Discovering a Project for the Development of Geotourism in Rural Areas: The Paleontological and Archaeological Interpretation Centre of Tamajón (CIPAT, Guadalajara, Spain)

The important paleontological and archaeological discoveries made in Tamajón in recent years have enriched the exceptional natural and cultural heritage of this town in the north of the Guadalajara province (central Spain). The extraordinary educational and outreach value of these findings led the PaleoIbérica Research Group to develop a project for the design and creation of the Paleontological and Archaeological Interpretation Centre of Tamajón (CIPAT, acronym in Spanish). In this new space, students and the general public have access to knowledge of the past of the region through three exhibition and didactic areas and the support of a rigorous and engaging infographic. The Paleontological Area allows visitors to explore, through fossils, replicas, models (real and virtual) and dioramas, the diversity of coastal and marine life that inhabited the region during the Late Cretaceous Age. Moreover, the area highlights crocodylomorphs, dinosaurs and fishes (identified through their fossilized tracks), and the remains of plants and invertebrates. The Archaeological Area shows the origin and uses of the building material known as Tamajón Stone by means of rough or carved samples, tools traditionally used in its extraction and carving, and historical photographs. Furthermore, in the Didactic Area, innovative specific educational activities are carried out, facilitating the knowledge and appreciation of the rich natural and cultural heritage of Tamajón. After its recent inauguration (August 2021), the CIPAT is a valuable tool to encourage the practice of positive attitudes toward geoconservation and to promote the sustainable and socioeconomic development of the region through geotourism.Research Projects and Contracts UI/BD/150971/2021 of the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal), and UCM.CT31/21 of the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain); and BOP-168 of the Provincial Council of Guadalajara, and 94/2018, 21/2019, 147/2021 of the University of Alcalá-Town Council of Tamajón (Spain). Aid for Rural Development 2021 of the Eurocaja Rural Foundation (Spain)

Upper Hauterivian nautiloids and associated invertebrate assemblage from the Barranco de la Muela section (southeastern Spain): Systematic, biostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental implications

The lower part of the Lower Cretaceous Bolos Sandstone Formation as exposed in the Barranco de la Muela section (Sierra de la Muela Range, southeastern Spain) yields two species of ornamented nautiloids, Cymatoceras neocomiense and Eucymatoceras plicatum. These have been collected together with other cephalopods (ammonoids, belemnites) and different invertebrates (corals, brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, echinoids). This fossil assemblage includes numerous large macroconchs of the ammonite Pseudothurmannia mortilleti, here considered as a senior synonym of P. catulloi, index species of the homonymous subzone of the upper Hauterivian “Pseudothurmannia ohmi” Zone. On this basis, the here reported findings constitute the first biostratigraphically well-constrained records of C. neocomiense and E. plicatum, namely in the Pseudothurmannia catulloi Subzone. The presence of these two ornamented and relatively depressed nautiloids in fine sandstone levels interbedded with sandy marls of the Bolos Formation, together with the palaeoecological characteristics of the associated fauna suggest a nearshore to inner-middle shelf, shallow to moderately deep palaeoenvironment with mixed siliciclastic-carbonate sedimentation, and high to moderate energy.CITEUC - Centro de Investigaç~ao da Terra e do Espaço da Universidade de Coimbra for the institutional support through the Research Project UID/Multi/00611/2020 of the FCT (Portugal), and the Research Project CGL2015-66604 of the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain)

Intervention test in the macrofossil remains of the sites of the “Hoces de Beteta” (Cuenca, Spain)

Las distintas intervenciones realizadas hasta la fecha en los yacimientos paleontológicos de las “Hoces de Beteta” han permitido recuperar, además de numerosos microfósiles y macrorrestos de invertebrados, diversos restos de vertebrados. Con el objetivo de desarrollar una capacidad de análisis que permita argumentar, en términos precisos, las decisiones tomadas con respecto al proceso restaurador más adecuado para la preparación y conservación de los ejemplares óseos obtenidos, entre éstos, se ha seleccionado, por su representatividad, un fósil procedente del yacimiento de Vadillos-1. El ejemplar elegido, correspondiente a un resto postcraneal de Dinosauria, se encontraba en un estado de preservación relativamente bueno, pero partido en siete fragmentos, presentándose uno de ellos parcialmente recubierto por una concreción carbonatada de elevada consistencia. A este fragmento se le han aplicado ciclos experimentales de limpieza química y mecánica, estableciéndose tratamientos con ácido clorhídrico (HCl) diluido del 15 al 5%, en intervalos de tiempo de 1 a 72h, seguidos de ensayos de eliminación de la matriz mediante aguja percutora. Finalizada la limpieza química y mecánica, se ha procedido a realizar una valoración estimativa de los ciclos desarrollados, mostrándose más eficaces los que incluyen un tratamiento químico más prolongado con ácido más diluido. Por último, los siete fragmentos se han unido mediante un adhesivo concentrado reversible, quedando el resto óseo siglado y depositado en condiciones de preservación adecuadas.The different interventions carried out to date at the palaeontological sites of the “Hoces de Beteta” have allowed to recover, along with numerous microfossils and invertebrate macroremains, diverse vertebrate remains. Aiming to develop the analysis capacity which will allow to argument, in precise terms, the decisions made concerning the most appropriate restoration process for the preparation and preservation of the obtained bone specimens, among these, it has been selected, and due its representativeness, a fossil from the Vadillos-1 site. The chosen specimen corresponds to a postcranial remain of Dinosauria, which was in an adequate preservation state, but fragmented in seven pieces, one of them partially covered by a highly consistent carbonate concretion. Five experimental cycles of chemical and mechanical cleaning have been carried through to this piece, stablishing treatments with hydrogen chloride (HCI) diluted from 15 to 5%, in temporal intervals from 1 to 72h, followed by matrix elimination tests with a hand engraver. Once finished the chemical and mechanical cleaning, an estimative assessment of the developed cycles has been carried out, showing as more efficient those which include a more prolonged chemical treatment with more diluted acid. Finally, the seven fragments have been put together using reversible concentrated adhesive, remaining the specimen labelled and deposited in suitable preservation conditions.Patrimonio Arqueo- lógico y Paleontológico de Castilla-La ManchaDepto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

activities with sedimentary rocks and fossils in the Cenomanian of Figueira da Foz (Portugal) and Tamajón (Spain)

UID/HIS/04209/2013Fieldwork activities could be important strategies for the outdoor learning of Geology, as a complement of the practical hands-on of minerals, rocks, fossils and models. They have been increasingly used in the last years, by teachers and students of different grades, and planned in line with the formal teaching taught in the classroom and contextualized with themes adopted by the national curricula of Natural Science. Our purpose is to explore an Iberian context of cooperation, using examples of outcrops with analogous stratigraphic contexts of the same age, and closely related facies, fossils and palaeoenvironments, to develop these outdoor activities around concepts of stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeontology. Two Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) sections with fossiliferous marine carbonate units (Figueira da Foz, in Portugal, and Tamajón, in Spain) have been chosen, due to the many stratigraphic and palaeontological characteristics they have in common, allowing students to understand that despite distance, both geographical areas can be compared, as they shared contemporaneous flora and faunas and a common overall palaeogeography, when the Iberian microplate was extensively flooded by shallow warm seas.publishersversionpublishe

Geological and Palaeontological context of three new Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) vertebrate sites in the Iberian Peninsula (Cuenca Province, Central Spain)

Three new Lower Cretaceous vertebrate sites (Vadillos-1, Vadillos-2, El Tobar) have been recently discovered and studied in the Cuenca Province (Central Spain). They are located in deposits of “Wealden” facies belonging to the El Collado Sandstone and Clay Formation. In these outcrops, micro and macroremains corresponding to plants, invertebrates and vertebrates have been collected and subsequently assigned to macrophytes, charophytes (e.g., Atopochara trivolvis triquetra, Globator maillardii trochiliscoides, Clavator harrisii harrisii), ostracods (e.g., Cypridea gr. modesta, Cypridea cf. C. isasae, Cypridea sp. aff. C. moneta, Cypridea sp. 1, Cypridea sp. 2), molluscs (Unionoida, Viviparus sp.)fishes,amphibians, turtles (cf. Eucryptodira), crocodyliforms (Neosuchia) and dinosaurs (ankylosaurs, ornithopods, theropods). Among the vertebrate remains, scales, teeth, plates, osteoderms, phalanges, ribs, vertebrae and other incomplete bones, as well as eggshell fragments have been identified. This rich and diverse assemblage was deposited in an upper Barremian alluvial-palustrine muddy floodplain crossed by braided sandy channels

The evolution of asymmetry in Upper Cretaceous Cyclothyris (Brachiopoda, Rhynchonellida)

The study of Upper Cretaceous Cyclothyris from Spain and the revision of asymmetrical rhynchonellides from numerous European collections have led to improve some systematical, biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical questions, allowing to update taxonomically this group. The species studied here are the following: Cyclothyris difformis (Valenciennes in Lamarck, 1819); Cyclothyris nekvasilovae sp. nov.; Cyclothyris? contorta? (d’Orbigny, 1847); Cyclothyris zahalkai Nekvasilová, 1973; Cyclothyris segurai Berrocal-Casero, 2020; Cyclothyris cardiatelia Berrocal-Casero, 2020; Cyclothyris claudicans (Coquand, 1879); Cyclothyris globata (Arnaud, 1877); and Cyclothyris? vesicularis (Coquand, 1860). Starting from the preliminary interpretation about the functional meaning of the asymmetry in C. cardiatelia, a hypothesis about the origin of the obligate asymmetry in Upper Cretaceous Cyclothyris has been proposed here, which implies a phylogenetic relationship between C. segurai, C. cardiatelia, C. globata and, possibly, C.? vesicularis