Diplocraterion parallelumwith exclusively protrusive spreite are documented at particular horizons in fine-grained Lower Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) deposits from the Prebetic Zone (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain). The occurrence ofD. parallelumand the interpreted change from aCruzianaichnofacies to a mixedSkolithos-Cruzianaassemblage is related to increasing energy and more proximal and unstable substrates resulting from relative sea-level falls. These relative sea-level changes agree with a proposed Type-II sequence boundary inferred from sequence stratigraphic analysis. Bio-chronostratigraphic control shows the persistent occurrence ofDiplocraterionclose to the Platynota/Hypselocyclum Zone boundary (Lower Kimmeridgian); that is, these occurrences correlate between sections irrespective of slight deviations in the sedimentary package. Thus,Diplocraterionoccurrence is proposed as a reference level for stratigraphy within epicontinental deposits of the northern margin of the westernmost Tethys. This work supports the usefulness of the trace fossil approach in basin analysis, either in sequence stratigraphic studies of deposits characterized by correlative conformities and/or stratigraphic correlation in basins wherein guide fossils are scarce.

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