Carles Martin Closas

Associate professor

Scopus Author ID: 6602154714

Researcher ID: AAF-8460-2021

Knowledge area: Paleontologia

Teaching Innovation Groups: GI-DINTO - Grup d’Innovació de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà

Contact Information
Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics
Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Carrer de Martí Franqués s/n, 08028 Barcelona
934021381
cmartinclosas(a)ub.edu

Teaching

Paleontologia (Grau de Geologia)

Paleobiologia Continental (Paleobotànica), Màster en Paleobiologia i Registre Fòssil

Mètodes i Tècniques en Paleobiologia, Màster en Paleobiologia i Registre Fòssil

Biology

My profile

The research of Carles Martín-Closas falls in the fields of the palaeobotany and micropalaeontology. It is focused on the taxonomy, palaeoecology, biogeography, evolution, and biostratigraphy of aquatic fossil plants, mainly charophytes. His doctoral thesis (University of Barcelona-UB, 1990) was devoted to the fossil charophytes from the Lower Cretaceous of Eastern Spain and was largely developed thanks to a predoctoral fellowship from the Catalan Government and developed at the Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution in Montpellier (France). Since 1991 he is professor ('profesor titular de universidad') at the Faculty of Earth Sciences-UB, where he has taught and coordinated the matters 'Biology' and 'Palaeontology' in the Degree of Geology and he is coordinator in the UB of the inter-university Master of Palaeobiology and the Fossil Record (UB-UAB).He has published about 170 scientific papers in international and Spanish journals, book chapters and 2 books, with more than 100 papers indexed (Journal of Citation Records). The results of his research have contributed to a better definition of the charophyte biozonation for the Early Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene, the correlation of charophyte biozones with standard marine biozones (foraminifera and ammonites) and their calibration with the Geological Time Scale with help of the magnetostratigraphy and strontium isotope stratigraphy. The improved charophyte biozonation for these periods led to a better age attribution and correlation of many of the non-marine stratigraphic sequences of the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Chain, Uppermost Cretaceous of the Pyrenees and Eocene-Oligocene of the Ebro basin and the Balearic Islands. Outside Spain he has also contributed to the charophyte biostratigraphy of non-marine deposits of the Lower Cretaceous from the Subalpine Chains and the Jura (France and Switzerland), Rumania, Tunisia and the Upper Cretaceous of the Patagonian basins (Argentina) and N-Chinese basins. The palaeobiogeography of charophytes is the main aim of his present research in collaboration with other specialists working in the same subject with foraminifera, ostracods, and vascular plants.Beyond the study of charophytes, he also devoted a significant part of his research to the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of wetland and aquatic plant communities from the Late Carboniferous, Early and Late Cretaceous and the Cenozoic, by integration of facies analysis and taphonomic analysis. Among these studies stand out his contributions to the understanding of the latest Carboniferous intramontane wetlands from the Catalan Pyrenees (Spain) and the Montagne Noire (France), the Early Cretaceous wetlands of Las Hoyas and El Montsec (Spain) and the Miocene paleolake from La Cerdanya (Catalan Pyrenees, Spain).From 2008 to 2016 he was elected president from the international association for the study of extant and fossil charophytes (IRGC) with more than 100 associates worldwide. Since 2005 he has been leader of 5 competitive projects from the Spanish Ministry of Science. He is associate editor of the indexed journal Geologica Acta and invited editor for other international journals. He has been supervisor or co-supervisor of 7 PhD theses related to fossil charophytes, other fossil algae and vascular plants. From 2010 to 2016 he has coordinated the Doctorate Program in Earth Sciences at the UB. From 202 to 2024 he was president of the Doctorate Committee of the Faculty of Earth Sciences-UB and secretary of the Dean at the same faculty - info

Academic Training

Tesis Doctoral . Universitat de Barcelona . 1990 . (Ph.D.)

Ciencias Geológicas . Universitat de Barcelona . 1984 . (Diploma / Degree / Activities)

Grado . Universitat de Barcelona . 1985 . (Diploma / Degree / Activities)

Research interests

Systematic palaeontology of charophytes

Cretaceous and Cenozoic Charophyte Biostratigraphy

Phylogeny and macroevolution of charophytes

Palaeoecology and Palaeobiogeography of charophytes

Taphonomy and Palaeoecology of Plants

Projects

Revision of fossil charophytes hosted in the Hungarian Natural History Museum with special attention to Klára Rásky's collection . 2017 - 2017 . Ref.HU-TAF 65333 . Hungarian Natural History Museum . PI: Carles Martin Closas

El papel de la insularidad y posterior aislamiento geográfico de Iberia en grandes crisis bióticas del Cretácico-Paleógeno. Aplicaciones bioestratigráficas y paleoambientales . 2016 - 2018 . Ref.CGL2015-69805-P . Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad . PI: Carles Martin Closas

Modelos paleobiogeográficos en las correlaciones bioestratigráficas intercontinentales mediante fósiles ligados a facies (Macroforaminíferos, carofitas, plantas vasculares) . 2012 - 2014 . Ref.CGL2011-27869 . Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación . PI: Carles Martin Closas

Iberia en el Cretácico y Paleógeno: paleoisla y puente biogeogràfico. Casos de estudio en macroforaminíferos y carofitas . 2021 - 2025 . Ref.PID2020-113912GB-I00 . Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades . PI: Carles Martin Closas; Telm Bover Arnal

Sesgos paleobiogeográficos y paleoambientales en las correlaciones bioestratigráficas intercontinentales . 2009 - 2011 . Ref.CGL2008-00809/BTE . Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia . PI: Carles Martin Closas

Journal Publications

Tosal, A.; Valero, L.; Sanjuan, J.; Martín-Closas, C. (2019). Influence of short- and long-term climatic cycles on floristic change across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in the Ebro Basin (Catalonia, Spain). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 18, pp. 925 - 947 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2019.10.003 . ISSN: 1631-0683

Vicente, A.; Martín-Closas, C. (2018). Gradualistic characean lineages in the Upper CretaceousPalaeocene of southern Europe. Historical Biology, 30, pp. 593 - 607 . https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2017.1309039 . ISSN: 0891-2963

Tosal, A.; Verduzco, O.; Martín-Closas, C. (2021). CLAMP-based palaeoclimatic analysis of the late Miocene (Tortonian) flora from La Cerdanya Basin of Catalonia, Spain, and an estimation of the palaeoaltitude of the eastern Pyrenees. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 564(110186) . Institutional Repository . ISSN: 0031-0182

Gomez,B.; Daviero-Gomez,V.; Coiffard, C.; Barral,A.; Martín-Closas, C.; Dilcher, D. (2020). Montsechia vidalii from the Barremian of Spain, the earliest known submerged aquatic angiosperm, and its systematic relationship to Ceratophyllum. Taxon, 69(6), pp. 1273 - 1292 . https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12409 . ISSN: 0040-0262

Li, S.; Wang, Q.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, Y.; Wan, X.; Martín-Closas, C. (2020). Filling a gap in the evolution of charophytes during the turonian to santonian: implications for modern physiognomy. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 274(104154), pp. 1 - 14 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2019.104154 . ISSN: 0034-6667

Pérez-Cano, J.; Bover-Arnal, T.; Martín-Closas, C. (2020). Barremian charophytes from the Maestrat Basin (Iberian Chain). Cretaceous Research, 115(104544) . Institutional Repository . ISSN: 0195-6671

Vicente, A.; Csiki-Sava, Z.; Martín-Closas, C. (2019). European charophyte evolution across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 533(109244), pp. 1 - 17 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109244 . ISSN: 0031-0182

Trabelsi, K; Sames, B.; Martín-Closas, C. (2024). First occurrence of family Clavatoraceae (fossil Charophyta) in the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of France. Papers In Palaeontology, 10(2), pp. 1 - 18 . Institutional Repository . ISSN: 2056-2799

Martín-Closas, C.; Lozano-Fernández, I.; Pérez-Cano, J.; Bover-Arnal, T. (2025). The non-marine Lower Cretaceous of El Montsec thrust-sheet (South-Central Pyrenees). Geologica Acta, pp. 1 - 17 . https://doi.org/10.1344/GeologicaActa2025.23.7 . ISSN: 1695-6133

Others Publications

Martín-Closas, C.; Gomez, B.; Daviero-Gomez, V. (2016). Plants and their landscapes . In Las Hoyas: A Cretaceous Wetland . (pp. 43 - 56) . Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil . ISBN: 978-3-89937-153-6 .

Marmi, J.; Martín-Closas, C.; Delclòs, X.; Poza, B. (2011). Fauna and Flora in the age of dinosaurs . In Dinosaurs of Eastern Iberia . (pp. 199 - 223) . Indiana University Press . ISBN: 978-0-253-35622-2 .

Martín-Closas, C.; Delclòs, X. (2007). The Miocene Paleolake of La Cerdanya . In Geoguias. Geological Field trips to the lacustrine deposits of the northeast of Spain . Volume. 3 . (pp. 181 - 205) . Instituto Geológico y Minero de España - Sociedad Geologica de España . ISBN: 978-84-930160-4-3 .

Martín-Closas, C.; Soulié-Märsche, I.; Sanjuan, J. (2024). The Fossil Record and Evolution of Charophytes from European Data . In Charophytes of Europe . (pp. 153 - 175) . Springer Nature . ISBN: 978-3-031-31897-9 . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31898-6

García, A.; Chivas, A.; Martín-Closas, C.; Schneider, S. (2015). Charophytes and their environmental impact: past records and present status . In Aquatic Botany . Volume. 120 . (pp. 1 - 142) . Elsevier .