Miocene barnacle assemblages from southern Spain and their palaeoenvironmental significance

The Tabernas Basin in southeast Spain is a Neogene intermontane basin which filled with subaerial and submarine fan conglomerates grading into turbidite sandstones towards the basin centre. The basin history involved the development of Seravallian-Tortonian subaerial fans which coalesced southwards from the basin margin. Increasing water depth in the Tortonian led to a submarine development of these fans. The coarse fan conglomerates are colonized almost solely by barnacles of the species Megabalanus tintinnabulum, known from Miocene-Recent deposits. The barnacles occur in seven preservational-state assemblages, which provide a record of the colonization of stabilized mass-flow conglomerates and of subsequent reworking episodes. M. tintinnabulum is known from intertidal environments today. In situ clusters developed on the fan conglomerates record the transition of the fans from subaerial to submarine environments. Mass-flow deposits rich in barnacle shell debris are representative of basin-wards reworking of intertidal clusters and illustrate relative increase in water depth. A further shallowing episode is identifiable by the recolonization of mass flows by in situ barnacle clusters. This case history is demonstrative of the utility of some barnacles in determining basin history with respect to minor sea level fluctuations.