Villar del Arzobispo Formation

{{Short description|Geologic formation in Aragón, Spain}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Villar del Arzobispo Formation

| image = File:Ornithopod trackway at the Villar del Arzobispo Formation.png

| caption = An ornithopod trackway at the Las Cerradicas site, Villar del Arzobispo Formation. Photographed around 2013.{{Cite journal |last1=Castanera |first1=Diego |last2=Vila |first2=Bernat |last3=Razzolini |first3=Novella L. |last4=Falkingham |first4=Peter L. |last5=Canudo |first5=José I. |last6=Manning |first6=Phillip L. |last7=Galobart |first7=Àngel |date=January 22, 2013 |title=Manus Track Preservation Bias as a Key Factor for Assessing Trackmaker Identity and Quadrupedalism in Basal Ornithopods |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=e54177 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0054177 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=3551957 |pmid=23349817|doi-access=free|bibcode=2013PLoSO...854177C }}

| type = Geological formation

| age = {{fossilrange|Kimmeridgian|Berriasian|Kimmeridgian-early Berriasian?}}

| period = Tithonian

| prilithology = Mudstone

| otherlithology = Limestone, sandstone, conglomerate

| namedfor = Villar del Arzobispo

| namedby =

| region = Aragón, Teruel, Valencia

| country = Spain

| coordinates = {{coord|40.5|N|0.8|W|display=inline,title}}

| paleocoordinates = {{coord|31.4|N|8.6|E|display=inline}}

| unitof =

| subunits =

| underlies = Aguilar del Alfambra Formation

| overlies = Oolitic limestones of the Higuerueles Formation

| thickness = Greatly variable;{{convert|108|-|1383|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| extent = Maestrazgo Basin

| area =

| map = {{Location map+ | Spain

| relief = 1

| width = 250

| float = center

| places =

{{Location map~ | Spain

| lat_deg = 40.5

| lon_deg = -0.8

| mark = Cyan pog.svg

| marksize = 10

}}

}}

| map_caption =

}}

The Villar del Arzobispo Formation is a Late Jurassic to possibly Early Cretaceous geologic formation in eastern Spain. It is equivalent in age to the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal. It was originally thought to date from the Late Tithonian-Middle Berriasian, but more recent work suggests a Kimmeridigan-Late Tithonian, possibly dating to the Early Berriasian in some areas.{{Cite journal |last=Campos-Soto |first=Sonia |last2=Benito |first2=M. Isabel |last3=Mas |first3=Ramón |last4=Caus |first4=Esmeralda |last5=Cobos |first5=Alberto |last6=Suárez-González |first6=Pablo |last7=Quijada |first7=I. Emma |date=2016-04-26 |title=Revisiting the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of the NW South Iberian Basin: new ages and sedimentary environments |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/JIGE/article/view/51920 |journal=Journal of Iberian Geology |language=en |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=69–94 |doi=10.5209/rev_JIGE.2016.v42.n1.51920 |issn=1886-7995|hdl=10651/39727 |hdl-access=free }} The Villar del Arzobispo Formation's age in the area of Riodeva in Spain has been dated based on stratigraphic correlations as middle-upper Tithonian, approximately 145-141 million years old. In the area of Galve, the formation potentially dates into the earliest Cretaceous.{{Cite journal|last1=Campos-Soto|first1=Sonia|last2=Benito|first2=M. Isabel|last3=Cobos|first3=Alberto|last4=Caus|first4=Esmeralda|last5=Quijada|first5=I. Emma|last6=Suarez-Gonzalez|first6=Pablo|last7=Mas|first7=Ramón|last8=Royo-Torres|first8=Rafael|last9=Alcalá|first9=Luis|date=May 3, 2019|title=Revisiting the age and palaeoenvironments of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous? dinosaur-bearing sedimentary record of eastern Spain: implications for Iberian palaeogeography|journal=Journal of Iberian Geology|volume=45|issue=3|pages=471–510|doi=10.1007/s41513-019-00106-y|bibcode=2019JIbG...45..471C |issn=1698-6180|hdl=10651/52154|s2cid=155353782|hdl-access=free}}

Most of the unit consists of siliciclastic mudstone, however the lower portion of the formation is dominated by bioclastic, oolitic and peloidal limestone, while channelized sandstone and conglomerate is found in the middle portion of the unit. While the lower part of the formation was deposited in an inner carbonate platform, the upward gradation into mudstone in the middle and upper portions of the formation represents a change in depositional environment to paralic and alluvial plain conditions.{{Cite journal|last1=Campos-Soto|first1=Sonia|last2=Cobos|first2=Alberto|last3=Caus|first3=Esmeralda|last4=Benito|first4=M. Isabel|last5=Fernández-Labrador|first5=Laura|last6=Suarez-Gonzalez|first6=Pablo|last7=Quijada|first7=I. Emma|last8=Mas|first8=Ramón|last9=Royo-Torres|first9=Rafael|last10=Alcalá|first10=Luis|date=November 2017|title=Jurassic Coastal Park: A great diversity of palaeoenvironments for the dinosaurs of the Villar del Arzobispo Formation (Teruel, eastern Spain)|journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology|volume=485|pages=154–177|doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.010|bibcode=2017PPP...485..154C|hdl=10651/46607|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Campos-Soto |first=Sonia |last2=Benito |first2=M. Isabel |last3=Mountney |first3=Nigel P. |last4=Plink-Björklund |first4=Piret |last5=Quijada |first5=I. Emma |last6=Suarez-Gonzalez |first6=Pablo |last7=Cobos |first7=Alberto |date=2022 |title=Where humid and arid meet: Sedimentology of coastal siliciclastic successions deposited in apparently contrasting climates |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sed.12958 |journal=Sedimentology |language=en |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=975–1027 |doi=10.1111/sed.12958 |issn=1365-3091}}

Dinosaur remains are found throughout the unit, but are more abundant and better preserved in the terrestrially deposited middle-upper sections. Remains of the stegosaurid Dacentrurus were recovered in the Barranco Conejero locality in this formation.{{Cite journal|last1=Periáñez|first1=Alberto Cobos|last2=Gascó|first2=Francisco|date=2013|title=New vertebral remains of the stegosaurian dinosaur Dacentrurus from Riodeva (Teruel, Spain)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321097773|journal=Geogaceta|volume=|issue=53|pages=17–20|issn=0213-683X|via=}} Over the years, other stegosaurian remains have been discovered in this formation, but none have yet been referred to a specific genus.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. Turiasaurs and brachiosaurids are also known from the formation. The formation is also well known for its fossil footprints, representing many different taxa.