On late Maastrichtian-early Danian water masses and lithologic and foraminifer assemblages in different tectonic zones of the Mountainous Crimea

Abstract

This paper presents data on the structure of reference sections of the Maastrichtian-Danian boundary beds and the assemblages of benthic and planktonic foraminifers enclosed in these rocks. These are based on examination of the reference sections in two different structure-facies zones of the Mountainous Crimea: the Kacha Uplift and Indol-Kuban Trough. The strongly different lithologic and foraminifer assemblages in these sections indicate the presence of completely different water masses in the shelf part of the marine basin with water depths varying from those of the middle-lower sublittoral zone (in the Belbek, Beshkosh, and Chakhmakhly sections in the southwestern part of the Mountainous Crimea) to those of the pelagic environment on the continental slope and at the continental rise (section in Mount Klement’ev in the Indol-Kuban Trough). These assemblages indicate the sedimentation environment in the transition zone between the Kacha shelf and the deep-water Black Sea Basin.