sedimentary patterns in perched spring travertines near

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Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228

Sedimentary patterns in perched spring travertines near Granada

(Spain) as indicators of the paleohydrological and

paleoclimatological evolution of a karst massif

Agustın Martın-Algarraa,b,*, Manuel Martın-Martına, Bartolome Andreoc,Ramon Juliad, Cecilio Gonzalez-Gomezb

aDepartamento de Estratigrafıa y Paleontologıa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spainb Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, C.S.I.C., Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain

cDepartamento de Geologıa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Malaga, 29071 Malaga, Spaind Institut Jaume Almera, C/Martı i Franques, s/nj, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Received 15 May 2002; accepted 27 February 2003

Abstract

Perched spring travertines of the Granada basin (South Spain) constitute a perched system with four well-defined steps,

which are formed by several facies associations deposited in different sub-environments (travertine pools, dams and cascades).

These perched travertines are considered as a freshwater reef system with a facies zonation and stratigraphic architecture closely

resembling that of marine reef terraces and prograding carbonate platforms. The travertine deposits have been dated by230Th/234U and 14C methods. As in other Mediterranean areas, the travertine deposition occurred episodically during warm and

wet interglacial periods coinciding with isotopic stages 9, 7 and 5, and with the transition between isotopic stages 2/1. During

these periods, underground dissolution, large outflow in the springs and subsequent calcium carbonate precipitation occurred. In

the same way that evolution of reef systems indicates sea level changes, the geomorphology, age and architecture of perched

spring travertine systems may be used to interpret former climatically controlled changes in outflow, in base level marked by the

altitude of springs and in the chemistry of spring waters. Thus, aggradation or climbing progradation may indicate an increase of

outflow at the spring, progradation with toplap is due to a stable base level and, conversely, dowlapping progradation may

signify that the base level was gradually dropping. Therefore, the travertines can be considered semiquantitative indicators of

the paleohydrological evolution of karstic massifs and used as an important terrestrial proxy climate record.

D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Travertine; Continental reefs; 230Th/234U and 14C dating; Mediterranean karst

0037-0738/03/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All right

doi:10.1016/S0037-0738(03)00115-5

* Corresponding author. Departamento de Estratigrafıa y Paleon-

tologıa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071

Granada, Spain. Tel.: +34-95-8243337; fax: +34-95-8243203.

E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Martın-Algarra).

1. Introduction

Karstic springs on semiarid Mediterranean envi-

ronments are sensitive ecotops to paleohydrological

changes. Morphologically complex, perched traver-

tine bodies very rich in plant remains are usually

formed there. The geomorphology, sedimentology and

s reserved.

A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228218

dating of these perched spring travertines can provide

paleohydrological data to help establish recent cli-

matic evolution (Henning et al., 1983; Magnin et al.,

1991; Torres et al., 1996; Braum et al., 2000). In

Southern Spain, a region representing a very critical

climatic and biogeographical border, Quaternary

spring travertine deposits are very common, but they

Fig. 1. (A) Location and geological sketch of the study area. (B) Simplifie

and of dated samples.

are discontinuous both in space and time (Duran,

1996; Torres et al., 1996).

Although travertines are formed by carbonate pre-

cipitation, evidence of biological mediation can be

found in many cases (Casanova, 1982; Chafetz and

Folk, 1984; Chafetz et al., 1991; Pedley et al., 1996;

Freytet and Verrechia, 1998; Janssen et al., 1999).

d cross-section with indication of the position of the travertine steps

A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228 219

Further, the growth and the development of the

vegetation itself trigger the location of stream chan-

nels and the flow characteristics, and determine the

migration of the active sites of carbonate precipitation

(Julia, 1983; Pedley, 1992).

In this paper, we report upon travertines and asso-

ciated spring outcropping in the Granada basin, one of

the main post-orogenic basins in Southern Spain (Fig.

1), in order to compare their facies, stratigraphic

architecture and the factors controlling their genesis

and evolutionary development with those of marine

reefs, and to propose a sedimentary pattern for the

study area which could be applicable to other traver-

tine deposits. The other aim of the paper is, through

radiometric dating (230Th/234U and 14C) of the traver-

tine deposits, to elucidate the paleohydrological evo-

lution of Southern Spain, and to increase knowledge

on European Quaternary paleoclimatology.

2. Geological setting

The studied area is located on the NE edge of the

Granada basin (Fig. 1A), an intermontane basin in the

Betic Cordillera, which originated in the Upper Mio-

cene. The bedrocks of the area outcrop widely in the

Sierra de la Yedra, which is composed of several

alpine thrust sheets of pelitic rocks (Paleozoic slates

and Early Triassic sandstones) and carbonate rocks

(Triassic dolostones and Jurassic to Lower Miocene

limestones). The basin infill is of (1) Tortonian con-

glomerates, (2) alluvial deposits interfingering with

lacustrine limestones and marls containing gypsum of

Messinian age and (3) alluvial conglomerates of Plio–

Pleistocene age. Over these materials, travertines were

deposited during the Quaternary, which extends from

a normal fault that has been neotectonically active,

and from large, earthquake-induced landslides that

destroyed the villages of Guevejar and Nıvar in

1884. This fault separates the infill of the Granada

basin from bedrocks.

The Sierra de la Yedra carbonates constitute a 20

km2 karstic massif, in which recharge comes exclu-

sively from rainfall while discharge occurs through

springs located along the border of the massif (Fig.

1A). Extensive carbonate deposits are not forming

today in the springs; but a connection between traver-

tine deposition and the ancestors of the modern springs

may be inferred. Hydrochemistry of four spring waters

close to travertine deposits distinguished two water

types (Andreo et al., 1999):

(a) Waters with low mineralization, from Fuente-

grande and Nıvar springs (1 and 2 in Fig. 1),

which contain predominantly Ca2 +, Mg2 + and

HCO3� ions, and are slightly supersaturated in

calcite but they are not precipitating CaCO3 today.

(b) Highly mineralized waters from Guevejar and Pan

springs (3 and 4 in Fig. 1). They contain higher

Ca2 +, Mg2 + and especially SO42� concentrations,

indicating the dissolution of gypsum-bearingMio-

cene sediments, and higher calcite saturation

index. Some local precipitation of calcite is

occurring.

The travertines form a perched system with four

regionally well-defined steps in the western edge of

the Sierra de la Yedra (Fig. 1B), which can be clearly

distinguished because of their erosive bottoms coin-

ciding approximately with the slope of the mountain

and their flat top which is located at a different

altitude: 1110 (Step I), 1095 (Step II), 1060 (Step

III) and 1010 m a.s.l. (Step IV).

3. Spring travertines and reef systems

3.1. Travertine architecture and facies

The internal architecture of the travertines is best

preserved in Step II NE of Nıvar (Photo 1), where six

unconformity-bounded prograding wedges are distin-

guished (Fig. 2A). The two wedges located nearer to

the mountain side in the lower stratigraphic position

(W1–W2 in Fig. 2A) show aggrading relationships

between them, whereas the next four are clearly

prograding and downlapping, with a toplap surface

developed upon wedges W4, W5 and W6. Each wedge

starts with low-angle clinoforms that become pro-

gressively steeper and finally vertical, or nearly so

(W4–W6). Subhorizontal beds are visible below the

platform formed between the clinoforms and the

mountain. The carbonate facies are similar in all

platforms, and plants such us those living around

the springs today participated in their construction

(for terminology see Pedley, 1990, 1992). These

Photographs 1–4. (1) Panoramic view of the travertine Step II, located at the NE of the Nıvar village in Fig. 1. (2) Oncolitic gravels of a pool

environment. (3) Leaves facies. (4) Corroded surface mineralized by Fe-oxyhydroxides.


facies are laterally and vertically organized into three

facies associations (Fig. 2B):

(a) Facies Association 1 is mainly found in the ho-

rizontally bedded zones (especially in column d,

Fig. 2B). It is dominated by decimeter-scale beds of

chalky and peloidal mudstones–wackestones con-

taining some gastropods. These alternate with

oncolitic ‘gravels’ (Photo 2), bioclastic breccias

(rudstone–floatstones) and calcarenites (grain-

stones/packstones), sometimes channeled, made

of broken stems and leaves of Salix sp.,Quercus sp.

(Photo 3) and other unidentified plant fragments.

Thin, planar to undulose stromatolite crusts

(micritic to peloidal bindstones) and isolated small

patches of mosses are also found. Laminated to

pisolitic caliche crusts and corroded surfaces,

locally mineralized by Fe-oxyhydroxides, are pre-

sent at the top of some sequences (Fig. 2B, column

d, Photo 4). This facies association laterally

changes to scree deposits (column e in Fig. 2B).

(b) Facies Association 2 is typical of the clinoform

areas (columns b, c and d in Fig. 2B, Photo 5). It

consists of alternations between decimeter-scale

beds of allochthonous sediments and thickening

upward beds of bioconstructed facies (Photo 6).

These typically grow on leaf and stem breccias

that include fan-shaped frame-bafflestones of

cane-like and reed-like plants or long round stems

of rushes. Tubular framestones associated with

decimeter-scale mounds and crusts of mosses and

domal stromatolites progressively develop up-

wards. When the clinostratification is nearly

vertical, the main builders are straight branching

pipes, the fossil remnants of a bramble-like

vegetation, and curved tubes (Photo 7) that appear

to be climbing plants. These builders clearly grew

in place but hanging from the upper part of the

slope, alternating with planar to undulose beds

and mounds of mosses and stromatolites. Deci-

meter to meter-size primary framework voids are

partially filled with laminated, speleothem-like

encrustations of crystalline calcite, stromatolite

crusts and channeled bioclastic sediment, although

no thick secondary mineralization of sparry calcite

has occurred.

(c) Facies Association 3 appears in downlapping zones

of the travertine wedges, and is dominated again by

Fig. 2. (A) Facies architecture of the travertine Step II around Nıvar, and position of the dated samples; a–e are location of columns reproduced

in (B). (B) Measured sections with indication of facies; W1–W6 are the unconformity-bounded prograding wedges. (C) Sedimentary patterns of

the travertines; in parentheses are the equivalent reefal sub-environments.


Photographs 5–8. (5) Prograding cascade. (6) Bioconstructed facies: tubular framestones. (7) Tube facies. (8) Breccias of travertine fragments.



allochthonous facies, mainly leaf and stem brec-

cias, and oncoidal calcarenites and calcirudites

(Fig. 2B, column a). Fallen blocks of the travertine

structure are common here (Photo 8). Bedding is

laterally discontinuous, irregular and inclined

down the general slope of the mountain side, with

frequent low-angle cross-bedded sets of strata and

common small erosion surfaces and channels. Thin

stromatolite crusts, decimeter-sized mounds of

mosses and patches of canes and rushes are also

abundant. Near the base of the travertine bodies and

following the slope of the mountain, especially in

W1 to W3 (Fig. 2A), there is an alternation in facies

with features intermediate between Associations 1

and 3, and units of fine- to coarse-grained alluvial

siliciclastics.

3.2. Sedimentary patterns

These facies associations are the sub-environments

of systems of travertine dams and cascades (Julia,

1983; Pedley, 1990; Ford and Pedley, 1996); their

lithology, morphology, architecture and sedimentary

dynamics (Fig. 2C) remind one of terraced reefs

located on tectonically rising coastlines and of pro-

grading platforms (James, 1983; Pomar, 1991).

The Facies Association 1 is indicative of a pool

environment, near the former spring (Fig. 2C). This

zone closely resembles back-reef or lagoonal areas

where fine-grained carbonate facies, oncolites and

stromatolites are common. The corroded and miner-

alized surfaces are interpreted as karst and pedogenic

features formed during desiccation periods.

Facies Association 2 represents dam and cascade

environments, very similar to marine reef front facies

(Fig. 2C). The dam coincides with the upper parts of

the clinoforms and was characterized by an active

upward growth of vegetation that favored the isolation

of the pool and the progressive steepening of the

slope, which generated a downstream cascade (Casa-

nova, 1982). The dam is quite similar geometrically to

a reef crest and the cascade to a reef wall. Even the

resulting constructional morphology of the main tra-

vertine builders closely resembles those more typical

in marine reefs: mounds of mosses are similar to

massive domal coral heads; tubular framestones of

brambles and climber plants are equivalent to branch-

ing corals and pillars; and fan-shaped bafflestones of

rushes and canes look like plate-like corals and iso-

lated branching algal and coral patches in the toe of

the reef front. Finally, as in a reef front, the cascade

zone exhibits porosity with microbial and especially

cement encrustations.

Facies Association 3 is typical of the distal parts of

the travertine slope, downstream of the cascade (Fig.

2C). Here the water flows over a thick bed of more or

less encrusted vegetation debris, and disperses along

multiple small watercourses isolated by mounds of

mosses and patches of herbaceous vegetation. This

channeled slope apron of calcified plant detritus

closely resembles the fore reef slope.

4. Geochronology

4.1. Methodological aspects

In order to understand the development of perched

travertine terraces in a tectonically uplifting area, a

simple chronological framework has been established

using some uranium disequilibrium and radiocarbon

dates.

In spite of their high porosity, travertines can remain

closed to radioisotope migration in their inner parts.

Some authors have suggested that fossil travertine

deposits preserve their isotopic composition, which

changes only by radioactive decay, making 14C dating

possible (Hillarie-Marcel et al., 1986; Torres et al.,

1996). Thus, systematic dating of travertine samples

has also been undertaken to establish a chronology of

travertine deposits (Kronfeld et al., 1988; Horvatincic

et al., 2000). Nevertheless, the interpretation of meas-

ured 14C activity of travertine samples requires knowl-

edge of several factors peculiar to travertine formation

(Dandurand et al., 1982). These factors, such as the

isotopic composition of the total dissolved inorganic

carbon (TDIC) in spring waters, are rarely available.

Note that the TDIC depends on: (1) recent atmospheric

CO2; (2) old carbon dissolved from fossil carbonate of

the aquifers; (3) CO2 of deep origin that may be

released along fault systems; and (4) CO2 due to

organic matter decay. As a result, the radiocarbon

content of inorganically precipitated calcium carbonate

in hard-water areas is normally lower than that pre-

dicted from consideration of equilibrium with atmos-

pheric CO2. Consequently, travertine samples yield


fictitious 14C dates which can be older than the ‘‘real’’

age by thousands of years (Edwards et al., 1986–87).

The uranium-series disequilibrium dating method

has been successfully used for dating travertine depos-

its (Bischoff et al., 1988; Eikenberg et al., 2001;

Soligo et al., 2002). For this reason, the U/Th method

will be concentrated upon here.

Eight samples from the four travertine steps around

Nıvar (two samples from Step I, three samples from

Step II, one sample from Step III and two samples

from Step IV: located in Figs. 1B and 2A) were dated

at the Laboratory of the Jaume Almera Institut (Bar-

celona) by the 230Th/234U method, using alpha spec-

trometry. The chemical separation and purification

follows the procedure described by Bischoff et al.

(1988). The isotope electrodeposition follows the

traditional method described by Talvitie (1972) and

modified by Hallstadius (1984). Age calculations are

based on the computer program by Rosenbauer

(1991). In addition, one travertine sample from Step

IV (equivalent to S8, see Fig. 1B) was dated by the14C method in order to compare with the U/Th data.14C dating was performed at the University of Gran-

ada Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory by benzene syn-

thesis and liquid scintillation counting. Calculations

and data are processed by a PC computer, using a

general program by Gonzalez-Gomez (1995).

4.2. Age of the travertines

The results obtained for the first analysed sample

from Step I (S1 in Table 1) were rejected due to their

high degree of contamination (230Th/232Th = 1.9). A

second sample from the same step (S2 in Table 1)

yielded a nominal age of 291,541 + 25,621/� 20,908

Table 1

U-series radiometric data and derived dates for samples from Nıvar trave

Sample 238U (ppm) 232Th (ppm) 234U/238U

S1 0.58 0.93 1.03F 0.01

S2 0.45 0.09 1.08F 0.01

S3 0.77 0.01 1.22F 0.01

S4 0.64 0.02 1.35F 0.04

S5 0.75 0.05 1.19F 0.01

S6 0.68 0.21 1.39F 0.01

S7 0.83 0.17 1.48F 0.01

S8 0.87 0.03 1.46F 0.01

years BP with a slight contamination (230Th/232Th =

16.16). In conclusion, after U/Th radiometric method,

Step I was approximately deposited around 290 ky.

Macrovertebrate associations indicating late Mid-

dle Pleistocene ages, younger than 490.000 years

(Ruiz-Bustos, 1995), are interlayered within the low-

ermost beds of the higher travertine step in Alfacar

(PS-1 in Fig. 1A), which can be correlated with Step I

of Nıvar, and rodent fossils older than 270.000 years

also appear as fissure fillings within the same step

(PS-2 in Fig. 1A). These data are coherent with the

aforementioned radiometric data of travertine Step I,

in spite of its contamination by detrital thorium. The

same fossil associations are also found within lacus-

trine travertines in the Granada basin (Ruiz-Bustos,

1995). So, late Middle Pleistocene was a favorable

period for carbonate precipitation, and travertine dep-

osition in the region occurred mainly after this age

when the Granada basin had already been filled.

The three samples analysed in the travertine Step II

(S3, S4 and S5 in Figs. 1B and 2A) provided ages

ranging from 200 to 250 ky BP with very low

contamination (230Th/232Th ratios greater than 44.5,

Table 1). In spite of the confidence limits of sample S5,

the three nominal ages agree with the depositional

architecture and, as could be expected, younger depos-

its form at the most distal parts of the travertine terrace.

Only one sample was analysed from travertine Step

III (S6 in Table 1), providing a nominal age of

84,625 + 3463/� 3366 year BP. In spite of their degree

of contamination (230Th/232Th = 7.8), it is evident that

Step III was deposited after Step II because contami-

nation by detrital Th produces older nominal ages.

The results of the first analysed sample from Step

IV (S7 in Table 1) were rejected due to their degree of

rtine Step II

230Th/234U 230Th/232Th Nominal date

(ky BP)

0.96F 0.02 1.9 >250

0.95F 0.02 16.2 291F 23

0.94F 0.01 195.2 245F 13

0.92F 0.04 101.3 218F 25

0.88F 0.01 44.5 202F 9

0.56F 0.02 7.8 84F 3

0.14F 0.01 3.2 16F 0.7

0.10F 0.00 12.3 11F 0.2


contamination (230Th/232Th = 3.2). A second sample

from the same level (S8 in Fig. 1B and Table 1)

provided a more reliable age of 11,888F 185 year BP,

with low contamination (230Th/232Th = 12.3). The 14C

method was also applied in the same level, and a

radiocarbon age of 13,210F 110 year BP was ob-

tained (d13C =� 6.869x). Both ages correspond to

the Late Glacial (Bølling–Allerød) period.

It is clear that some aforementioned datings pre-

sent contamination problems because travertine sam-

ples contain a proportion of detrital 232Th. Kelly et al.

(2000) found the same problem in calcretes from the

Sorbas basin (south Spain), and they developed a

methodological approach by U/Th using multiple

samples to define an isochron. However, in the

Fig. 3. Correlation of the studied travertines with orbitally driven chronostr

cycles of travertine formation in Spain (Duran, 1996). I, II, III and IVare tra

are differentiated in Fig. 2.

Granada basin, we have additional information that

corroborates the U/Th datings. Thus, the U/Th dating

travertine Step I is coherent with the paleontological

data available, the sample dated from Step III is

contaminated but anyway younger that Step II, which

gives stratigraphically coherent U/Th ages and,

finally, ages of travertine Step IV obtained by two

different methods (Th/U and 14C) are similar. There-

fore, in spite of the contamination problems, the final

scenario coming out from results is coherent and it is

acceptable that higher travertine steps are older that

the lower ones. The travertine deposit took place

(Fig. 3) during oxygen isotope stages 9 (Step I), 7

(Step II) and 5 (Step III), and during the Late Glacial

period (Step IV).

atigraphy of the d18O record of Martinson et al. (1987) and with the

vertine steps and W1–W6 are the wedges of travertine Step II which


5. Concluding remarks: paleohydrological and

paleoclimatic significance

The terraced morphology, the stratigraphic archi-

tecture and the deposition of perched travertines are

caused by the balance between carbonate productivity,

hydrodynamics and changes in the base level of the

associated karstic massif (Cruz Sanjulian, 1981; Ped-

ley, 1990; Chafetz et al., 1991; Pedley et al., 1996;

Freytet and Verrechia, 1998), and are similar to that of

prograding reefs on carbonate platforms (James, 1983;

Tucker and Wright, 1990; Pomar, 1991; Webb, 1996).

In marine reef, the base level is the sea level, but in

carbonate massifs, the base level is marked by the

altitude of the springs, rather than the water table.

Travertine deposits will occur at the same altitude or

slightly below the spring, while the water table usually

is approximately at the same altitude or higher than the

point of discharge. Thus, if the water table is very low,

then springs and travertine deposits will only occur in

the low areas. However, with a high water table, the

deposits can form either on the high areas or low areas

or anywhere in between, depending on where the

readily available conduit intersects the surface.

In Granada basin, travertines were deposited by

springs located successively in lower elevation with

time and by analogy with reefs on carbonate platforms:

(a) aggradation or climbing progradation may indicate

an increase of outflow at the spring, with perhaps some

rise of the water table; (b) progradation with toplap

signifies intense outflow associated with a relatively

stable base level; (c) downlapping progradation may

imply that the regional base level was gradually drop-

ping due to decreasing rainfall or descending erosion

and later elevation of outflow; finally (d) the formation

of a separate lower step requires periods without

travertine deposit, descending karstification and drop-

ping of the base level, either due to undersaturation of

spring waters in calcium carbonate or to dryness and

cessation of outflow.

Travertine formation in the study area was pulsat-

ing along the Middle–Late Pleistocene (Fig. 3), dur-

ing oxygen isotope stages 9, 7 and 5, and the

transition of isotopic stages 2 and 1, coinciding with

periods of other maximum travertine and speleothem

deposition in Spain (Duran, 1996; Torres et al., 1996).

Travertine deposition occurred especially during

warm and wet periods that favored intensified under-

ground dissolution, large outflow in the springs and

subsequent calcium carbonate precipitation (Henning

et al., 1983; Andreo et al., 1999; Braum et al., 2000).

During these periods, the Mediterranean forest in the

mountains expanded, and the volume of spring waters

in their foothills increased. Forest expansion increased

the supply of CO2 to soils, thereby increasing carbo-

nate dissolution after infiltration, leading to saturation

of karst waters in calcite, which precipitated around

springs building up the travertine (Pentecost, 1995;

Chafetz et al., 1991). Periods without travertine pre-

cipitation correspond to colder climate and/or increased

aridity that prevented outflow, soil development and

underground karstification, but favored steppe-type

vegetation, deforestation, erosion and dropping of the

base level.

Thus, travertines north of Granada formed prefer-

entially during interglacial periods. This picture is

similar to that obtained for other Mediterranean (Kron-

feld et al., 1988; Bischoff et al., 1988; Torres et al.,

1996; Horvatincic et al., 2000), some Northwest Euro-

pean (Baker et al., 1993; Braum et al., 2000) and

African (Hillarie-Marcel et al., 1986) travertines. The

only exception is the travertine Step IV, which was

deposited to the transition between isotopic stages 2/1,

but radiometric data prove that travertine deposition

was occurring during this time in Southern Spain (Fig.

3). This Step IV is coeval with humid periods detected

in NW Africa between 11,000 and 14,000 year BP

(Gasse et al., 1990). In these periods, the climate was

oceanic, before the change toMediterranean conditions

occurred around 10,000 year BP (Jalut et al., 1997).

In conclusion, in the same way that evolution of

reef systems indicates sea level changes, the geo-

morphology, architecture and age of the studied

perched travertine system reflect climatically con-

trolled changes in outflow, in elevation of the base

level and in chemistry of spring waters. In spite of

local factors such as groundwater chemistry or tec-

tonic uplift, the episodic nature of travertine deposi-

tion north of Granada shows clear links to changes in

the global Quaternary climate: it was associated with

wet and warm or mild, Middle and Late Pleistocene

interglacial and Late Glacial periods, and ceased

during glacial time. Thus, perched travertine systems

are semiquantitative indicators of the paleohydrogeo-

logical evolution of karstic massifs which can be

radiometrically dated and can be successfully used


to evaluate climatic change on the continent in Med-

iterranean areas.

Acknowledgements

This work is a contribution to Projects PB91-0079,

PB96-1430, CLI95-1905 and PB97-1267-C03-02 of

the DGICYT and IGCP 448 of the UNESCO, as well

as to Groups 4089 and RNM-208 and RNM-308 of the

Junta de Andalucıa. We thank G. Monzon, F. Valle-

Tendero, A. Ruiz-Bustos and M. Bernardez for their

assistance. We are grateful to Dr. Derek C. Ford (Univ.

McMaster, Canada) and Dr. Cesar Viseras (Univ.

Granada, Spain) for their helpful comments and

suggestions. We also thank the interesting criticisms

done by Dr. Henry Chafetz and an anonymous referee

who contribute to improve this paper.

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