Macropalaeontology and stratigraphy of lacustrine Miocene deposits at Crnika beach on the Island of Pag (Croatia)

Abstract

The sequence of Miocene fossiliferous marls of the Crnika beach, along the south west shore of Pag Bay, consists of an alternation of silty and clayey marls, sandstones, coaly clays, coal-bearing strata and sparse intercalations of bentonite in the older part, and of an alternation of calcitic marls and organogenic fossiliferous limestones with several coal strata in the younger part. Some of the strata are highly fossiliferous and rich in various species of freshwater gastropods of the genera Melanopsis, Theodoxus, Pyrgula, Prososthenia, Orygoceras and Valvata with the new species V. (?Costovalvata) pagana. Bivalves are represented by the genera Congeria, Unio, Pisidium. There is also, a rich ostracod assemblage, and remains of fl ora: twigs, leaves and seeds of higher and lower plants, and agglomerations of aquatic grasses and algae. Fish bones and teeth, as well as the crocodile tooth, are not particularly common, but they do help to complement the image of the diversity of the biological association that lived in the ancient lake and along its shores. According to facies analysis, the Miocene deposits of the Island of Pag, were deposited on the southwestern edge of Paratethys, which has been moved more westward and south-westward within Croatian territory.

The freshwater mollusk fauna of the Middle Miocene Lake Drniš (Dinaride Lake System, Croatia): a taxonomic and systematic revision

“…Such morphologies have not been described from the Drniš Basin. They closely resemble the specimens from the Sinj Basin, for which Olujić (1999) (Bulić and Jurišić-Polšak, 2009;.…”

“…Following the initial period of taxonomic descriptions, later studies mainly focused on distinct systematic groups (Jurišić- Polšak, 1979Polšak, , 1984Kochansky-Devidé and Slišković, 1978;Žagar-Sakač, 1981Žagar-Sakač, , 1986Žagar-Sakač, , 1987Žagar-Sakač, , 1990Žagar-Sakač and Sakač, 1984;Harzhauser and Mandic, 2010;Neubauer et al, 2014b) or provided summaries of certain regions (Jurišić-Polšak and Sliško-vić, 1988). Especially during the last few years again several taxonomic investigations have been published (Jurišić-Polšak et al, 1993;Bulić and Jurišić-Polšak, 2009;Neubauer et al, 2011Neubauer et al, , 2013aKrstić et al, 2013). These studies showed the distinctiveness and high rate of endemism of the involved lakes, i.e., Lake Sinj, Lake Kupres, Lake Gacko, and Lake Pag.…”

Paleogeographic evolution of the Southern Pannonian Basin: 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on the Miocene continental series of Northern Croatia

“…The new Ar/Ar dating of 15.91 ± 0.06 Ma and 16.03 ± 0.06 Ma for the dreissenid assemblages for the first time prove that lacustrine sedimentation continued in the SPB at least until the earliest Badenian. This is significantly younger than the previously inferred late Ottnangian age (Kochansky-Devide and Slišković 1978; Bulić and Jurišić-Polšak 2009;Hajek-Tadesse et al 2009). …”

“…2), where an alluvial series terminates the Oligocene to Early Miocene marine deposition related to the Trans-Tethyan Trench Corridor (Rögl 1998). The superposing lacustrine series contains characteristic faunal elements of high similarity with the Dinaride Lake System to the south, thus belonging to the same bioprovince (Kochansky-Devidé and Slišković 1978;Bulić and Jurišić-Polšak 2009). The continental fluvio-lacustrine series is generally overlain by transgressive marine deposits representing a wide-spread ingression of the Paratethys Sea into the SPB.…”

Reappraisal of the palaeomagnetism of the Miocene intramontane Pag and Drniš–Sinj basins, External Dinarides (Croatia)

“…These basins were restricted to the northern part of the DinarianAnatolian Island which acted as geographic barrier between the Paratethys and the protoMediterranean, and are named the Dinaride Lake System (Krstić et al, 2003), while the deposits are named Illyric, which is an unformal lithostraticraphic unit (Bulić and Jurišić-Polšak, 2009). The general characteristics of the lacustrine units are low sedimentation rate of predominantly carbonate sediments, tephra occurences and post-depositional tectonic deformation that is not uniform in space and time.…”