Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Late Cretaceous Idzików Conglomerate Member (SW Poland, Sudetes, Idzików Quarry) based on analysis of trace fossils

Abstract

In the sandstones and conglomerates of the Idzików Conglomerate Member (Coniacian), exposed in the Idzików Quarry (SW Poland, Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben), a moderately diverse assemblage of trace fossils has been recognized. The trace fossils include Arenicolites isp., Asterosoma isp., ? Bergaueria isp., Cylindrichnus isp., Conichnus conicus , Curvolithus simplex , Dactyloidites ottoi , Diplocraterion parallelum , ? Diplocraterion isp., Gyrochorte isp., Gyrophyllites aff. kwassizensis , Macaronichnus segregatis , Ophiomorpha nodosa , Ophiomorpha isp., ? Palaeophycus isp., ? Rhizocorallium isp., Rosselia isp., ?S colicia isp., Teichichnus isp. and Thalassinoides isp. Escape traces (fugichnia) and some unidentified trace fossils also were found. The following ichnoassociations are distinguished: (IA1) Ophiomorpha - Cylindrichnus , (IA2) Asterosoma - Conichnus and (IA3) Ophiomorpha-Arenicolites . IA1 probably represents a mixture of the impoverished proximal Cruziana ichnofacies and the distal Skolithos ichnofacies, which points to the lower, weakly storm-affected shoreface. IA2 is interpreted as the archetypal Skolithos ichnofacies (opportunistic colonization of tempestite beds) with some elements of the Cruziana ichnofacies (bioturbated, fair-weather background deposits) in the middle, moderately storm-affected shoreface. IA3 is assigned to the archetypal Skolithos ichnofacies, which indicates the upper shoreface-foreshore settings. The trace-fossil evidence implies that the Upper Cretaceous succession was deposited in a shallow, open basin with good oxygenation of the sea floor and normal salinity, under low- to moderately high-energy hydrodynamic conditions. On the basis of ichnological and sedimentological analyses, the deposits studied originated in a system of fan-delta and shallow-shelf settings with common transitional-proximal tempestites. They were deposited in the eastern part of the Upper Nysa Kłodzka Graben during the Coniacian regression.