The central sector of the Guadix Basin (Betic Cordillera, S. Spain) hosts some of the
most significant Pleistocene large-mammal sites in Europe. The basin infill is divided
into six genetic units (Viseras et al., 2005), the three lower with marine sediments and
the rest mainly continental. As the environmental characterization of the sediments is
crucial to understand the ecologic and geologic processes leading to the formation of
these sites, a stratigraphic, sedimentologic and petrologic study is presented.
Combining a lithologic correlation with previous biostratigraphic data (Viseras et al.,
2006; Arribas et al., 2009) and new magnetostratigraphic data, a detailed litho-, bioand
magnetostratigraphic scheme has been developed for the study area. It shows the
stratigraphic architecture of the central sector of the Guadix basin, together with the
age and the relative spatial position of the most important mammal sites. Likewise, it
has been also helpful to identify several isochronous surfaces, to establish the exact
position and the age of the boundary between the two last units of the continental infill
in the Guadix Basin and to calculate sedimentation rates.