An Albian demise of the carbonate platform in the Manín Unit (Western Carpathians, Slovakia)
Abstract: The production of platform carbonates of the Manín Unit (Manín Straits, Central Western Carpathians) belonging to the Podhorie and Manín formations and formed by remains of rudists and benthic foraminifers (Urgonian-type carbonates), was previously assumed to terminate during the Aptian. First, we show that these deposits were primarily formed on the upper slope (Podhorie Formation) and in a fore-reef environment (Manín Formation). Second, biostratigraphic data indicate that the shallow-water production persisted up to the Albian, just as it did in another succession of the Manín Unit. The Podhorie Fm contains colomiellids (Colomiella recta, C. mexicana) and calcareous dinoflagellates (Calcisphaerula innominata) that indicate the Albian age. It also contains planktonic foraminifers (Ticinella roberti, Ticinella cf. primula, Ticinella cf. madecassiana, Ticinella cf. praeticinensis) of the Albian Ticinella primula Zone. The Podhorie Formation passes upwards into peri-reefal facies of the Manín Fm where we designate the Malý Manín Member on the basis of rudists shell fragments and redeposited orbitolinids. Microfacies associations share similarities with the Urgonian-type microfacies from Mediterranean Tethys and allow us to restrict the growth and the demise of the carbonate platform. δ13C and δ18O isotopes change over a broad range of both formations: δ13C is in the range +1.03 to +4.20 ‰ V-PDB and δ18O is in the range −0.14 to −5.55 ‰ V-PDB. Although a close correlation between δ13C and δ18O indicates diagenetic overprint, a long-term increase of δ13C can indicate a gradual increase in the aragonite production and/or increasing effects of oceanic water masses in the course of the Albian, prior to the final platform drowning. Carbonate platform evolution was connected with submarine slumps and debris flows leading to redeposition and accumulation of carbonate lithoclasts and bioclastic debris on the slope. Our study confirms that the growth of carbonate platforms in the Central Western Carpathians was stopped and the platform collapsed during the Albian, in contrast to the westernmost Tethys. A hardground formed during the Late Albian is overlain by Albian – Cenomanian marls of the Butkov Formation with calcisphaerulid limestones characterized by planktonic foraminifers of the Parathalmanninella appenninica Zone and calcareous dinoflagellates of the Innominata Acme Zone.
Stratigraphic and tectonic control of deep-water scarp accumulation in Paleogene synorogenic basins: a case study of the Súľov Conglomerates (Middle Váh Valley, Western Carpathians)
Abstract: The Súľov Conglomerates represent mass-transport deposits of the Súľov–Domaniža Basin. Their lithosomes are intercalated by claystones of late Thanetian (Zones P3 – P4), early Ypresian (Zones P5 – E2) and late Ypresian to early Lutetian (Zones E5 – E9) age. Claystone interbeds contain rich planktonic and agglutinated microfauna, implying deep-water environments of gravity-flow deposition. The basin was supplied by continental margin deposystems, and filled with submarine landslides, fault-scarp breccias, base-of-slope aprons, debris-flow lobes and distal fans of debrite and turbidite deposits. Synsedimentary tectonics of the Súľov–Domaniža Basin started in the late Thanetian – early Ypresian by normal faulting and disintegration of the orogenic wedge margin. Fault-related fissures were filled by carbonate bedrock breccias and banded crystalline calcite veins (onyxites). The subsidence accelerated during the Ypresian and early Lutetian by gravitational collapse and subcrustal tectonic erosion of the CWC plate. The basin subsided to lower bathyal up to abyssal depth along with downslope accumulation of mass-flow deposits. Tectonic inversion of the basin resulted from the Oligocene – early Miocene transpression (σ1 rotated from NW–SE to NNW–SSE), which changed to a transpressional regime during the Middle Miocene (σ1 rotated from NNE–SSW to NE–SW). Late Miocene tectonics were dominated by an extensional regime with σ3 axis in NNW–SSE orientation.
Foraminiferal, ostracod, and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy of the latest Badenian – Sarmatian interval (Middle Miocene, Paratethys) from Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova
Abstract: This study presents detailed foraminiferal, ostracod, and calcareous nannofossil analyses of five Middle Miocene sections located in the Central Paratethyan realm, namely in Poland, Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Based on foraminiferal distribution, five biostratigraphically important assemblages (labelled A–E) are distinguished. Foraminifera data combined with ostracoda and nannofossil evidence allowed correlation between the studied sections, and a comparison with the deposits of similar age from the Transylvanian, Vienna and Pannonian basins, as well as with the Transcarpathian regions. The micropaleontological record across the Badenian–Sarmatian boundary interval is also presented.
Geochemical characteristics and conditions of formation of the Chah-Bazargan peraluminous granitic patches, ShahrBabak, Iran
Abstract: Xenoliths of garnet–biotite–kyanite schist from the Qori metamorphic complex (southern part of the Sanandaj–Sirjan zone, northeast Neyriz, Zagros orogen in Iran) in the 173.0±1.6 Ma Chah-Bazargan leuco-quartz diorite intrusion were studied. This intrusion caused these schist xenoliths to be metamorphosed to the pyroxene hornfels facies (approximately 4.5±1.0 kbar and 760±35 °C), converting them to diatexite migmatite as a result of partial melting of the xenoliths. These melts are granites in composition. Melt volumes of 20 to 30 vol. % were calculated for small patches of the peraluminous granites. It is possible that anatectic melting affected only the leucosome, such that melting was more than 20 to 30 vol. %. It is possible that a large amount of melt was not extracted due to balanced in situ crystallization, the adhesion force between melt and crystal (restite), and high viscosity of the leucosome. The Chah-Bazargan peraluminous granites are depleted in trace elements such as REEs, HFSE (Ti, Zr, Ta, Nb, Th, U, Hf, Y), Ba, Pb, and Sr. These elements are largely insensitive to source enrichment, but sensitive to the amounts of main and accessory minerals. These elements were hosted by minerals such as garnet, biotite, muscovite, K-feldspar, plagioclase, ilmenite, apatite, monazite, and zircon in the source (diatexitic migmatitic xenoliths).
Asteriacites and other trace fossils from the Po Formation (Visean–Serpukhovian), Ganmachidam Hill, Spiti Valley (Himalaya) and its paleoenvironmental significance
Abstract: An assemblage of trace fossils comprising Asteriacites stelliformis, A. quinquefolius, Biformites insolitus, Helminthoidichnites? isp., Lingulichnus isp., Lockeia siliquaria, Palaeophycus tubularis, Planolites isp., Protovirgularia isp. A, Protovirgularia isp. B, Protovirgularia isp. C, Psammichnites isp., Rusophycus isp., and Treptichnus isp. from the Po Formation (Visean–Serpukhovian) exposed along the base of Ganmachidam Hill near the village of Chichong, Spiti Valley in the Himalaya, is described. Storm beds (tempestites) are highly bioturbated. Sedimentary structures such as hummocky cross-stratification (HCS), low-angle planar and trough cross beds, and shallow, slightly asymmetrical gutter casts are observed. The overall trace fossil assemblage indicates the presence of upper shoreface to lower shoreface
Cruziana ichnofacies of an open shelf.
Tectono-sedimentary analysis using the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility: a study of the terrestrial and freshwater Neogene of the Orava Basin
Abstract: The Orava Basin is an intramontane depression filled with presumably fine-grained sediments deposited in river, floodplain, swamp and lake settings. The basin infilling constitutes a crucial record of the neoalpine evolution of the Inner/Outer Carpathian boundary area since the Neogene, when the Jurassic–Paleogene basement became consolidated, uplifted and eroded. The combination of sedimentological and structural studies with anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) measurements provided an effective tool for recognition of terrestrial environments and deformations of the basin infilling. The lithofacies-oriented sampling and statistical approach to the large dataset of AMS specimens were utilized to define 12 AMS facies based on anisotropy degree (P) and shape (T). The AMS facies allowed a distinction of sedimentary facies ambiguous for classical methods, especially floodplain and lacustrine sediments, as well as revealing their various vulnerabilities to tectonic modification of AMS. A spatial analysis of facies showed that tuffites along with lacustrine and swamp deposits were generally restricted to marginal and southern parts of the basin. Significant deformations were noticed at basin margins and within two intrabasinal tectonic zones, which indicated the tectonic activity of the Pieniny Klippen Belt after the Middle Miocene. The large southern area of the basin recorded consistent N-NE trending compression during basin inversion. This regional tectonic rearrangement resulted in a partial removal of the southernmost basin deposits and shaped the basin’s present-day extent.
