Biostratigraphy and tectonic significance of lowermost Cretaceous carbonate rocks of the Circum-Rhodope Belt (Chalkidhiki Peninsula and Thrace region, NE Greece)

Depositional characteristics and constraints on the mid-Valanginian demise of a carbonate platform in the intra-Tethyan domain, Circum-Rhodope Belt, northern Greece

“…According to von Braun (1968), they overlie with thrust plane weakly metamorphosed siliciclastic and carbonate rocks of the Makri Unit (Table 1). However, recent field observations have confirmed their unconformable stratigraphic position (Ivanova et al, 2015) as noted earlier by Kopp (1969). Most fossil findings and isotope studies defined a range from the Early Triassic to the Late Jurassic for the Makri Unit (Maratos and Andronopoulos, 1964;von Braun, 1993;Dimadis et al, 1996), although an Early Cretaceous age has been also assumed (Dimadis and Nikolov, 1997;Meinhold et al, 2010).…”

“…Although several exposures and boreholes with Berriasian to Valanginian limestones have been described from central and northern Greece (Maratos and Andronopoulos, 1964;Kopp, 1965;Dragastan and Richter, 2003), there are few published sedimentological results (Carras, 1995;Carras and Georgala, 1998). Moreover, the available biostratigraphic data indicated Late Jurassic age (Kockel et al, 1977;Mussallam and Jung, 1986;Mussallam, 1991) for some recently revisited lowermost Cretaceous carbonates (Ivanova et al, 2015).…”

“…The Palaeogene psephitic rocks have monomict composition containing redeposited sand-sized to gravelsized clasts from the nearby exposed Lower Cretaceous carbonates (Kopp, 1965;von Braun, 1968;Chatalov et al, 2014). A broadly defined Early Cretaceous age of the Aliki Limestones was suggested by Maratos and Andronopoulos (1964), but a recent study of the benthic foraminiferal assemblage has confined their Berriа-sianelower Valanginian range (Ivanova et al, 2015; see also section 4).…”

“…Later on, Mussalam (1991) considered the carbonate deposition as synchronous to a rift formation thus building a shallow-water sedimentary cover on the Sithonia ophiolites. Recently the age of the "reef" limestones in Sithonia has been revisited as Berriasian to early Valanginian on the basis of foraminifera, calpionellid and calcareous dinocyst assemblages (Ivanova et al, 2015; see also section 4).…”

Polyphase evolution of Pelagonia (northern Greece) revealed by geological and fission-track data

“…1) with main tectonic events. From southwest to northeast: tectonism of Paxos, Ionian, Gavrovo-Tripolitza and Pindos zones (typical localities of the first deposition of the synorogenic mass flow deposits) according to Papanikolaou (1997); Pelagonian unconformity and deformation according to Kilias et al (2010) and Schenker et al (2014), respectively; Paikon (Late Cretaceous/Early Tertiary window in the AVAZ) tectonism according to Bonneau et al (1994) and Mercier and Vergely (1994); deformation and transgressions of Serbo-Macedonia (the westernmost continental fragment of the Rhodope) and the Southern and Northern Rhodope Complexes (two extensional metamorphic core complexes) according to Burg (2012) and Ivanova et al (2015).…”