Microencrusters from the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous İnaltı Formation (Central Pontides, Turkey): remarks on the development of reefal/peri-reefal facies

Crescentiella-microbial-cement microframeworks in the Upper Jurassic reefs of the Crimean Peninsula

“…These reefs are regarded as close analogues to the Late Jurassic reefs found in the Shatsky Ridge (Afanasenkov et al 2005;Guo et al 2011). The Ai-Petri Massif is a spectacular example of the Late Kimmeridgian-Tithonian reef complex Olszewska 2006, 2007) resembling the Štramberk-type reefs well known from the Pontides, Moesia, Southern Carpathian, Polish and Czech Outer Carpathian, Southern Crimea and the Northern Caucasus Mts (e.g., Matyszkiewicz and Słomka 2004;Bucur and Săsăran 2005;Ivanova et al 2008;Guo et al 2011;Piskunov et al 2012;Pleş et al 2013;Kaya and Altiner 2015;Kołodziej 2015;Strzeboński et al 2017;Hoffmann et al 2017;Vincent et al 2018). The main part of the Late Jurassic successions from the Crimean Mts.…”

“…In recent papers dealing with both the Tethyan northern shelf and the intra-Tethyan platforms, still-growing attention is paid to the presence and the role of a wide spectrum of socalled "microencrusters" (e.g., Crescentiella, bacinellid fabrics, Thaumatoporella, Radiomura, Lithocodium, Iberopora, etc., e.g., Schmid 1996;Leinfelder et al 1996;Ivanova et al 2008;Pleş et al 2013Pleş et al , 2017Kaya and Altiner 2015;Hoffmann et al 2017) in the formation of reef frameworks. Apart from microbial crusts, these microencrusters were important components of coral and sponge reefs as secondary reefbuilders.…”

“…Sometimes they form microbial-microencruster boundstones with a significant content of early cements. Late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous microbial-microencrustercement-boundstones (microframeworks) assigned to outer margin-upper slope depositional settings have been reported from various intra-Tethyan (mostly southern Tethyan) platform carbonates: Austria (Schlagintweit and Gawlick 2008, Plassen Limestone), Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Poland (Ivanova et al 2008;Hoffmann et al 2017, Štramberk-type Limestone), Romania (Pleş et al 2013(Pleş et al , 2017, Italy (Rusciadelli et al 2011, e.g., Table 1, Ellipsactinia Limestone), Turkey (Kaya and Altiner 2015) and Japan (Shiraishi and Kano 2004;Ohga et al 2013, Torinosu Limestone). For a paleogeographic sketch displaying these occurrences in the western part of the Tethys see Fig.…”

“…For a paleogeographic sketch displaying these occurrences in the western part of the Tethys see Fig. 11 in Kaya and Altiner (2015). In terms of microfacies and micro-/macrobiota assemblages, they differ from time-equivalent ramp deposits of the European northern Tethyan margin (see Leinfelder et al 1994Leinfelder et al , 2002.…”

“…A common and widespread taxon of microencruster inhabiting the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous platforms is Crescentiella (former Tubiphytes) morronensis (Crescenti 1969) (Senowbari-Daryan et al 2008. It represents an enigmatic microorganism of controversial systematic position (e.g., Flügel 1981;Schmid 1995;Senowbari-Daryan et al 2008;Kaya and Altiner 2015;Pleş et al 2017) interpreted as encrustation or symbiosis between nubecularid foraminifera or enigmatic, spar-filled, tube-shaped structures and cyanobacteria where foraminifera, tubes and/ or other biogenic components provide a substrate for the growth of microbialites.…”