Abstract
A carbonate cobble was collected in a creek near Slovenj Gradec (Slovenia). It comprises Trochactaeon gastropods as well as foraminifera Fleuryana adriatica and Cuneolina ketini from a subtidal environment with agglutinated and porcelaneous benthic foraminifera. Packstone-grainstone of the structural type contains the abovementioned foraminiferal taxa, which are previously undetermined in this part of the Upper Cretaceous Tethyan realm. Stratigraphic data from this area, together with the determined microfossil assemblage of the carbonate cobble, indicate the upper part of Lower Campanian age, implying an extension of the F. adriatica and C. ketini stratigraphic range. The paleoniche within the Tethyan realm in which F. adriatica thrive is the shallowest part of the subtidal, close to peritidal conditions. It was developed on a relatively harder substrate that resulted from a laterally more pronounced paleorelief which enabled the shifting of hyaline benthic foraminifers towards the shallowest part of the subtidal. Their paleoniche is laterally absent from protected paleoenvironments with soft muddy substrate and a relatively high carbonate sedimentation rate, colonized with elevator rudists, as well as from relatively higher water energy paleoenvironments with completely hard grainstone-rudstone substrate.
Highlights
Near the Upper Cretaceous Slovenj Gradec locality, carbonate cobble rich in Gosau-type gastropod fauna was collected from a creek during previous ¿eld investigations (Moro et al, 2016)
Determination of F. adriatica suggests a younger age of the eroded carbonate cobble compared with the nearby Slovenj Gradec succession, which has a chronostratigraphic age of the upper part of the Lower Campanian (Moro et al, 2016)
This paper aims to resolve the question of the stratigraphical disparity between the carbonate cobble and the Slovenj Gradec succession, as well as to determine the extension of the biostratigraphical range and paleoecological niche of the Fleuryana adriatica microfossil association for the Tethyan realm
Summary
Near the Upper Cretaceous Slovenj Gradec locality, carbonate cobble rich in Gosau-type gastropod fauna (see Figure 1) was collected from a creek during previous ¿eld investigations (Moro et al, 2016). In a paper by Mikuž et al (2012), typical Gosau gastropods Trochactaeon cf goldfussi (dOrbigny) and Trochactaeon giganteus (Sowerby) were determined. Within the agglutinated-porcelaneous foraminiferal assemblage, Fleuryana adriatica De Castro, Drobne, and Gušiü was determined, biostratigraphically important for the Upper Campanian to Late Maastrictian (De Castro et al 1994; Veliü 2007; Fleury, 2014; Solak et al, 2017). Determination of F. adriatica suggests a younger age of the eroded carbonate cobble compared with the nearby Slovenj Gradec succession, which has a chronostratigraphic age of the upper part of the Lower Campanian (Moro et al, 2016).
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