Abstract
The Cucuiova Formation is a Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) coal-bearing unit in the intramontane Sirinia Basin, which was formed in the Danubian Units of the South Carpathians. The main coal seam in the Cucuiova Formation was worked at Baia Noua (Nove Doly) and this locality has yielded a typical adpression coal flora. Previous studies have suggested that this flora was Moscovian (late Westphalian or even earliest Stephanian) in age. However, newly collected samples from Baia Noua have included abundant Neuralethopteris, which clearly indicates a late Bashkirian (Langsettian) age. This suggests a possible link with the Svoge Basin in northern Bulgaria, which is another intramontane basin located on the Balkan Terrane with early Westphalian coal-bearing deposits.
Highlights
Early–Middle Pennsylvanian age coalbearing strata in Europe can be found in two general depositional settings (OPLUŠTIL & CLEAL, 2007; CLEAL et al, 2010, 2011)
In addition there are several intramontane basins associated with the Variscan Mountains, such as Saar-Lorraine (France and Germany), West and Central Bohemia (Czech Republic), Svoge (Bulgaria) and the Stephanian basins of southern France
Much smaller than the paralic basins, they are of interest because of what they tell us about the evolution of the Variscan Mountains and the distinctive fossil biotas that they yield, especially the macrofloras, which probably reflect at least in part their relatively high elevation during Pennsylvanian times
Summary
Early–Middle Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) age coalbearing strata in Europe can be found in two general depositional settings (OPLUŠTIL & CLEAL, 2007; CLEAL et al, 2010, 2011). The most extensive deposits were formed in paralic settings, most notably on the Variscan Foreland and associated basins between the British Isles and northern Turkey, in the Donets Basin of eastern Europe, and the Cantabrian Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. Together, these basins cover an area of up to 9 x105 km (CLEAL & THOMAS, 2005). Neither is well exposed and what coal mining did occur there has ceased Both have yielded fossil biotas which are of biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical interest (see DRaGaStaN et al, 1997 and POPA, 2005 for historical reviews). In the present paper we document macrofloras from the Sirinia Basin found at Baia Nouă ( known in the Czech language as Nové Doly) located in the Dubova Commune, Mehedinţi County, in the central area of the Iron Gates Natural Park, the largest natural park in Romania
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