesA.Doylefor their comments and suggestions to improve this manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by Mexican Projects [grant number104515, 82433 (CONACyT)], [grant number 219810, IA101212(PAPIIT)].
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