The Late Jurassic–Palaeogene Carbonate Platforms in the Outer Western Carpathian Tethys—A Regional Overview

The present work focuses on palaeogeographic reconstruction of shallow-water carbonate deposition in the Outer Western Carpathian Tethys. Platform deposits are preserved only as a component of turbidites and olistostromes, and reconstructions of these platforms are based on clastic material redistributed into slopes and deep basins and occurring among the Outer Carpathian nappes. Similar platforms were also present on the Tethys margins. These reconstructions were performed using the global models of plate tectonics. Several ridges covered by carbonate platforms developed in that area during the latest Jurassic–Palaeogene times. Three main shallow-water facies associations—Štramberk, Urgonian, and Lithothamnion–bryozoan—could be distinguished. The Tithonian–lowermost Cretaceous Štramberk facies is related to early, synrift–postrift stage of the development of the Silesian Domain. Facies that are diversified, narrow, shallow-water platforms, rich in corals, sponges, green algae, echinoderms, foraminifera, microencrusters, and microbes are typical of this stage. The Urgonian facies developed mainly on the south margin of the Outer Carpathian basins and is characterised by organodetritic limestones built of bivalves (including rudists), larger benthic foraminifera, crinoids, echinoids, and corals. Since the Paleocene, in all the Western Outer Carpathian sedimentary areas, Lithothamnion–bryozoan facies developed and adapted to unstable conditions. Algae–bryozoan covers originating on the siliciclastic substrate are typical of these facies. This type of deposition was preserved practically until the final stage in the evolution of the Outer Carpathian basins.

Las Quínoas oncoids: a new deposit of microbialites in the Salar de Antofalla (Catamarca, Argentina)

The Salar de Antofalla (salt flat) is located in the Puna region of Catamarca, in northern Argentina. In this paper we report and provide the first descriptive data of Las Quínoas, a modern system of oncoids located in the western margin of the salt flat. Oncoids were studied by insitu logging, polished and thin sections analysis. In addition, the 16s rRNA genes of microbial mats associated with these oncoids were amplified and sequenced to characterize the microbial biodiversity. Oncoids present discoidal to subrounded morphologies and sizes up to 15 cm in diameter. They are scattered along channels, which originate from the groundwater springs of a wetland and enter the salt flat. Its macrostructure is concentric and composed by three zones: 1. A nucleus zone built by clastic material in a carbonate matrix. 2. A well-laminated zone around the nucleus that shows two types of mesostructures: concentrically stacked spheroids (SS-C) and randomly stacked hemispheroids (SS-R), both showing an alternation of dense and dark micritic laminae with light micritic to microsparitic laminae. 3. A poorly-laminated zone, in the outermost sector of oncoids, with two types of mesostructures too: a laminated mesostructure composed also of an alternation of dense and dark micritic laminae with light micritic to microsparitic laminae, and a non-laminated mesostructure composed of agglomerated and cemented clastic material within a calcareous matrix (wackestones-packstones). Regarding the microbial diversity, the analyzed oncoids in this work are mainly inhabited by Proteobacteria (ca. 37.5%), Bacteroidetes (ca. 25.0%), and in less proportion Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria.

On unique stone beaches on the Arctic coast of the Kola Peninsula

The results of studies of 11 stone beaches on the coast of the Barents Sea in the area of the Teriberskaya Bay have been presented. The studies were carried out from 2017 to 2019. As a result of the work, the structure of the beaches, their size, the composition of clastic material and the relationship with bedrocks were studied in detail. The genetic link between beaches and sea terraces has been established. Special attention has been paid to the morphology of beach clastic material, the conditions of its formation, and its role in abrasion activity. It has been shown that the clastic material of the beaches mainly corresponds to boulders equal to 100-1,000 mm, to a lesser extent to pebbles 10-100 mm, and rarely - gravel 1-10 mm. Individual boulders reach 2,000 mm. Sandy fractions in the composition of beach sediments are practically absent. The roundness of the fragments is high, semi-circular and rounded grains predominate, the most perfect shape of the rounded fragments is a biaxial ellipsoid or egg. Perfectly rounded boulders and pebbles in some areas account for up to 30 % of beach deposits. Measurements of the parameters of the egg-shaped pebbles have shown that they are close to the parameters of the "golden section" of the egg, i. e. meet the most durable form, resistant to destruction. Thus, the process of abrasion of the beach debris is directed towards their acquisition of the most energetically stable state. This suggests that the original shape of the debris contained a solid core in the form of a biaxial ellipsoid.

HEAVY CLASTIC MINERALS AS AN INDICATOR OF GEODYNAMIC SETTINGS OF ACCUMULATION AND PROVENANCE OF CRETACEOUS SEDIMENTS OF THE WEST SAKHALIN TERRANE

The article discusses the results of studying heavy clastic minerals from the Cretaceous sandy rocks of the West Sakhalin Terrane, and also presents their paleogeodynamic interpretation. It is shown that in terms of mineralogical and petrographic parameters, the terrane sandstones correspond to typical graywackes and are petrogenic rocks formed mainly by destruction of igneous rocks of the source areas. The sediments were found to contain both sialic, granite-metamorphic association minerals, and femic, formed by products of the destruction of basic and ultrabasic volcanic rocks. The interpretation of the entire set of data on the content, distribution and microchemical composition of heavy minerals was carried out by comparing them with minerals from older rocks and modern sediments accumulated in known geodynamic settings. The results obtained indicate that during the Cretaceous, sedimentation occurred along the continent-ocean boundary in a basin associated with large-scale left-lateral transform movements of the Izanagi Plate relative to the Eurasian continent. The source area that supplied clastic material to that basin combined a sialic landmass composed of granite-metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, a mature deeply dissected ensialic island arc, and fragments of accretion prisms, in the structure of which involved ophiolites.

Cretaceous (Aptian-Maastrichtian) stratigraphy of the Shiranish Islam area, northern Iraq

ABSTRACT: The Kurdistan region of northern Iraq contains world-class outcrops that make it possible to examine the Cretaceous deep and shallow marine Tethyan faunal succession. Six separate sections covering the Shiranish, Bekhme, Mergi and Qamchuqa formations have been investigated in this study from the Shiranish Islam area. A number of papers have been published on this area, but no comprehensive biostratigraphic record has been published that fully documents the Cretaceous stratigraphy and the chronostratigraphic interpretation of the succession. As a result, this has led to significant lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic uncertainties. The upper part of the Qamchuqa is pervasively dolomitized. Rare occurrences of foraminifera are found in less dolomitized intervals in thin-section indicating an early - middle Albian age for the top of the formation. A thin interval comprising the Gir Bir Formation is Cenomanian in age and is present between the top of the Qamchuqa Formation and the overlying conglomerate. Historical studies indicate that the Turonian Mergi Formation occurs between the Qamchuqa and Bekhme formations, but our field and analytical data does not support it as a discrete lithostratigraphic entity, as Turonian aged faunas were not recognized. The conglomerate separating the top of the Gir Bir and base of the Bekhme is subdivided into three units (A, B & C). Units A and B are late Cenomanian to early Turonian age, whilst Unit C is of Campanian age. A significant hiatus separates the Gir Bir and the Bekhme, which encompasses the intra Turonian to Santonian. The limestone facies of the lower part of the Bekhme Formation contains rich benthic foraminiferal faunas (miliolids, Pseudedomia, Cuneolina) of early - early middle Campanian age. This lower - lower middle Campanian section at Shiranish Islam is considered to be equivalent of the upper part of the Sa'di Formation in central Iraq and is therefore re-assigned on the basis of chronostratigraphic attribution to the Sa'di (equivalent) herein. The top of the early - early middle Campanian biofacies is abruptly truncated by an omission surface, marked by an erosive base, an influx of clastic material and a major up-section biofacies change characterized by an influx of Pseudosiderolites and Orbitoides representing an intra-Campanian hiatus. The bioevent sequence suggests that this hiatus at Shiranish Islam comprises at least the middle Campanian (upper part of the G. elevata Zone) into the late Campanian (intra R. calcarata Zone), from approximately 80.64 Ma to 76.09 Ma with 4.55 my missing. The middle part of the Bekhme Formation comprising the Pseudosiderolites - Orbitoides facies is thin (c. three meters) and is re-assigned to the Lower Bekhme Member. The boundary between the Lower Bekhme Member and the Upper Bekhme Member is conformable and marked by a gradual up-section reduction in the size and presence of larger benthic foraminifera (Orbitoides, Pseudosiderolites) and an increase in the planktic component (small planktics and calcispheres). This trend of gradually increasing water depth continues into the Shiranish Formation, with no apparent major breaks in deposition. The Campanian - Maastrichtian boundary falls within Unit A of the Shiranish Formation. Deposition of the Shiranish continued into the earliest late Maastrichtian and is unconformably overlain by the Danian Kolosh Formation. The hiatus between the top of the Cretaceous and the Paleocene extends from the early late Maastrichtian (c. 68.86 Ma) to the upper part of the Danian (62.2 Ma) with an estimated duration of 6.66 my.

Specific features of sandstones of Upper Devonian Tayokuyakhinskaya Formation on southeastern slope of the Kanin Kamen range (Kanin Peninsula)

The results of studying the lithological and geochemical characteristics of sandstones of the Upper Devonian Tayaokuyakhinskaya Formation in the southeastern part of the Kanin Nos Peninsula are presented. The accumulation of sandstones of the Tayaokuyakhinskaya Formation occurred in the absence of volcanic activity in a shallow basin with small periodic fluctuations in sea level, which led to a change in the degree of maturity, sorting, and the ratio of clay and sandy components in the rock. The accumulation of the psammitic strata occurred due to the destruction and redeposition of weakly weathered sedimentary rocks in a moderately warm climate. It was established that the formation of the composition of sandstones was influenced by at least two sources of clastic material — garnet-bearing crystalline shales and feldspar-quartz sandstones metamorphosed into the greenschist facies. The latter, most likely, were the source of the indicative gold contents found in the Devonian clastic rocks.

Vegetation and Geomorphic Connectivity in Mountain Fluvial Systems

Rivers are complex biophysical systems, constantly adjusting to a suite of changing governing conditions, including vegetation cover within their basins. This review seeks to: (i) highlight the crucial role that vegetation’s influence on the efficiency of clastic material fluxes (geomorphic connectivity) plays in defining mountain fluvial landscape’s behavior; and (ii) identify key challenges which hinder progress in the understanding of this subject. To this end, a selective literature review is carried out to illustrate the pervasiveness of the plants’ effects on geomorphic fluxes within channel networks (longitudinal connectivity), as well as between channels and the broader landscape (lateral connectivity). Taken together, the reviewed evidence lends support to the thesis that vegetation-connectivity linkages play a central role in regulating geomorphic behavior of mountain fluvial systems. The manuscript is concluded by a brief discussion of the need for the integration of mechanistic research into the local feedbacks between plants and sediment fluxes with basin-scale research that considers emergent phenomena.

PETROTYPES OF SANDSTONES OF THE SHESHMINSKY HORIZON IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE SOLIKAMSK DEPRESSION

The results of petrographic studies of sandstones of the Sheshminsky horizon are presented. The main components of the clastic phase have been determined. The studied section contains only lithite arenites, among which five petrographic varieties have been identified. The source of clastic material was probably five different complexes: volcanic and plutonic rocks of intermediate and basic composition, sedimentary, metamorphic and quartzite sequences

MINERAL COMPOSITION OF THE SEDIMENTS AS AN INDICATOR OF SUPPLY SOURCES AND SPECIFIC FEATURES OF CLASTIC MATERIAL DISTRIBUTION IN THE OKHOTSK SEA

The mineral composition of the heavy subfraction from surface sediments of the Okhotsk Sea was studied using both two detailed profiles (Magadan-Kuril Islands and Shantar Islands-Central Basin) and data from the Sakhalin Bay. The obtained data were analyzed using the methods of multivariate statistics, which allowed to identify the main associations of heavy minerals and to show regional differences in mineral complexes of marine sediments. A significant effect of solid Amur River discharge on sedimentation processes is traced. The main processes responsible for the formation of the mineral appearance of studied sediments are determined. Two large regional sources of clastic material – the Amur-Sakhalin and Kuril-Kamchatka supplying provinces – had a major influence on the formation of mineral composition of the sediments.