Palynofacies analysis – principles and application for paleoenvironmental studies: implications from Bulgaria

Abstract

The use of palynofacies analysis has been steadily increasing during the last decades. This stems from both commercial interests (i.e., hydrocarbon exploration) and academic research of past environments and studies of the global climate changes that took place during the Phanerozoic. In both commercial and academic contexts, there is a need for a better understanding of palaeoenvironmental changes in order to correctly date and interpret the depositional facies recorded in boreholes and outcrops. The present paper introduces this important analysis in the Bulgarian literature with characteristic examples of different palynofacies types documented by the author in Cretaceous sections in Bulgaria and their interpretation. These examples highlight the value of using palynofacies and palynomorph associations in an integrated approach for paleoenvironmental reconstructions in Bulgaria.