GeolCarp_Vol48_No3_163

GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA, 48, 3, BRATISLAVA, JUNE 1997

163–170

ALBIAN AND CENOMANIAN FORAMINIFERA

FROM THE KOSARZYSKA SECTION, NIEDZICA SUCCESSION,

PIENINY KLIPPEN BELT, CARPATHIANS, POLAND

BOGUMILA KLOSOWSKA

Department of Palaeozoology, Institute of Geological Sciences,

Jagiellonian University, Oleandry 2a, 30-063 Krakow, Poland

(Manuscript received November 6, 1996; accepted in revised form March 18, 1997)

Abstract:

The Kosarzyska section of the Niedzica Succession, Pieniny Klippen Belt, Poland yielded the Late Albian

planktonic foraminiferal biozones from Rotalipora ticinensis–Planomalina praebuxtorfi to Planomalina buxtorfi–
Rotalipora appenninica (sensu Gasinski 1988). The Early Cenomanian microfaunal zones have not been recognized in
this section due to tectonic disturbances. The Late Cenomanian Rotalipora cushmani Zone has been recognized con-
tacting with the Upper Albian strata. Quantitative distribution of bathymetrically diagnostic planktonic species does
not correlate to the standard eustatic curve.

Key words:

Carpathians, Pieniny Klippen Belt, Niedzica Succession, Cenomanian, Albian, paleobathymetry,

biostratigraphy, Foraminifera.

Introduction

The Kosarzyska section (Fig. 1) was first described by
Birkenmajer in 1954 and attributed to the “Pieniny Transi-
tional Succession: Kosarzyska type”. It was later renamed
the Niedzica Succession (e.g. Birkenmajer 1977). In 1956,
an assemblage of Albian macrofauna, consisting mainly of
ammonites, belemnites and bivalves was determined from
this section, in greenish-black marly shales overlying the
Pieniny Limestone Formation, (Kokoszynska & Birkenma-
jer 1956). This macrofauna was very poorly preserved, pyri-
tized and limonitized, including the ammonites: Hamites
aff. attenuatus Sow. (5 specimens), and Hamites aff. flexu-
osus

d’Orb. (4 specimens), a belemnite Neohibolites mini-

mus

(List.) (1 specimen), and bivalves Aucellina aff. gry-

phaeoides

Sow. (5 specimens) and Tellina sp. (5 specimens).

The Albian age was confirmed by micropaleontological in-
vestigations carried out by Alexandrowicz (1966) and by
Klosowska & Gasinski (1995).

Paleobathymetric and palinspastic reconstructions (Birken-

majer 1986; Gasinski 1991; Birkenmajer & Gasinski 1992)
indicate the location of the Niedzica Succession on the mid-
dle part of the intra-oceanic Czorsztyn Ridge slope of the Pi-
eniny Klippen Belt Basin (PKBB).

Lithostratigraphy of Albian and Cenomanian

strata of the Niedzica Succession

The formal lithostratigraphic units of Albian and Cenoma-

nian age in the Niedzica Succession include: the Kapusnica
(Aptian–Albian) and the Jaworki Formations (Upper Albian–
Santonian) (Birkenmajer 1977; Birkenmajer & Jednorowska
1987). The Kapusnica Formation is subdivided into the

Brodno Member (Aptian–Lower Albian) and the Rudina
Member (Middle Albian–Lower Cenomanian). Only the lat-
ter member occurs in the Niedzica Succession. The overlying
sediments belong to the Jaworki Formation (Fig. 2).

The Rudina Member consists of dark-grey, black and green

marly limestones, sometimes with silty limestone, fine-
grained sandstone and fine conglomerate intercalations. The
thickness of the Rudina Member in the Niedzica Succession
is only up to 3–5 m.

Methods

Seventeen samples, about 1kg each, were collected every

30 cm along a section 3–4 m long. The samples were disinte-
grated and processed with Glaubert’s salt (multiple freez-
ing, heating) and sieved with a minimum mesh of 0.06 mm.
For quantitative analyses, about 300 specimens from each
sample were used (30 specimens from sample KO12, be-
cause of scarce microfauna). SEM micrographs were pre-
pared at the Zoological Institute of the Jagiellonian Univer-
sity by SEM JEOL JSM 35 and at the Micropalaoentological
Department of Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel. Field
and laboratory studies were carried out in 1993–1994.

Biostratigraphic zones

On the basis of qualitative analyses of planktonic foramin-

ifers and using already existing local biostratigraphic zona-
tion for the PKB (e.g. Gasinski 1983; 1988), the following
biostratigraphical zones have been recognized. They have
been based on the Last Appearance Datums (LADs) and the
Taxon Range Zones (TRZs) (Fig. 3).

164 KLOSOWSKA

Zone Rotalipora ticinensis–Planomalina praebuxtorfi (LAD)

Lower boundary:

not exposed in this section

Upper boundary:

LAD of Planomalina praebuxtorfi

Assemblage:

predominance of planktonic foraminifers,

which constitute 97 % of the whole assemblage, represented
mainly by: Hedbergella delrioensis (Carsey) (Pl. II: Figs. 1,
2), Praeglobotruncana delrioensis (Plummer), P. stephani
(Gandolfi), Planomalina buxtorfi (Gandolfi) (Pl. I: Figs. 8,
9), Rotalipora appenninica (Renz) (Pl. II: Figs. 3, 4), R. ti-
cinensis

(Gandolfi) (Pl. II: Fig. 5), Hedbergella planispira

(Tappan), H. simplex (Morrow), Planomalina praebuxtorfi
(Wonders) and Globigerinelloides bentonensis (Morrow)
being less abundant. Benthic foraminifers represent up to
3 % of the whole assemblage; the calcareous (45 %) ones
are represented by: Gavelinella intermedia (Berthelin), Gy-
roidinoides

sp., Glandulina sp.; the agglutinated ones

(42 %) are represented by: Trochammina sp., Textularia sp.,
Tritaxia gaultina

(Morozova) (Pl. I: Fig. 2), Spiroplectam-

mina

sp., Spiroplectinata annectens (Parker & Jones), Gaud-

ryina

sp., Dorothia gradata (Berthelin), D. oxycona (Reuss),

Arenobulimina preslii

(Reuss). The Nodosaridae (13 %) are

represented by: Lenticulina gaultina (Berthelin), Tribrachia
excavata

(Reuss) and Dentalina sp.

Age:

Late Albian

Zone Rotalipora ticinensis–Planomalina buxtorfi (LAD)

Lower boundary:

LAD of Planomalina praebuxtorfi

Upper boundary:

LAD of Rotalipora ticinensis

Assemblage:

predominance of planktonic foraminifers,

which constitute 98 % of the whole assemblage. The most
abundant are: Hedbergella delrioensis (Carsey), Praeglo-
botruncana delrioensis

(Plummer), P. stephani (Gandolfi),

Planomalina buxtorfi

(Gandolfi), Rotalipora appenninica

(Renz) and less abundant R. ticinensis (Gandolfi), Ticinella
roberti

(Gandolfi), Globigerinelloides bentonensis (Mor-

row), Hedbergella simplex (Morrow), H. planispira (Tap-
pan). Benthic foraminifers represent up to 2 % of the whole
assemblage; the calcareous ones (62 %) are represented by:
Gavelinella

sp. (Pl. I: Fig. 7), Gyroidinoides sp., Gavelinel-

ex gr. berthelini, Glandulina sp., Ellipsoglandulina sp.;

the agglutinated (23 %) by: Trochammina sp., Tritaxia
gaultina

(Morozova), T. amorpha (Cushman), Textularia sp.

(Pl. I: Fig. 4), Dorothia gradata (Berthelin), Gaudryina sp.,
Ataxophragmium

sp., Arenobulimina sp. (Pl. I: Fig. 3), Am-

modiscus

sp. (Pl. I: Fig. 1). The Nodosariacea (15 %) include:

Lenticulina

sp. (Pl. I: Fig. 5), Tribrachia sp., Dentalina sp.

Age:

Late Albian

Fig. 1.

A — Position of the Kosarzyska section (rectangle) in southern Poland. 1 — Tatra Mountains; 2 — Podhale Flysch; 3 — Pieniny

Klippen Belt; 4 — Magura Flysch; 5 — Fresh-water Miocene-Pliocene. B — Location of the Kosarzyska Valley. K — location of the
studied section. W — waterfall. C — Simplified profile of the studied section. Samples: KO1–KO12 (grey-greenish marls); KO13 (dark
shales); KO14–KO17 (red shales/marls). M — location of the macrofossil assemblage.

ALBIAN AND CENOMANIAN FORAMINIFERA FROM THE KOSARZYSKA SECTION 169

Zone Planomalina buxtorfi–Rotalipora appenninica (LAD)

Lower boundary:

LAD of Rotalipora ticinensis

Upper boundary:

not preserved in this section due to tec-

tonic reduction

Assemblage:

predominance of planktonic foraminifers

(99 %), represented by: Hedbergella delrioensis (Carsey),
Praeglobotruncana delrioensis

(Plummer), P. stephani (Gan-

dolfi), Planomalina buxtorfi (Gandolfi) and Rotalipora ap-
penninica

(Renz). Benthic foraminifers constitute up to 1 %

of the whole assemblage; the calcareous ones (50 %) are rep-
resented by: Gavelinella sp., Pleurostomella reussi Berthelin
(Pl. I: Fig. 6), Gyroidinoides sp.; the agglutinated ones
(50 %) by: Tritaxia gaultina (Morozova), Trochammina sp.,
Arenobulimina

sp., Ammodiscus sp.

Age:

Late Albian

Zone Rotalipora cushmani (TRZ)

Lower boundary:

not preserved in this section due to tec-

tonic reduction

Upper boundary:

not exposed in this section

Assemblage:

predominance of planktonic foraminifers,

which constitute about 99 % of the whole assemblage. They
are represented by: Rotalipora cushmani (Morrow) (Pl. II:
Figs. 9, 10), R. reicheli (Mornod) (Pl. II: Fig. 6), R. mont-
salvensis

(Mornod), R. deeckei (Franke) (Pl. II: Figs. 7, 8),

R. greenhornensis

(Morrow), R. appenninica (Renz) and

Praeglobotruncana stephani

(Gandolfi). Among the benth-

ic foraminifers, the calcareous ones (64 %) include: Gave-
linella intermedia

(Berthelin), Gavelinella sp., Gyroidi-

noides

sp., Glandulina sp., Ramulina sp. Agglutinated

foraminifers (29 %) are represented by: Tritaxia gaultina
(Morozova), Tritaxia sp., Dorothia gradata (Berthelin),
Arenobulimina preslii

(Reuss), Arenobulimina sp. The No-

dosariacea (7 %) include Lenticulina sp.

Age:

Middle Cenomanian to lower part of the Upper Cen-

omanian

The proposed local biostratigraphical zones are equivalent

to those established by Gasinski (1988) for the Pieniny Klip-
pen Belt in Poland. The Rotalipora cushmani local zone (sen-
su Gasinski 1983, 1988) representing the middle part of the
Middle Cenomanian to Late Cenomanian, occurs in the in-
vestigated section in tectonic contact with the deposits of the
P. buxtorfi–R. appenninica Zone (Fig. 3).

Paleoecological remarks and conclusions

The Kosarzyska section of the Niedzica Succession, where

in 1956 Kokoszynska and Birkenmajer found a unique mac-
rofossil assemblage has been dated on the basis of plankton-
ic foraminifers to the Late Albian (Vraconian).

The Albian-Cenomanian foraminiferal assemblages from

the Kosarzyska section have been attributed to local bio-
zones (Fig. 3). In these biozones, the frequency of agglutinat-
ed and calcareous benthic foraminifers never exceeds 3 % of
the whole assemblage. This varies from the values estab-

lished in other sections of the Niedzica Succession by
Birkenmajer & Gasinski (1992; association “B1”), i.e. be-
tween 35–40 %. Among plankton, in older, the latest Albian
samples, predominance of non-keeled forms as Hedbergella
sometimes with Globigerinelloides and Ticinella over keeled
forms as Rotalipora and Praeglobotruncana is observed. The
former represent up to 70–80 % of the planktonic assemblage
whereas in younger Cenomanian samples (Rotalipora cush-
mani Zone) they form only about 36 % of the planktonic as-
semblage (Fig. 4).

The ratio of keeled to non-keeled planktonic foraminifers,

which is treated by several authors (e.g., Sliter 1972, 1976;
Sliter & Baker 1972; Haig 1979) as an indication of paleo-
bathymetry, is in disagreement with the regression-trangres-
sion curve proposed for this time-span by Haq et al. (1987;
see: Fig. 4). It is clearly visible that onlap bending of Haq’s
curve is correlated with the frequency decrease of the keeled
forms. These forms are always diagnostic for deepening of
the basin (bathypelagic dwellers). This might be related to
the local tectonical events and could suggest an unstable
(mobile) bottom of this part of the PKBB.

Acknowledgements:

Sincere thanks are extended to Dr. M. Adam

Gasinski (Jagiellonian University) for his suggestions and re-
marks. Prof. Krzysztof Birkenmajer (Polish Academy of Sci-
ences, Krakow) kindly reviewed the manuscript. The Grzy-
bowski Foundation (Student Grant-in Aid) are sincerely
acknowledged for financial help, which enabled the author to
attend the IGCP 362 Meeting in Maastricht.

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