High-resolution stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments of the intertidal flats to lagoons of the Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Hvar Island, Croatia, on the Adriatic Carbonate Platform

Abstract

The Middle to Upper Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) carbonate series of the Starigrad Limestone Formation outcropping on Hvar (studied sections equal 217 m) is characterized as six recurring facies associations that dominantly represent shallowing upwards parasequences comprising shallow marine/lagoonal through to supratidal flat strata. Facies Association 1 represents a shallow carbonate ramp-coastal environment patch reefs composed of rudists, other various bivalves and characteristic giant clams of unclear systematic position. Those giant clam/rudist patch reefs built benthic islands with other small oysters and spondylids in which a large number of small reef-dwelling Echinids lived. Facies Association 2 comprises platy limestones that are interpreted to represent low-energy lagoonal sedimentation. This lagoon paleoenvironment was at times exposed to hypersaline and anoxic bottom conditions, which resulted in the preservation of many marine vertebrate skeletons (fish and lizards) reported over the past two centuries. Only two different macroalgae, the calcareous Thaumatoporella, and a large currently unnamed probably non-calcareous form, are commonly observed within the platy limestones. Facies Associations 3 through 6 represent a complex range of hypersaline-associated strata that is dominated locally by anhydrite (Facies Association 3) and biolaminites of distal intertidal (Facies Association 4), middle intertidal (Facies Association 5), and upper intertidal/supratidal (Facies Association 6) affinity. Previously unrecognized are the intertidal Upper Cenomanian stromatolites and biolaminates at the top of the shallowing upward sequences. On those extended biolaminate-dominated sandflats dinosaurs migrated at minimum in the Mediterranean leaving extensive trackway systems at several places in Croatia.

Sabkha and Burrow-Mediated Dolomitization in the Mississippian Debolt Formation, Northwestern Alberta, Canada

“…The carbonate facies within the Dunvegan gas field are comparable to the modern intertidal flats and sabkhas of the Persian Gulf (Evans, 1966;Butler, 1969;Behairy et al, 1991;Al-Youssef et al, 2006) and the Upper Cretaceous intertidal facies of Hvar Island, Croatia (Diedrich et al, 2011). The six facies described correspond to the shallow inner and middle portions of the carbonate ramp (Fig.…”

Revisiting the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of the NW South Iberian Basin: new ages and sedimentary environments

“…Comparable interpretations are given for similar deposits of the Higueruelas Fm in other areas of the Iberian Basin (Zaragoza province) by Ipas et al (2004). Similar deposits have been also described in the Bovalar Fm (middle Tithonian-early Berriasian) at the Penyagolosa sub-basin (Maestrat Basin), which have been interpreted as highly-agitated shoals developed in the inner ramp of a carbonate platform (Bádenas et 1975;James, 1977;Enos, 1983, Caron et al, 2005Diedrich et al, 2011;Sano et al, 2012). These sequences were occasionally subaerial exposed, as suggested by the presence of irregular and brecciated tops and the thinning-downwards vertical structures, typically caused by edaphic processes (e.g.…”

Late Cretaceous palynoflora from the central part of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform (Islands of Hvar and Šćedro), southern Croatia

“…1b; Gušić and Jelaska, 1990). Similar shallow-water successions, typical for the Upper Cretaceous deposits can be found in the carbonate platforms of the peri-Mediterranean region (Apulian, Apenninic, Adriatic, and other smaller carbonate platforms (e.g., Gušić and Jelaska, 1990;Carannante et al, 2000;Tišljar et al, 2002;Diedrich et al, 2011;Schlagintweit et al, 2015, and references therein).…”

“…Plant remains in the Upper Cretaceous thin-bedded limestones of the Island of Hvar were also mentioned by Schubert (1909), Pantić (1962) and Diedrich et al (2011).…”

“…1a; Marinčić and Majcen, 1968). Sedimentology, stratigraphy and fossil assemblages of the Island of Hvar were studied by Marinčić and Majcen (1968), Herak et al (1976), Jerinić et al (1994); Marinčić (1997), Mezga et al (2006) and Diedrich et al (2011).…”