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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.
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228220
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.
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228 221
Photographs 5–8. (5) Prograding cascade. (6) Bioconstructed facies: tubular framestones. (7) Tube facies. (8) Breccias of travertine fragments.
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228222
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228 223
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
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228224
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
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228 225
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
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228226
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
A. Martın-Algarra et al. / Sedimentary Geology 161 (2003) 217–228 227
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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