Environmental controls and distribution of Late Jurassic neoselachians from the Iberian Basin (NE Spain) in the European context

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jürgen Kriwet
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2005 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5448423

Fossil neoselachians... are primarily recognized by their teeth and, consequently, the evolution and ecology of neoselachians through time is still obscure. Knowledge of Late Jurassic neoselachians diversity is fundamental to our understanding of their early evolutionary history and radiation. Despite the development of diverse neoselachian faunas within the Jurassic, the palaeonvironmental specificity of the taxa has generally been ignored. The project focuses on Late Jurassic neoselachians from NE Spain. Extensive sampling from a range of facies within the platform will allow to asses the palaeoenvironmental distribution of neoselachian sharks and rays within the basin but also to reconstruct faunal exchanges between European Late Jurassic neoselachian faunas and disciminate Tethyal and boreal influences. Geochemical tracer analyses... performed on selected teeth from a range of different facies and ages will help establishing a stratigraphic and palaeoecological framework. The results will be compared to other Late Jurassic neoselachian assemblages and general diversity patterns will be reconstructed, which, in turn, can be used as proxies for modern neoselachian distribution.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants