Geological evolution of the southwestern part of the Veporic Unit (Western Carpathians): based on fission track and morphotectonic data
Abstract: Zircon and apatite fission track (FT) and morphotectonic analyses were applied in order to infer quantitative constraints on the Alpine morphotectonic evolution of the western part of the Southern Veporic Unit which is related to: (1) Eo-Alpine Cretaceous nappe stacking and metamorphism of the crystalline basement in the greenschist facies. (2) Exhumation phase due to underthrusting of the northerly located Tatric-Fatric basement (~ 90–80 Ma), followed by a passive en-block exhumation with cooling through ~ 320–200 °C during the Palaeocene (ZFT ages of ~ 61–55 Ma). (3) Slow Eocene cooling through ~ 245–90 °C, which most likely reflected erosion of the overlying cover nappes and the Gosau Group sediments. Cooling reached up to 60 °C till the Oligocene (AFT ages of ~ 37–22 Ma) in association with erosion of cover nappes. The efficient Eocene erosion led to the formation of the first Cenozoic planation surface with supergene kaolinization in many places. (4) The early Miocene erosion coincided with surface lowering and resulted in the second planation surface favourable for kaolinization. (5) In the middle Miocene, the study area was covered by the Poľana, Javorie, and Vepor stratovolcanoes. (6) The late Miocene stage was related to the erosion and formation of the third Cenozoic planation surface and the final shaping of the mountains was linked to a new accelerated uplift from the Pliocene.
Foraminifera from the Norian–Rhaetian reef carbonates of the Taurus Mountains (Saklıkent, Turkey)
Abstract: Norian–Rhaetian reef carbonates are exposed in several localities in Taurus Mountains. They predominately contain hypercalcified sponges, followed by scleractinian corals and other less numerous organisms. A coherent Norian–Rhaetian reef structure is exposed near the small town of Saklıkent, west of Antalya. Foraminifers occur in reef carbonates of Saklıkent by numerous genera as shown in this paper. Two species — Siculocosta taurica and Siculocosta sadati — are described as new. The foraminiferal association of Saklıkent is similar or almost identical to the associations known from the Norian–Rhaetian reefs of Sicily, Northern Calcareous Alps, and Greece but shows less similarity to the foraminiferal association from the Apennines, Italy. The most abundant foraminifers are milioliporoids, particularly galeanellids and cucurbitids. Some sessile and agglutinated foraminifers, including Alpinophragmium perforatum Flügel, which mostly occurs abundantly in the Norian–Rhaetian reef carbonates, could not be found in the Saklıkent reef. This association of foraminifera is reported for the first time from a Norian–Rhaetian reef in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey.
The pre-Cainozoic basement delineation by magnetotelluric methods in the western part of the Liptovská kotlina Depression (Western Carpathians, Slovakia)
Abstract: The geology and hydrogeology of the Liptovská Kotlina Depression were studied by means of new geophysical methods. Controlled source audio-frequency magnetotellurics enabled us to delineate the relief of the pre-Cainozoic basement in the western part of the Liptovská Kotlina Depression into two segments with different lithostratigraphic units. Our complex findings disprove the interconnection between the Bešeňová and Lúčky water bearing structures located in the study area. The results were interpreted in the form of a resistivity cross section and resistivity model. The geological interpretation of the obtained results, taking into account the other geophysical and geological constrains showed that the pre-Cainozoic basement has a tectonically disrupted, broken relief. The Bešeňová and Lúčky structures appear to be isolated by the Palaeogene sediments (sandstone, claystone) and in the deeper part also by marly carbonates and marlstones of the Jurassic age belonging to the Fatricum. It was confirmed that the structural connectivity of geothermal aquifers in the area between the Bešeňová and Lúčky–Kaľameny should not exist. The assumption of different circulation depth was also confirmed by geothermometry and existing radiocarbon analyses applied on groundwater in both areas.
The Miocene “Pteropod event” in the SW part of the Central Paratethys (Medvednica Mt., northern Croatia)
Abstract: Deep marine Miocene deposits exposed sporadically in the Medvednica Mt. (northern Croatia) comprise pelagic organisms such as coccolithophores, planktic foraminifera and pteropods. The pteropod fauna from yellow marls at the Vejalnica locality (central part of Medvednica Mt.) encompasses abundant specimens of Vaginella austriaca Kittl, 1886, accompanied with scarce Clio fallauxi (Kittl, 1886). Calcareous nannoplankton points to the presence of NN5 nannozone at this locality. Highly fossiliferous grey marls at the Marija Bistrica locality (north-eastern area of Medvednica Mt.) comprise limacinid pteropods: Limacina valvatina (Reuss, 1867), L. gramensis (Rasmussen, 1968) and Limacina sp. Late Badenian (NN5 to NN6 nannozone) age of these marls is presumed on the basis of coccolithophores. Most of the determined pteropods on species level, except V. austriaca have been found and described from this region for the first time. New pteropod records from Croatia point to two pteropod horizons coinciding with the Badenian marine transgressions in Central Paratethys. These pteropod assemblages confirm the existence of W–E marine connection (“Transtethyan Trench Corridor”) during the Badenian NN5 nannozone. Limacinids point to the possible immigration of the “North Sea fauna” through a northern European marine passage during the Late Badenian (end of NN5 – beginning of NN6 zone), as previously presumed by some other authors.
Age and microfacies of oceanic Upper Triassic radiolarite components from the Middle Jurassic ophiolitic mélange in the Zlatibor Mountains (Inner Dinarides, Serbia) and their provenance
Abstract: Oceanic radiolarite components from the Middle Jurassic ophiolitic mélange between Trnava and Rožanstvo in the Zlatibor Mountains (Dinaridic Ophiolite Belt) west of the Drina–Ivanjica unit yield Late Triassic radiolarian ages. The microfacies characteristics of the radiolarites show pure ribbon radiolarites without crinoids or thin-shelled bivalves. Beside their age and the preservation of the radiolarians this points to a deposition of the radiolarites on top of the oceanic crust of the Neo-Tethys, which started to open in the Late Anisian. South of the study area the ophiolitic mélange (Gostilje–Ljubiš–Visoka–Radoševo mélange) contains a mixture of blocks of 1) oceanic crust, 2) Middle and Upper Triassic ribbon radiolarites, and 3) open marine limestones from the continental slope. On the basis of this composition we can conclude that the Upper Triassic radiolarite clasts derive either from 1) the younger parts of the sedimentary succession above the oceanic crust near the continental slope or, more convincingly 2) the sedimentary cover of ophiolites in a higher nappe position, because Upper Triassic ribbon radiolarites are only expected in more distal oceanic areas. The ophiolitic mélange in the study area overlies different carbonate blocks of an underlying carbonate-clastic mélange (Sirogojno mélange). We date and describe three localities with different Upper Triassic radiolarite clasts in a mélange, which occurs A) on top of Upper Triassic fore-reef to reefal limestones (Dachstein reef), B) between an Upper Triassic reefal limestone block and a Lower Carnian reef limestone (Wetterstein reef), and C) in fissures of an Upper Triassic lagoonal to back-reef limestone (Dachstein lagoon). The sedimentary features point to a sedimentary and not to a tectonic emplacement of the ophiolitic mélange (= sedimentary mélange) filling the rough topography of the topmost carbonate-clastic mélange below. The block spectrum of the underlying and slightly older carbonate-clastic mélange points to a deposition of the sedimentary ophiolitic mélange east of or on top of the Drina–Ivanjica unit.
Bi-sulphotellurides associated with Pb – Bi – (Sb ± Ag, Cu, Fe) sulphosalts: an example from the Stan Terg deposit in Kosovo
Abstract: New mineralogical and mineral-chemical data from the Stan Terg deposit, Kosovo, revealed the presence of abundant Bi-sulphotellurides associated with Bi- and Sb-sulphosalts and galena in pyrite–pyrrhotite-rich skarn-free ore bodies (ores without skarn minerals). The Bi-bearing association comprises Bi-sulphotellurides (joséite-A, joséite-B, unnamed phase A with a chemical formula close to (Bi,Pb)2(TeS)2, unnamed phase B with a chemical composition close to (Bi,Pb)2.5Te1.5S1.5), ikunolite, cosalite, Sb-lillianite, members of the kobellite series and Bi-jamesonite. Compositional trends of the Bi-sulphotellurides suggest lattice-scale incorporation of Bi–(Pb)-rich module and/or admixture with submicroscopic PbS layers in modulated structures, or complicated Bi–Te substitution. Cosalite is characterized by high Sb (max. 3.94 apfu), and low Cu and Ag (up to 0.72 apfu of Cu+Ag). Jamesonite from this mineralization has elevated Bi content, from 0.85 to 2.30 apfu. The negligible content of Au and Ag in the Bi-sulphotellurides, the low content of Ag in Bi-sulphosalts, together with the lack of Au–Ag bearing phases in the mineralization, indicate either ore deposition from fluid(s) depleted in precious metals, or physico-chemical conditions of ore formation preventing Au and Ag precipitation at the deposit site. The temperature of initial mineralization may have exceeded 400 ºC as suggested by the lamellar exsolution textures observed in lillianite, which indicate breakdown textures from decomposition of high-temperature initial crystals. Non-stoichiometric phases among the Bi-sulphosalts and sulphotellurides studied at Stan Terg reflect modulated growth processes in a metasomatic environment.
