Slump/Slide facies and biostratigraphy at the transition of the Cieszyn and Hradiste formations in the Cieszyn (Tesin) Section (Outer Flysch Carpathians)

ABSTRACT: New sedimentological observations in the Lower Cretaceous of the Silesian Unit and integrated biostratigraphy based on calcareous nannofossils, dinoflagellate cysts, calpionellids and foraminifers have brought new insight to the stratigraphy of the Cieszyn section. The oldest exposed strata of themudstone facies of the Cieszyn Limestone Formation are of early Berriasian age, based on calcareous nannofossil evidence. This work proposes that the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary reported by previous authors was based on reworked microfossils. The detritic facies of the Cieszyn Limestone Formation, typically dominated by detritic-limestone turbidites, appears to be completely missing. Instead, a thick body with combined slump and slide features, of Berriasian–Valanginian age, forms the transition with the overlying lower Valanginian strata of the Hradiste Formation. The slump/slide body represents a local facies, deposited on a fault scarp related to fault-controlled extension of the Proto-Silesian Basin floor.

Conodonts, radiolarians and ostracodes in the Permian E-Lert Formation, Loei Fold Belt, Indochina Terrane, Thailand

Conodonts are rare in the Permian carbonates of Indochina but abundant conodonts and ostracodes have been obtained from turbiditic limestones of the Permian E-Lert Formation along with radiolarians from overlying cherts, all deposited on the margins of the interplatform Nam Duk Basin. Conodonts are typically Tethyan and are very similar to faunas from Sicily and south China. They includeHindeodus gulloides,Pseudohindeodus oertlii,Mesogondolella siciliensisandSweetognathus subsymmetricuswhich indicate a probable late Kungurian – Roadian age range although a Wordian age cannot be excluded.M. siciliensis, which has a high blade and small cusp supposedly typical of warm-water conodonts, is found in deep (<500 m) carbonate turbidites in Thailand and in very deep deposits in Oman and Sicily, but generally not in shallow-water tropical limestones in Thailand, Oman and Sicily. The chert sequence yields a radiolarian fauna consisting of 11 confidently assigned species of whichAlbaillella asymmetrica,A. sinuata,Tormentum delicatumandLatentifistula patagilateratasuggest a latest Kungurian – earliest Roadian age, deposited at a palaeodepth ofc.500 m. Ostracodes consist of 16 genera and 23 species which belong toShivaella,Paraberounella,Carinaknightina,Paraparchites,Shemonaella,Bairdia,Cryptobairdia,Bairdiacypris?,Spinocypris,Pseudobythocypris,Baschkirina,Microcheilinella,Basslerella,PolycopeandCyathus, of whichShivaella elertensis sp. nov.Chitnarin is newly described. The ostracodes are a palaeoecologically mixed assemblage comprising external platform and deeper-water forms, suggesting that the limestone turbidites were deposited on the proximal part of the slope.Cyathus caperataandC. ellipticashow a palaeobiogeographic link to south China.