Lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous limestones of Bjelopavlići (Montenegro): contribution to evolution and paleogeography of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform

Abstract

The Upper Cretaceous limestones of Bjelopavlići (Montenegro) represent a megasequence of facies reflecting a transition from shallow- to deep-water depositional environments, succeeded by re-establishing shallow-water conditions again. The studied carbonate sequences are exposed on the south-eastern edge of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform (AdCP) in central Montenegro. Based on coupled sedimentological and biostratigraphical studies, the associations of eight spatially and temporally related facies were identified. The lower part of the megasequence comprises shallow-water carbonates originating in the inner-platform area, while the middle part is composed of pelagic and allodapic limestones. Shallow-water platform limestones occupy the upper part of the megasequence. The shallow-water carbonates of Bjelopavlići show a good correlation with the shallow-water Upper Cretaceous sediments in the AdCP. Deep-water limestones of Bjelopavlići are regarded as facies correlative to the spatially distinct deep-water limestones of Brač and as temporary and spatially correlative with slope-to-basin facies derived along the north-eastern margin of the AdCP. The drowning of the platform periphery and the evolution of a deep-water basin where the pelagic and allodapic carbonates of Bjelopavlići were deposited, as well as the subsequent exhumation of the platform are predominantly attributed to tectonics. The uppermost Cretaceous dynamics of the basin were controlled by tectonic mobilization of the foreland in front of regional fold-thrust belts that developed north-eastern from the AdCP.