Carboniferous fusulinids in a coastal section near Pendueles (Asturias, Spain)

A 400 m thick succession of Carboniferous rocks near Pendueles (E Asturias) at the north coast of Spain has yielded fusulinid foraminifera indicating an Upper Bashkirian age for the basal strata, and at least an Upper Podolskian age for the uppermost fusulinid-containing limestone 135 m below the top of the sequence. The fusulinid species from the Pendueles section have been sampled and described from seven stratigraphic levels at regular intervals from each other. Age determinations for each of these levels showed that strata of Vereyan and Lower Kashirian age (Lower Moscovian) are either missing or represented by a thin (40 m) sequence of chert below the Escalada Limestone. One new subspecies of Profusulinella ovata Rauser-Chernoussova is described. It occurs at the base of the Escalada Limestone and is of Middle? Kashirian age. With respect to the time-span involved, the Pendueles succession is very thin relative to other well-known Carboniferous sequences in Asturias especially when compared to those described from the Central Coal Basin of Asturias and eastward adjoining areas such as around Campo de Caso and Beleño, where time-equivalent sequences attain a thickness in the range of about 1250 m to over 3000 m. The Pendueles section is singular in being the only one in W. Europe where marine Moscovian rocks in a cliff coast are so completely represented, well exposed and easy to get at. In many beach sections of N Spain, Carboniferous successions do not reach beyond the Bashkirian (Llanes; Playa de San Pedro, W of Gijón) ; others which include Moscovian rocks are less accessible (Hontoria).