Micropalaeontological evidence for the late Oligocene Oi‐2b global glaciation event at the Zarabanda section, Spain

We present an integrated micropalaeontological study (using smaller and larger benthic foraminifera, planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) of the late Oligocene from the Zarabanda section (western Tethys), in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental turnover and to precisely establish the chronology of the palaeoclimatic events. Planktonic foraminifera show that the Zarabanda section is apparently continuous and spans the planktonic foraminiferal zones O5 (upper part), O6 and O7, and the calcareous nannofossil zones CP19b and CN1a (lower part). The quantitative analysis of smaller benthic foraminiferal assemblages enabled us to determine a middle–lower bathyal depth of deposition for most part of the section. The smaller benthic foraminifera show a bloom of neritic species, an increase in the percentages of cool‐water species, a decrease of the Planktonic/Benthic ratio, generic richness, heterogeneity and diversity all around a 10 m thick succession of calcarenites, in the lower part of the planktonic foraminifera O6 Zone and the middle part of the calcareous nannofossil CP19b Zone. These changes coincide with the major turnover in the larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages; the last occurrence of Eulepidina dilatata and the first occurrence of Nephrolepidina morgani. These variations in the smaller and larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages may be associated with the major expansion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet at approximately 26.7 Ma, which is known as the Oi‐2b global glaciation event.

► Integrated micropalaeontological study of the late Oligocene of Zarabanda, Spain.
► Palaeoenvironmental inferences and precise chronology of the climatic events.
► Change in assemblages associated with Oi-2b global glaciation event at ~ 26.7 Ma.
► Highly relevant due to intermediate palaeolatitude.