The emergent littoral deposits in Fuerteventura and the evolution of the Canarian marine faunas during the quaternary

Abstract

K / A ages (MECO and STEARNS, 1981) and paleontological determinations (MECO, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983) show that "Quaternary" (CROFTS, 1967, LECOINTRE, TINKLER and RICHARDS, 1967) littoral deposits on Fuerteventura are early Pliocene. Upper Pleistocene and Holocene strand lines are represented by two pisodes of marine transgression, the Jandian and the Erbanian. The type locality of the Jandian is Las Playitas, on the southeast coast of Fuerteventura. Basa1 white sandstone is overlain by conglomerate with abundant basalt clasts in a white sandstone matrix. Both are fossiliferous, whith abundant Strombus bubonius and other elements of a Senegalese fauna. Jandian deposits reach a mean altitude of +5-6m above present M.S.L. The type locality of the Erbanian is La Jaqueta beach, near the middle of the south coast of Fuerteventura. Erbanian deposits are conglomerates with a mean altitude of +4-5m above present M.S.L.