Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Foraminifera from Štramberk-type Limestones, Polish Outer Carpathians

Abstract

Foraminifera studies were carried out on the Stramberk-type limestones which occur as pebbles to small boulders (exotics) within the uppermost Jurassic-Palaeogene flysch deposits of the Polish Outer Carpathians. The studies were focused on foraminifera from (1) reef and peri-reef facies, and (2) lagoonal algal-foraminiferal facies. The paper deals with 34 species (including 8 in open nomenclature) representing 30 genera, 22 families, 14 superfamilies, 11 suborders, and 7 orders. A more precise age determination has been obtained for 30 exotics, representing a Tithonian (mostly) to Valanginian age. Foraminiferal assemblages from at least two exotics suggest a Valanginian age as indicated by the co-occurrence of the species: Meandrospira favrei (CHAROLLAIS, BRONNIMANN & ZANINETTI), Montsalevia salevensis (CHAROLLAIS, BRONNIMANN & ZANINETTI), Patellina turriculata DIENI & MASSARI, Neotrocholina valdensis REICHEL, Hechtina praeantiqua BARTENSTEIN & BRAND, Istriloculina eliptica (IOVCHEVA) and I. emiliae NEAGU. Previous studies based on ammonites and calpionellids indicated the Tithonian to the Early Berriasian age of the Stramberk Limestone in Moravia (the Czech Republic), and their equivalents in Poland. However, Valanginian shallow-water limestones occur as pebbles in some deposits of the Outer Carpathians in the Czech Republic. Further evidence for Valanginian shallow-water marine carbonate sedimentation (algal facies) in the Polish part of the Tethyan margin comes from recent studies of the substrate drilled in the Carpathian Foredeep.