Biostratigraphy in a Late Neogene Caspian-Type Lacustrine BasinLake Pannon, Hungary

Author(s):  
Imre Magyar ◽  
Dana H. Geary
2021 ◽  
Vol 151 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-361
Author(s):  
Dániel Botka ◽  
Nóra Rofrics ◽  
Lajos Katona ◽  
Imre Magyar

As the almost 200-year palaeontological research revealed, the geographical distribution of various fossil mollusk faunas in deposits of the late Neogene Lake Pannon displays a regular pattern. The lake basin was filled by lateral accretion of sediments, resulting in condensed sedimentary successions in the distal parts of the basin and successively younger shallow-water deposits from the margins towards the basin center. Exposed intra-basin basement highs, however, broke this strict pattern when they acted as sediment sources during the lake’s lifetime. The Mecsek Mts in southern Hungary was such an island in Lake Pannon during the early late Miocene. Deposition of the 200 m thick Sarmatian–Pannonian sedimentary succession in Pécs-Danitzpuszta at the foot of the Mecsek Mts was thus controlled by local tectonic and sedimentary processes, resulting in a unique succession of facies and mollusk faunas. A typical, restricted marine Sarmatian fauna is followed by a distinct freshwater or oligohaline interval, which, according to micropalaeontological evidence, still belongs to the Sarmatian. Although poor preservation of fossils does not allow firm conclusions, it seems that freshwater Sarmatian snails were the ancestors of the brackish-water-adapted early Pannonian pulmonate snail taxa. The successive “Sarmatian-type” dwarfed cockle fauna is similar to those widely reported from the Sarmatian–Pannonian boundary in various parts of the Pannonian Basin; however, a thorough taxonomic study of its species is still lacking. The bulk of the sedimentary succession corresponds to the sublittoral to profundal “white marls,” which are widespread in the southern Pannonian Basin. In Croatia and Serbia, they are divided into the Lymnocardium praeponticum or Radix croatica Zone (11.6–11.4 Ma) below, and the Congeria banatica Zone (11.4–9.7 Ma) above; this division can be applied to the Pécs-Danitzpuszta succession as well. Sedimentation of the calcareous marl, however, ceased at Pécs-Danitzpuszta at about 10.5–10.2 Ma ago (during the younger part of the Lymnocardium schedelianum Chron), when silt was deposited with a diverse sublittoral mollusk fauna. Similar faunas are known from the Vienna Basin, southern Banat, and other marginal parts of the Pannonian Basin System, but not from Croatia and Serbia, where deposition of the deep-water white marls continued during this time. Finally, the Pécs-Danitzpuszta succession was capped with a thick, coarse-grained sand series that contains mollusk molds and casts representing a typical littoral assemblage. This littoral fauna is well-known from easternmost Austria, northern Serbia, and northwestern Romania, but never directly from above the sublittoral L. schedelianum Zone. The fauna is characteristic for the upper part of the Lymnocardium conjungens Zone and has an inferred age of ca. 10.2–10.0 Ma. The Pécs-Danitzpuszta succession thus allows to establish the chronostratigraphic relationship between mollusk faunas that have not been observed in one succession nor in close proximity to each other in other parts of the Pannonian Basin.


2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Ford ◽  
David Pyles ◽  
Marieke Dechesne

A continuous window into the fluvial-lacustrine basin-fill succession of the Uinta Basin is exposed along a 48-mile (77-kilometer) transect up the modern Green River from Three Fords to Sand Wash in Desolation Canyon, Utah. In ascending order the stratigraphic units are: 1) Flagstaff Limestone, 2) lower Wasatch member of the Wasatch Formation, 3) middle Wasatch member of the Wasatch Formation, 4) upper Wasatch member of the Wasatch Formation, 5) Uteland Butte member of the lower Green River Formation, 6) lower Green River Formation, 7) Renegade Tongue of the lower Green River Formation, 8) middle Green River Formation, and 9) the Mahogany oil shale zone marking the boundary between the middle and upper Green River Formations. This article uses regional field mapping, geologic maps, photographs, and descriptions of the stratigraphic unit including: 1) bounding surfaces, 2) key upward stratigraphic characteristics within the unit, and 3) longitudinal changes along the river transect. This information is used to create a north-south cross section through the basin-fill succession and a detailed geologic map of Desolation Canyon. The cross section documents stratigraphic relationships previously unreported and contrasts with earlier interpretations in two ways: 1) abrupt upward shifts in the stratigraphy documented herein, contrast with the gradual interfingering relationships proposed by Ryder et al., (1976) and Fouch et al., (1994), 2) we document fluvial deposits of the lower and middle Wasatch to be distinct and more widespread than previously recognized. In addition, we document that the Uteland Butte member of the lower Green River Formation was deposited in a lacustrine environment in Desolation Canyon. Two large-scale (member-scale) upward patterns are noted: Waltherian, and non-Waltherian. The upward successions in Waltherian progressions record progradation or retrogradation of a linked fluvial-lacustrine system across the area; whereas the upward successions in non-Waltherian progressions record large-scale changes in the depositional system that are not related to progradation or retrogradation of the ancient lacustrine shoreline. Four Waltherian progressions are noted: 1) the Flagstaff Limestone to lower Wasatch Formation member records the upward transition from lacustrine to fluvial—or shallowing-upward succession; 2) the upper Wasatch to Uteland Butte records the upward transition from fluvial to lacustrine—or a deepening upward succession; 3) the Uteland Butte to Renegade Tongue records the upward transition from lacustrine to fluvial—a shallowing-upward succession; and 4) the Renegade Tongue to Mahogany oil shale interval records the upward transition from fluvial to lacustrine—a deepening upward succession. The two non-Waltherian progressions in the study area are: 1) the lower to middle Wasatch, which records the abrupt shift from low to high net-sand content fluvial system, and 2) the middle to upper Wasatch, which records the abrupt shift from high to intermediate net-sand content fluvial system.


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