GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA, 51, 4, BRATISLAVA, AUGUST 2000
245250
PARAFAVREINA COPROLITES FROM THE UPPERMOST TRIASSIC
OF THE WESTERN CARPATHIANS
ANDRZEJ GADZICKI
1
, JOZEF MICHALÍK
2
and ADAM TOMAOVÝCH
3
1
Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
2
Geological Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 842 26 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
3
Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Science, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
(Manuscript received December 7, 1999; accepted in revised form June 20, 2000)
Abstract: The anomuran thalassinid coprolite Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti 1972 is
described from thin sections of the Norovica Formation (uppermost Triassic) from the Stráovské vrchy Mountains
in central Slovakia. This ichnospecies is one of the most common in the Norian-Rhaetian shallow marine carbonate
rocks of the Tethys Realm.
Key words: Triassic (Rhaetian), Western Carpathians, crustacean microcoprolites.
Introduction
This paper provides the documentation of the Late Triassic
fecal pellets (coprolites) based upon material (thin sections)
collected from the Radoovec site near Ilava, a locality in the
Western Carpathians shown on Figs. 12.
Former works describing Late Triassic coprolites from the
Krína Unit (Fatric) of the Western Carpathians were done
Fig. 1. Maps showing location of Mt. Norovica area: A position of studied area in central Slovakia (arrowed); B geological sketch of
the Koeca environs in the Stráovské vrchy Mts: 12 Kalièo-Butkov structure: 1 Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestones, 2 Mid-Cre-
taceous shales; 34 Nozdrovice digitation: 3 Neocomian limestones, 4 Albian marls; 56 Mráznica digitation: 5 Mráznica
Formation Valanginian-Barremian limestones, 6 Poruba Formation (Albian); 79 Choè Nappe: 7 Hauptdolomit (Upper Triassic), 8
Norovica Formation (Rhaetian), 9 Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous strata.
246 GADZICKI, MICHALÍK
and TOMAOVÝCH
by Horák (1960) from the Svätý Jakub Formation (?Rha-
etian) nearby Banská Bystrica, and by Gadzicki (1974,
1977) from the Fatra Formation (Rhaetian) of the Polish
Tatra Mountains.
Here, we report anomuran crustacean coprolites belonging
to the Parafavreina thoronetensis ichnospecies, which have
been found in the uppermost Triassic strata of the Choè Unit
(Hronic), and at the Radoovec locality they are very abun-
dant (Pl. I). The study also enables us one to reconstruct the
environment where Rhaetian biotas lived.
The paper was prepared in the frame of the scientific coop-
eration between the Institute of Geology of the Slovak Acade-
my of Sciences (Bratislava) and the Institute of Paleobiology
of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw).
The investigated thin sections are housed in the Geological
Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava.
Geological and stratigraphical setting
The Stráovské vrchy Mountains are situated in central Slo-
vakia in the northwestern part of the central Western Car-
pathians and are built up of the Paleoalpine (Austrian) nappe
system (Fig. 1). The uppermost Triassic strata at the Rado-
Fig. 2. Geological map of the Mt. Norovica area. 1 Poruba Formation (Albian) of the Krína Nappe; 27 Choè Nappe: 2 Haupt-
dolomit (Upper Triassic), 3 Norovica Formation (Rhaetian) showing the location of the studied Parafavreina coprolites (arrowed), 4
Lower Jurassic crinoidal limestones, 5 Middle Jurassic siliceous limestones, cherty crinoidal limestones and marls, 6 Upper Ju-
rassic red nodular limestones and marlstone, 7 Biancône limestone, marly limestone and marls (Upper Tithonian-Hauterivian); 8
Neogene-Quaternary cover.
ovec locality occur in a ridge on the SW slope of Mt. Norov-
ica above the Podhradská Valley (Fig. 2). Small rock outcrops
in a woody slope are formed by pale grey limestones i.e. the
Mojtín Limestone Member of the Norovica Formation
(Gadzicki & Michalík 1980), lying on a thick Hauptdolomit
complex. Organogenic and organodetrital (biomicrites to bio-
sparites) limestone types prevail in the lower part, while the
higher part consists mostly of oolitic limestones (oopelbio-
sparites) alternating with thin bands of micritic limestone. The
layer containing the Parafavreina coprolites occurs precisely
in this part of the sequence (Pl. I: Figs. 12). Rich occurrence
of the benthic involutinid foraminifers, mostly Triasina hant-
keni Majzon indicates the Rhaetian age of the formation
(Gadzicki 1974, 1983). The sequence is terminated by an
erosional plane covered by the Liassic crinoidal limestone
(Fig. 2).
Paleontological notes
Order Decapoda (Anomura)
Subfamily Thalassinoidea
Genus Parafavreina Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti 1972
PARAFAVREINA COPROLITES FROM THE UPPERMOST TRIASSIC 247
Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti
1972 (Pl. I: Figs. 12, Pl. II: Figs. 18)
1960 Coprolithus salevensis Horák, 1215, Figs. 16
1972 Parafavreina thoronetensis n.sp. Brönnimann, Caron & Za-
ninetti, 941956, Pl. 1: Figs. 116, Pl. 2: Figs. 110. With
synonymy
1980 Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti;
Bércziné Makk, Pl. 4: Fig. 2
1986 Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti;
Senowbari-Daryan & Stanley, 345348, Fig. 3D(1), Fig.
4A(1), 4CD, Fig. 4E(2). With synonymy
1993 Parafavreina thoronetensis Blau, Grün & Senff, 193214,
Fig. 5D-H. With synonymy
1994 Parafavreina thoronetensis Blau, Rosas & Senff, 521527,
Fig. 5i-m
Material: Over 20 specimens in two thin sections.
Plate I: Fig. 1 Parafavreina thoronetensis microfacies. Mojtín Limestone Member of the Norovica Formation (Rhaetian). Radoovec.
Thin section No. GlÚ 20525. Fig. 2 Oopelbiosparite with Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti coprolites (ar-
rowed). Mojtín Limestone Member, Norovica Formation (Rhaetian). Radoovec. Thin section No. GlÚ 20525. Scale bars = 1 mm.
248 GADZICKI, MICHALÍK
and TOMAOVÝCH
Dimensions: The coprolites are 0.38 mm to 0.64 in diame-
ter, and up to 0.93 mm in length.
Description: As given by Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti
(1972), and Senowbari-Daryan & Stanley (1986).
Remarks: The Parafavreina thoronetensis has a circular or
subcircular shape in cross section, and is sometimes flattened
on the ventral side (Fig. 3, Pl. II: Figs. 1, 3). It shows two
bilateral symmetrical groups of longitudinal canals (3540 in
numbers), which in cross-section are mostly triangular and
sometimes crescent shape (Fig. 3, Pl. II: Fig. 2). The size of
the canals is 0.030.04 mm in diameter. The studied coproli-
tes correspond well with descriptions and ilustrations given
by Brönnimann et al. (1972), Senowbari-Daryan & Stanley
(1986) and Blau et al. (1993) as well as with forms de-
scribed as Coprolithus salevensis by Horák (1960) from the
Svätý Jakub Formation of the Western Carpathians.
Occurrence: So far this ichnospecies is know from several
Late Triassic-Early Jurassic localities of France, Italy, Greece,
Spain, Algeria, Afghanistan and Iran (Brönnimann et al.
1972), Austria and Germany (Piller 1976; Senowbari-Daryan
1979, 1980; Flügel 1982; Ott 1987; Blau et al. 1993), Hungary
(Bércziné Makk 1980), California, North America (Kristan-
Plate II: Parafavreina thoronetensis Brönnimann, Caron & Zaninetti 1972. Figs. 14 cross-sections, Figs. 56 oblique sections,
Figs. 78 longitudinal sections. Mojtín Limestone Member of the Norovica Formation (Rhaetian). Radoovec. Thin section No. GlÚ
20525. Magnification of all figures is uniform: scale bar = 0.2 mm.
PARAFAVREINA COPROLITES FROM THE UPPERMOST TRIASSIC 249
Tollmann & Tollmann 1983), as well as from Peru and Colom-
bia, South America (Senowbari-Daryan & Stanley 1986; Blau
et al. 1993; Blau et al. 1994).
Sedimentary conditions
and paleogeographical remarks
The Norovica Formation, which contains the studied copro-
lites, is a product of the Rhaetian marine transgression, which
renewed marine sedimentation in the northern West-Car-
pathian units. It was deposited in the northern proximity of the
elevated Dachstein carbonate platform complex, partially sep-
arating both the Kössen- and Fatra Formations lagoonal and
intraplatform basin systems from the open sea. The surface of
this platform was covered by the shallow sea with lime, and in
more restricted parts also with dolomitic sedimentation, and
with coral reefs on the external edge. The carbonate rocks of
the Norovica Formation itself were deposited on the more pro-
tected inner side of this platform, with shallow channels and
oolitic bars. The abundant, widespread and well preserved bio-
ta assemblages (algae, foraminifers, corals, brachiopods, mol-
luscs, conodonts) enable detailed biostratigraphical and paleo-
ecological studies of this formation (Gadzicki 1978;
Gadzicki & Michalík 1980; Michalík 1982, 1993, 1994;
Michalík & Gadzicki 1983).
The recognized anomuran crustaceans coprolites of the
Parafavreina thoronetensis in the Western Carpathians occur
within a stratigraphically well documented, shallow marine,
mostly lagoonal facies of the uppermost Triassic (Rhaetian)
carbonate sequences (Horák 1960; Gadzicki & Míchalík
1980; Salaj & Jendrejáková 1984).
Parafavreina thoronetensis crustacean microcoprolite is
one of the most common in the Norian-Rhaetian strata of the
Tethys Realm as well as from the western margin of Gond-
wana (Blau et al. 1993).
Acknowledgements: We thank Joachim Blau, Milan Miík,
Baba Senowbari-Daryan and Louisette Zaninetti for careful
reviews of the manuscript and also express our gratitude to
the Polish and Slovak Academies of Sciences for their finan-
cial support (Grant Project VEGA No. 7215).
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