Quaternary Large Mammals from the Granada Geopark: A Magnificent Record with Examples of Geoconservation

Authors

• Alfonso Arribas Herrera ¹
• Guiomar Garrido Álvarez ¹
• José Antonio Garrido García ¹
• Francisco Juan García Tortosa ²
• Cristobal Medialdea Pérez ³

1. Estación Paleontológica Valle del Río Fardes (Fardes River Valley Palaeontological Station), Camino del Barranco del Pocico s/n, Fonelas, Comarca de Guadix, Granada, Spain
2. Universidad de Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, 23071 Jaén, Spain
3. Ayuntamiento (Guadix Town Council), Plaza de la Constitución, 18518 Guadix, Granada, Spain

Abstract

Granada Geopark, covering almost all of the Guadix-Baza basin, contains an exceptional and near-continuous fossil record of the evolution of Pliocene to middle Pleistocene land mammals (5–0.5 Ma). This period covers the endorheic (closed drainage basin) stage of this geological basin and, in this chronological framework, its record of the Quaternary period, mainly the Early Pleistocene, is outstanding.

Keywords

• Quaternary, Fossil Record, Large Mammals, Guadix-Baza Basin, Granada Geopark, heritage, Geoconservation, , , , , , , ,