Elsevier

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume 243, 1 September 2020, 106508
Quaternary Science Reviews

Short communication
First vertebrate tracks and palaeoenvironment in a MIS-5 context in the Doñana National Park (Huelva, SW Spain)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106508Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The Late Pleistocene aeolian deposits on Matalascañas (SW Spain) contain abundant mammal and bird tracks and trackways.

  • These deposits form a lower set of cliff-foot dunes and another of rampant sands.

  • The fossil tracks and trackways are concentrated in two units dated by OSL in 106 ± 19 kyr (MIS 5).

  • The tracemakers identified are artiodactils, elephants, wolves, waterbirds and shorebirds.

  • The palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the surface is related to puddled areas of shallow waters in an interdune position.

Abstract

A Late Pleistocene surface full of tracks and trackways (named ‘Matalascañas Trampled Surface’) has been exposed at the base of the ‘El Asperillo’ cliff (Doñana National Park, Matalascañas, Huelva, southwestern Spain) as a result of recent storms. This surface has been identified as the bottom of the unit AU1, according to the local stratigraphic section, and originated during the marine stage MIS-5 (∼106 ± 19 kyr). This trampled surface records exceptional tracks and trackways of different terrestrial vertebrates. In particular, three morphotypes of tracks ascribed to Artiodactyla (the auroch Bos primigenius? the red deer Cervus elaphus and wild boar Sus scrofa), one to Elephantidae (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), one of Canidae (Canis lupus), and three to waterbirds (geese, Anserinae, and waders, Charadrii) have been identified. This ichnoassociation is characteristic of a shorebird ichnofacies. We interpret this trampled surface to have been related to puddled areas of shallow waters in an inter-dune position, similar to present day examples in the Doñana National Park.

Introduction

In the last decades, numerous researchers have focused on the analysis and evolution of coastal environments (beaches, cliffs, marshes) subject to high-energy erosive events (e.g. Earlie et al., 2018). An increase in the frequency of these events causes the acceleration of coastal cliff retreat rates with an additional effect: the exposure or erosion of old geological formations or archaeological sites (Westley and McNeary, 2015). The southwestern Spanish coast is made up of extensive beaches and soft cliffs (e.g. El Asperillo cliff) between the Tinto-Odiel and the Guadalquivir River estuaries. These soft cliffs are being progressively dismantled due to the erosive action of winter storms (Rodríguez-Ramírez et al., 2003), currently causing the exposure of an ancient reddish surface that had been trampled by vertebrate animals. Here we present the first record of fossil tracks and trackways of terrestrial mammals and birds in the Late Pleistocene coastal aeolian deposits of southwestern Spain. Our main objectives are (1) to describe the morphologies of the tracks, (2) to consider the species likely to have caused the tracks, and (3) to provide data on the palaeoenvironment in which they were produced.

Section snippets

Study area

The Asperillo cliff (average elevation 20–22 m and length 35 km) is located along the southwestern Spanish littoral (Matalascañas, Huelva, Fig. 1A). Zazo et al. (1999) were the first researchers to carry out a detailed study of the sedimentary formations of the Asperillo cliff. Aeolian deposits constitute the upper half of the cliffs in our study area, close to Matalascañas beach (Fig. 1C and D). These authors distinguished six units (AU in Fig. 1B), interpreted as aeolian deposits separated by

The ichnological material

Since the outcrop is located in the intertidal zone of Matalascañas beach, an area affected by intense tidal gradients, the time factor constrained data recovery which consisted largely to the taking photographs and making casts of some of the tracks. The recognized tracks and trackways have been grouped into four morphotypes for mammals, and three for birds. Insect traces and rizoliths have also been identified.

Photogrammetry

Digital photogrammetry and GIS techniques was been used to registry and highlight

Artiodactyla

Two morphotypes (named A1 and A2) of artiodactyl tracks were identified in the MTS. The Morphotype A1 (Fig. 2A˗F) corresponds to large hoof prints with an average size range of 120–135 mm in length and 75 mm broad (Fig. 2A˗D), and a few trackways with measured stride lengths between 1000 and 1320 mm. Tracks were rounded or rectangular in outline. Impressions of third and fourth toes are central, and well-developed mirror images with inner hoof surfaces sometimes in median or posterior contact,

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

The Doñana National Park consists of 55,000 ha of wetland with tens of kilometres of sandy beach and coastal sand dunes, with lakes, stone pine (Pinus pinea) woodland and shrublands. MTS is situated within the borders of the park and appears to reflect similar environmental conditions to those of the present day.

The recent erosion of the cliff, by the latest winter storms, has brought to the surface the base of the Unit 1 (Zazo et al., 1999). Along the base of the cliff, the maximum observed

Conclusions

  • 1.

    The Late Pleistocene trampled surface on El Asperillo cliff contains abundant and exceptional mammal and bird tracks and trackways. This represents the first record of fossil vertebrate footprints in the Gulf of Cádiz.

  • 2.

    This trampled surface was found in the bottom of the sedimentary Unit 1, dated by OSL to ∼106 ± 19 ky, corresponding to the marine stage MIS-5 or Last Interglacial.

  • 3.

    The studied mammal tracks of the “Matalascañas Trampled Surface” represent the activity of artiodactyls (cf. Bos

Author statement

This paper has been write by Carlos Neto de Carvalho (C.N.C), Fernando Muñiz (F.M.), José María Galán (J.M.G.), Joaquín Rodriguez-Vidal (J.R.V.), Paula Gómez (P.G.), Antonio Toscano (A.T.), Francisco Ruiz (F.R.), Joao Belo (J.B.), Zain Belaústegui (Z.B.), Luis Miguel Cáceres (L.M.C.), Geraldine Finlayson (G.F.), Stewart Finlayson (S.F.), Francisco Giles Guzman (F.G.G.), and Clive Finlayson (C.F.).

The individual contributions of each co-author to the article is as follows: C.N.C coordinated the

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The tracks were discovered on June 4th, 2020 by Ana Mateos Morillo and Ma Dolores Cobo García, biologists from the Doñana Natural Space. Research was possible thanks to the Delegaciones territoriales de Huelva, Consejería de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Desarrollo Sostenible and Consejería de Cultura (Junta de Andalucía), Servicio de Geodiversidad y Biodiversidad (Dirección General de Medio Natural, Biodiversidad y Espacios Protegidos) and The National Park of Doñana. Thanks to Juan Jose

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