TABULATE CORALS AND STRATIGRAPHY OF LOWER DEVONIAN AND MISSISSIPPIAN ROCKS NEAR BARCELONA (CATALONIAN COASTAL RANGES, NORTHEAST SPAIN)

Abstract

In this paper the content of tabulate corals of the Olorda (Lower Devonian) and El Papiol (Mississipian). Formations near Barcelona (Catalonian Coastal Ranges, NE Spain) are described for the first time. The Olorda Formation was studied in the Bruguers section, where two new tabulate coral species, Petridictyum casanovai n. sp. and Procteria (Granulidictyum)? gavaensis n. sp., have been collected. The El Papiol Formation was studied in the El Papiol and Cánoves sections, and four tabulate coral taxa, Sutherlandia? sp., Smythina humilis (Hinde, 1896), Palaeacis sp. and Cladochonus sp., have been recognised. In addition, the succession of the Olorda Formation in Bruguers is described. Lochkovian-lowermost Pragian age is established for the B Member of this formation in Bruguers and this section is correlated with the type section of the formation in Santa Creu d’Olorda. Finally, it is deduced that the sedimentation of the upper part (B Member) of the Olorda Formation, in Bruguers, and the El Papiol Formation, in the El Papiol, took place on a muddy and soft bottom, typical of still waters, with scarce terrigenous supplies.