Sr isotope chemostratigraphy of Upper Jurassic carbonate rocks in the Demerdzhi Plateau (Crimean Mountains)

Abstract

The first Sr chemostratigraphic data are obtained for the Upper Jurassic carbonate sections in the Demerdzhi Plateau of the Crimean Mountains. The oncoid, microbial, and organogenic-detrital limestone varieties representing shallow-water marine microfacies of the carbonate platform served as material for these studies. The limestone samples for reconstructing the isotopic parameters of depositional environments were selected using geochemical criteria (Mn/Sr < 0.2, Fe/Sr < 1.6, Mg/Ca < 0.024) and subjected to the preliminary treatment in a 1 N ammonium acetate solution. The 87Sr/86Sr value in the least altered samples increases up the section from 0.70701 to 0.70710. The obtained 87Sr/86Sr values are correlated with the Sr isotope properties of belemnite rostrae characterizing the Pectinatites scitulus-Pavlovia rotunda ammonite zone in the zonal scale of the Boreal realm, Hyponoticeras hybonotum-M. ponti/B. peroni Zone in the zonal scale of the Tethyan realm, and lower part of the Dorsoplanites panderi Zone in the zonal scale for the transitional domain of the East European Platform. The Sr chemostratigraphic correlation indicates the early Tithonian age of sediments developed in the eastern part of the Demerdzhi Plateau and restricts the upper boundary of the limestone section redeposited within carbonate breccia of Mount Severnaya Demerdzhi to the terminal early Tithonian. The Sr isotope data are used for calculating the sedimentation rates for limestones. They are estimated to be at least 0.23 m/1000 years, which is an anomalously high value for pre-Quaternary carbonate platforms.