Deformation history of the ophiolite sequence from the Balagne Nappe,northern Corsica: insights in the tectonic evolution of Alpine Corsica

In Alpine Corsica, the Jurassic ophiolites represent remnants of oceanic lithosphere belonging to the Ligure‐Piemontese Basin located between the Europe/Corsica and Adria continental margins. In the Balagne area, a Jurassic ophiolitic sequence topped by a Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous sedimentary cover crops out at the top of the nappe pile. The whole ophiolitic succession is affected by polyphase deformation developed under very low‐grade orogenic metamorphic conditions. The original palaeogeographic location and the emplacement mechanisms for the Balagne ophiolites are still a matter of debate and different interpretations for its history have been proposed. The deformation features of the Balagne ophiolites are outlined in order to provide constraints on their history in the framework of the geodynamic evolution of Alpine Corsica. The deformation history reconstructed for the Balagne Nappe includes five different deformation phases, from D1 to D5. The D1 phase was connected with the latest Cretaceous/Palaeocene accretion into the accretionary wedge related to an east‐dipping subduction zone followed by a Late Eocene D2 phase related to emplacement onto the Europe/Corsica continental margin. The subsequent D3 phase was characterized by sinistral strike‐slip faults and related deformations of Late Eocene–Early Oligocene age. The D4 and D5 phases were developed during the Early Oligocene–Late Miocene extensional processes connected with the collapse of the Alpine belt. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cretaceous termination of subduction at the Zealandia margin of Gondwana: The view from the paleo-trench

During the Permian to Cretaceous, Zealandia occupied a position on the proto-Pacific-facing, convergent margin of Gondwana. Subduction on this margin ceased somewhere between ~105 Ma and perhaps 70 Ma, but the timing of this tectonic transition remains controversial. Resolution of this uncertainty is important for tectonic reconstructions of the southwest Pacific and for global plate-tectonic models. Here, we revisit the problem by reference to new stratigraphic and geochemical data from the East Coast Basin of New Zealand, which occupied a position adjacent to and possibly superimposed on the relict Cretaceous subduction trench at the time subduction ceased; this basin is expected to preserve direct structural and stratigraphic evidence for or against Late Cretaceous subduction.In western parts of the East Coast Basin – the “Western Sub-belt” – a conspicuous unconformity separates undoubted accretionary prism rocks of the Torlesse Composite Terrane from younger Cretaceous “cover” units. Strata beneath and overlying this unconformity vary in age from place to place, but abundant paleontological data and published ages of detrital zircons (some reinterpreted herein), indicate that exposed Torlesse rocks are nowhere younger than ~100 Ma. Overlying Zealandia Megasequence “cover” strata are mostly younger than ~110 Ma. Between ~110 and ~85 Ma, the entire length of the Western Sub-belt reveals complex stratigraphic architecture of relatively small-scale depocentres subjected to alternating episodes of subsidence and local uplift and erosion. There is widespread evidence for compression on the Western Sub-belt over this period, although the overall amount of shortening is likely to be relatively modest. In contrast, the Eastern Sub-belt preserves a record of near-continuous and apparently simple deposition over the same interval of time. We see little and somewhat equivocal evidence for extension in either sub-belt through the Late Cretaceous. Superimposed on this general pattern, we observe discrete, widespread or basin-wide, tectonic events at 95 Ma, and within the intervals ~86–83 Ma and ~83–81 Ma, indicated by the presence of unconformities and sedimentary facies changes. Importantly, all these events can be correlated with coeval events recorded elsewhere in Zealandia, suggesting that the East Coast Basin was subject to the same tectonic regime as the rest of Zealandia and shared a common history during the mid- to Late Cretaceous.Integrating these findings with data from elsewhere in Zealandia, we argue that there is diverse evidence to indicate that subduction finished along the New Zealand segment of the Gondwana margin by 100 Ma. That said, the causes of on-going, Late Cretaceous compression in the East Coast Basin and in other parts of Zealandia are not well constrained, although several possible explanations are plausible. There are few analogue, abandoned subduction margins described in the literature; however, the situation in the South Shetland Trench shows strong similarities with patterns and complexities observed in the East Coast Basin.     

The “andesitic” magmatism in the south-western Tyrol and its geodynamic significance

The researches carried out on the recent dyke activity in the south-western Tyrol have revealed a widespread “andesitic” magmatism in the austroalpine realm. The magmatic activity developed at least in two distinct phases; but in this paper we are only concerned with the unmetamorphosed dykes which are younger than the alpine folding. The existence of a calc-alkaline magmatism mainly of the intermediate type, and the occurrence of garnet as the first mineral on the liquidus, imply a very deep origin of such a magmatism, which agrees with the geodynamic models, providing the subduction of oceanic crust recently hypothesized for the Alpine evolution. Regarding the age of dyke activity, very recent radiometric results (K/Ar) testify for the first time in the Alps an “andesitic” magmatism from Upper Cretaceous to Tertiary and suggest both continuous or separate subductive processes from the Upper Cretaceous onwards.     

The Campanian-Maastrichtian stage boundary in the Aktulagai section (North Caspian depression)

Distribution of belemnites and benthic foraminifers in the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary layers of the Aktulagai section, one of Upper Cretaceous reference sections in the east of the European paleobiogeographic region (EPR) is discussed. The base of Lanceolata Beds defined by A.D. Arkhangelsky in 1912 is well-substantiated biostratigraphic level corresponding to boundary between the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages. In spacious outcrops of Upper Cretaceous deposits in the Aktulagai Plateau (Aktyubinsk region, Kazakhstan Republic), “primitive Belemnella forms” (two rostra plates) appearing above that base distinctly replace the genus Belemnitella dominant in the Campanian. Seven successive zonal assemblages of benthic foraminifers (one plate) are established in the boundary interval. The Aktulagai reference section of Upper Cretaceous sediments can be used to trace the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary from the eastern EPR to Boreal regions of Russia based on abundant micro-and nannofossils.     

The tectonometamorphic and magmatic evolution of the Uppermost Unit in central Crete (Melambes area): constraints on a Late Cretaceous magmatic arc in the Internal Hellenides (Greece)

Crete consists of a nappe pile that formed during Alpine subduction and collision. The lower nappes belong to the External Hellenides, whereas the uppermost nappe is ascribed to the Pelagonian Zone of the Internal Hellenides. The Uppermost Unit consists of several subunits including the Asterousia Crystalline Complex (ACC), which comprises metasedimentary rocks, (meta)granitoids and serpentinite, the protolith age and the tectonometamorphic evolution of which are largely unknown. In the present study, we present new structural, microfabric and geochronological data from the Uppermost Unit in the Melambes area (central Crete). ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U zircon ages (LA-ICP-MS and ID-TIMS) indicate granitic and dioritic intrusions between 71.9 ± 0.6 and 76.9 ± 0.3 Ma. Identical ages have previously been obtained from comparable intrusions in eastern Crete and on Anafi. The composition and geochemical signature suggest an extended magmatic arc along the southern active margin of the Pelagonian-Lycian Block. Post-intrusive shearing transformed granite into orthogneiss, whereas diorite remained free from foliation, because of the lower amount of mechanically weak phases. Deformation microfabrics suggest top-to-the SE shearing under amphibolite facies conditions of the ACC and at greenschist facies conditions of rocks at the base of the ACC referred to as Akoumianos Greenschist. The Akoumianos Greenschist is considered as the northern part of the Pindos realm that was subducted underneath the Pelagonian-Lycian active margin. Based on our new and on published data, the following orogenic stages are suggested to have contributed to the evolution of the Hellenides during the Late Cretaceous to Eocene: (1) pre-middle Campanian collision and subduction of the Pindos lithosphere underneath the southern margin of the Pelagonian-Lycian terrane led to obduction and offscraping of serpentinized ocean floor and stacking of the ACC during amphibolite facies top-to-the SE thrusting, (2) formation of a Campanian magmatic arc along the Pelagonian-Lycian active margin; (3) Maastrichtian collision and stacking of the magmatic arc during top-to-the SE mylonitic shearing; (4) Palaeocene top-to-the SE greenschist-facies shearing of the ACC on top of the Akoumianos Greenschist; (5) Late Eocene thrusting of the Uppermost Unit on top of the Arvi and Pindos units. Thus, top-to the SE was the dominant shear sense in the southern Aegean from at least the mid-Late Cretaceous until the Eocene.     

Description of Pseudosabinia klinghardti and some species of Pseudopolyconites (rudist bivalves) from the Late Cretaceous shallow-marine deposits from the Roşia Basin,Apuseni Mountains,Romania: Systematic palaeontology,biostratigraphy, and palaeobiogeography

The shallow-marine, mixed siliciclastic-calcareous Late Cretaceous deposits from the Apuseni Mountains have been extensively studied and compared to coeval deposits from the Alpine Gosau. The former are mainly represented by conglomerates, sandstones, marls, and limestones with rudists that unconformably overlie the crystalline basement and its Permo-Mesozoic cover. Our new, detailed investigations on the rudist fauna from Măgura Hill, the type locality of Pseudopolyconites hirsutus (Patrulius) and Miseia costulata Patrulius, indicate a Late Santonian–Early Campanian age for these deposits instead of an Early Santonian one as previously suggested (Patrulius, 1974). This study also mentions for the first time the occurrences of Pseudosabinia klinghardti (Böhm) and Pseudopolyconites parvus Milovanović in the rudist-bearing deposits from the Apuseni Mountains. We include their palaeontological features, as well as the ones for Pseudopolyconites hirsutus. Based on new biostratigraphic data, our study expand the stratigraphic range of Pseudosabinia klinghardti and Pseudopolyconites parvus – previously considered characteristic for the Early Campanian–Maastrichtian interval. Also we add new information on their palaeobiogeographic distribution within the central-eastern Mediterranean area during the Late Cretaceous.     

Kinematics and geochronology of Early Cretaceous thrusting in the northwestern paleozoic of Graz (Eastern Alps)

Abstract

The multiply deformed Upper Austro-Alpine nappe pile of the Graz area is built up of low-grade metamorphosed Paleozoic rocks which are discordantly overlain by sediments of Santonian (Late Cretaceous) age (“Gosau” formation). Slices of Permo-Mesozoic rocks are absent. Analyses of structures, microfabrics, strain and shear directions were used to decipher the kinematic history; geochronological investigations to date the age of thrusting. K/Ar and Rb/Sr ages of synkinematically grown mica suggest an eo-Alpine (Early Cretaceous) age for the major deformation D1. D1 is characterized by non-coaxial rock flow which caused SW- to W directed nappe imbrication. Incremental strain measurements indicate the progressive superposition of D2 over Dl. In the higher nappe (Rannach Nappe) nappe imbrication continued during D2 changing the direction of nappe transport from SW to NW. Enhanced flattening strain in the deeper nappe (Schöckel Nappe) led to recumbent folds in all scales during D2. This study emphasized two interpretations : (1) The Alpine deformation in the Upper Austro-Alpine nappe pile of the Paleozoic of Graz started in the Earliest Cretaceous (about 125 Ma.). (2) The emplacement of nappes followed a curved translation path in the studied area.     

燕山造山带燕山期构造叠加及其大地构造背景

广泛的岩浆活动和强烈的构造变形是中国东部燕山期造山作用的两个主要特征。火成岩的空间展布,特别是同构造侵入杂岩体和火山岩盆地的展布与同期变形带的走向(和构造指向)具有很强相关性。本文通过火成岩构造组合、构造形迹及岩浆-构造事件序列等的共同约束,讨论华北地区燕山板内造山带造山过程中的构造叠加、构造应力场转换及其形成的大地构造背景。研究认为,燕山地区发育的“花边状”的褶皱和被褶皱的逆冲推覆带等,是多幕挤压变形叠加的记录。早侏罗世晚期(J31 )、中侏罗世晚期(J32 )、晚侏罗世中期(J23 )、晚侏罗世晚期(J33 )和早白垩世早期(K11 )5期不同方向展布的火成岩对应方向不同的收缩构造,提出早白垩世早期(K11 )本区可能存在区域北西向挤压构造及该期华北地区总体仍处于收缩构造环境的认识。华北燕山造山带是在蒙古—鄂霍茨克构造带,上扬(斯克)—楚科奇(斯克) (Verkhoyano-Chukotsk)造山带,伊泽奈崎(Izanagi)洋俯冲带和特提斯洋俯冲带4个边界会聚大背景中形成和演化的。     

A geological transect between the Klamath Mountains and the Pacific Ocean (Southwestern Oregon): A model for paleosubductions

A geological cross-section between Vulcan Peak (Klamath Mountains) and Gold Beach (Pacific Ocean) shows several tectonic sheets thrust to the west. From the coast to the east, in tectonic superposition:

1. (1) The metamorphosed Franciscan Complex includes the Tithonian-Neocomian Otter Point and Dothan Formations, and, above them, a mélange unit and the Colebrooke Schist.

2. (2) Over them all lie the Red Flat, Game Lake and Snow Camp peridotite units, which are cut by granodioritic dykes of the Nevadan Orogeny and covered by Tithonian-Neocomian sediments (Myrtle Group). We have considered these granite-bearing ultramafic units as klippen thrust westward from the Klamath Mountains.

Several stages of deformation are superimposed:

1. (1) Disconformable upon the Otter Point Formation are the unmetamorphosed detrital Cape Sebastian and Hunters Cove Formations. Their Late Cretaceous age gives here an upper limit to the Franciscan metamorphism and tectonics.

2. (2) The first reworked fragments of Colebrooke Schist or ultramafic units are not found in the Campanian Cape Sebastian basal conglomerates (which are affected by some thrusting), but in the Middle Eocene Lookingglass Formation. Thus, major thrusting happened during Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary times.

A geodynamic model is given: in southwestern Oregon, the Franciscan was probably deposited during Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Tithonian and Neocomian) times in a marginal basin, between an island arc to the west (Otter Point Formation in part) and the North American continent (Klamath Mountains) to the east. This Franciscan marginal basin was probably closed during the Early Cretaceous (i.e. Franciscan subduction). The present day structures (thrust plates, folds) are probably due mainly to the later collision between the continental margin and the arc and, to a much lesser degree, to early subduction, the marginal basin being consumed by subduction first, and then by collision.     

Sedimentological and stratigraphic evolution of northern Lebanon since the Late Cretaceous: implications for the Levant margin and basin

This paper presents an updated review of the Upper Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentological and stratigraphic evolution of the Levant margin with a focus on the northern Lebanon. Facies and microfacies analysis of outcrop sections and onshore well cores (i.e., Kousba and Chekka) supported by nannofossil and planktonic foraminifers biostratigraphy, allowed to constrain the depositional environments prevailing in the Turonian to Late Miocene. The “Senonian” (a historical term used to define the Coniacian to Maastrichtian) source rock interval was subdivided into four sub-units with related outer-shelfal facies: (1) Upper Santonian, (2) Lower, (3) Upper Campanian, and (4) Lower Maastrichtian. This Upper Cretaceous rock unit marks the major drowning of the former Turonian rudist platform. This paper confirms the Late Lutetian to Late Burdigalian hiatus, which appears to be a direct consequence of major geodynamic events affecting the Levant region (i.e., the continued collision of Afro-Arabia with Eurasia), potentially enhanced by regressional cycles (e.g., Rupelian lowstand). The distribution of Late Burdigalian–Serravallian rhodalgal banks identified in northern Lebanon was controlled by pre-existing structures inherited from the pulsating onshore deformation. Reef barriers facies occur around the Qalhat anticline, separating an eastern, restricted back-reef setting from a western, coastal to open marine one. The acme of Mount Lebanon’s uplift and exposure is dated back to the Middle–Late Miocene; it led to important erosion of carbonates that were subsequently deposited in paleo-topographic lows. The Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic facies variations and hiatuses show that the northern Lebanon was in a higher structural position compared to the south since at least the Late Cretaceous.     

Sarmentofascis zamparelliae n. sp., a new demosponge from the lower Campanian of southern Italy

A new coralline sponge, exhibiting typical “stromatoporoid” bodyplan, is described as Sarmentofascis zamparelliae n. sp. from the lower Campanian of the southern Apennines, Italy. It is differentiated from Sarmentofascis cretacea (Turnsek) (Hauterivian of Montenegro) and Sarmentofascis chabrieri Termier, Termier and Vachard (Santonian of France) above all by its slender arborescent skeleton, exhibiting longitudinally distributed astrorhizae-like canals. S. zamparelliae n. sp. is the youngest representative of the genus and is reported from a period exhibiting a distinct decline of “stromatoporoid” sponges. With its clinogonal microstructure and occurrence in inner platform stromatoporoid-foraminiferan floatstones it can be considered a Late Cretaceous environmental analog to the Late Jurassic Cladocoropsis.     

Late Cretaceous extension overprinting a steep belt in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Schesaplana, R?tikon, Switzerland and Austria)

The Triassic to Cretaceous sediment succession of the Lechtal Nappe in the western part of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) has been deformed into large-scale folds and crosscut by thrust and extensional faults during Late Cretaceous (Eoalpine) and Tertiary orogenic processes. The following sequence of deformation is developed from overprinting relations in the field: (D1) NW-vergent folds related to thrusting; (D2) N–S shortening leading to east–west-trending folds and to the formation of a steep belt (Arlberg Steep Zone) along the southern border of the NCA; (D3) E–W to NE–SW extension and vertical shortening, leading to low-angle normal faulting and recumbent “collapse folds” like the Wildberg Syncline. D1 and D2 are Cretaceous in age and predate the Eocene emplacement of the Austroalpine on the Penninic Nappes along the Austroalpine basal thrust; the same is probably true for D3. Finally, the basal thrust was deformed by folds related to out-of-sequence thrusting. These results suggest that the NCA were at least partly in a state of extension during the sedimentation of the Gosau Group in the Late Cretaceous.     

Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary palaeogeography of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia) and the Eastern Alps (Austria): implications from heavy mineral data

The Late Cretaceous Brezová and Myjava Groups of the Western Carpathians in Slovakia and formations of the Gosau Group of the Northern Calcareous Alps in Lower Austria comprise similar successions of alluvial/shallow marine deposits overlain by deep water hemipelagic sediments and turbidites. In both areas the heavy mineral spectra of Late Cretaceous sediments contain significant amounts of detrital chrome spinel. In the Early Tertiary the amount of garnet increases. Cluster analysis and correspondence analysis of Coniacian/Santonian and Campanian/Early Maastrichtian heavy mineral data indicate strong similarities between the Gosau deposits of the Lunz Nappe of the north-eastern part of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Brezova Group of the Western Carpathians. Similar source areas and a similar palaeogeographical position at the northern active margin of the Adriatic/Austroalpine plate are therefore suggested for the two tectonic units.Basin subsidence mechanisms within the Late Cretaceous of the Northern Calcareous Alps are correlated with the Western Carpathians. Subsidence during the Campanian-Maastrichtian is interpreted as a consequence of subduction tectonic erosion along the active northern margin of the Adriatic/Austroalpine plate. Analogous facies and heavy mineral associations from deep water sandstones of the Manin Unit and the Klape Unit indicate accretion of parts of the Pieniny Klippen Belt during the Late Cretaceous along the Adriatic/Austroalpine margin.     

Late Cretaceous stratigraphy,sediments and structure: Gems of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site (Jurassic Coast), England

Extraordinary, long-distance litho-marker beds such as the Lewes and Shoreham Tubular Flints and associated marl seams and fossils, recognised in cliff exposures and cliff-fall boulders, are keys to unlocking the stratigraphy and tectonic structures in the Late Cretaceous of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site (Jurassic Coast). Durdle Cove is a special gem exposing the Lewes and Seaford Chalk stratigraphy where new marker beds are identified and sediments and tectonic structures provide clues to timing of movements that produced a Late Cretaceous pericline which grew into a Miocene monocline along the line of the underlying Purbeck Reverse Fault. During ‘inversion’ along this fault some Late Cretaceous Chalk formations were in part or completely ‘lost’ (e.g. Middle Turonian New Pit Chalk Formation) and others were condensed (e.g. Late Santonian and Early Campanian Newhaven Chalk Formation). Excavation of the A354 road cutting at the Lower Bincombe Farm, has greatly added to the stratigraphical records of Late Cretaceous fossils in South Dorset, especially Coniacian and Early Campanian inoceramid bivalves and the various stratigraphically specific forms of the Late Santonian to Early Campanian echinoid fossil Echinocorys scutata spp. not recorded before in this coastline. The very large bivalve fossil Platyceramus sp. provides clues to chalk sea-floor environments.     

Gondwana dispersion and Asian accretion: Tectonic and palaeogeographic evolution of eastern Tethys

Present-day Asia comprises a heterogeneous collage of continental blocks, derived from the Indian–west Australian margin of eastern Gondwana, and subduction related volcanic arcs assembled by the closure of multiple Tethyan and back-arc ocean basins now represented by suture zones containing ophiolites, accretionary complexes and remnants of ocean island arcs. The Phanerozoic evolution of the region is the result of more than 400 million years of continental dispersion from Gondwana and plate tectonic convergence, collision and accretion. This involved successive dispersion of continental blocks, the northwards translation of these, and their amalgamation and accretion to form present-day Asia. Separation and northwards migration of the various continental terranes/blocks from Gondwana occurred in three phases linked with the successive opening and closure of three intervening Tethyan oceans, the Palaeo-Tethys (Devonian–Triassic), Meso-Tethys (late Early Permian–Late Cretaceous) and Ceno-Tethys (Late Triassic–Late Cretaceous). The first group of continental blocks dispersed from Gondwana in the Devonian, opening the Palaeo-Tethys behind them, and included the North China, Tarim, South China and Indochina blocks (including West Sumatra and West Burma). Remnants of the main Palaeo-Tethys ocean are now preserved within the Longmu Co-Shuanghu, Changning–Menglian, Chiang Mai/Inthanon and Bentong–Raub Suture Zones. During northwards subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys, the Sukhothai Arc was constructed on the margin of South China–Indochina and separated from those terranes by a short-lived back-arc basin now represented by the Jinghong, Nan–Uttaradit and Sra Kaeo Sutures. Concurrently, a second continental sliver or collage of blocks (Cimmerian continent) rifted and separated from northern Gondwana and the Meso-Tethys opened in the late Early Permian between these separating blocks and Gondwana. The eastern Cimmerian continent, including the South Qiangtang block and Sibumasu Terrane (including the Baoshan and Tengchong blocks of Yunnan) collided with the Sukhothai Arc and South China/Indochina in the Triassic, closing the Palaeo-Tethys. A third collage of continental blocks, including the Lhasa block, South West Borneo and East Java–West Sulawesi (now identified as the missing “Banda” and “Argoland” blocks) separated from NW Australia in the Late Triassic–Late Jurassic by opening of the Ceno-Tethys and accreted to SE Sundaland by subduction of the Meso-Tethys in the Cretaceous.     

Late Cretaceous tectono-sedimentary events in NW Europe

Late Cretaceous sedimentary history has been strongly influenced by both sea-level fluctuations and inversion tectonics. Evidence for tectonic movements, originally identified in German Late Cretaceous basins, is applied to the UK successions. Two periods of movement are conspicuous: a Middle Turonian episode involving huge loss of section along anticlinal axes in southern England and a Late Santonian-Early Campanian episode also involving section loss on structure and section gain off structure. This pattern is repeated where folds or blocks are underlain by inversion thrust faults (e.g. the Purbeck Fault in Dorset, the Falmer Fault in Sussex, the Portsdown Fault in Hampshire and the Bray Fault in Upper Normandy). Other episodes of inversion in the Late Turonian to Middle Coniacian and the late Early Campanian are investigated and are a probable cause of slump beds and slides. These tecto-sedimentary episodes can be applied to structures in Northern Ireland, Inner Hebrides, North Sea and Yorkshire as well as southern Britain. Beyond NW Europe the Late Santonian – Early Campanian event is widely recognised in the Carpathians, southern Europe, Africa and the Levant and coincides with the end of the Long Cretaceous Quiet Zone (Chron 34N to 33R) perhaps representing a major change in Earth dynamics related to Mid-Ocean Ridge crustal production and intra-continental crust tectonism.     

Palaeotemperature curve for the Late Cretaceous of the northwestern circum-Pacific

In the northwestern circum-Pacific, two main trends in Late Cretaceous temperatures can be recognized. (1) In general, a recurrent warming trend is thought to have begun in the Turonian–Campanian, reaching temperature maxima in the early Late Santonian and early Late Campanian, and temperature minima in the earliest Santonian and perhaps early Campanian. (2) During the Maastrichtian, temperatures dropped sharply, with only a slight warming in the early Late Maastrichtian. The existence of a thermal maximum at the Coniacian–Santonian transition has previously been expected, but is not confirmed by new isotopic results.     

Foraminiferan-calcimicrobial benthic communities from Upper Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates of Albania (Kruja Zone)

From the Kruja Zone of Albania, shallow-water carbonates assigned to the lower Campanian are described and grouped into six microfacies types of shallow subtidal to intertidal depositional settings. The limestones display internal layering suggestive of microbial fabrics with abundance of nubeculariid foraminifera, incertae sedis Thaumatoporella Pia, and subordinate calcimicrobes of possible cyanobacterial origin: Gahkumella Zaninetti, Girvanella sp., and Decastronema kotori (Radoičić). The nubeculariid morphotypes with ornamented tests and microbial coatings reveal some kind of mutualistic relationship comparable to Late Palaeozoic–Mesozoic Tubiphytes Maslov and Crescentiella Senowbari-Daryan et al. The present study expands our knowledge on the micropalaeontological characteristics of the Late Cretaceous “Decastronema–Thaumatoporella association” widespread in carbonate platforms of the peri-Mediterranean region. Our findings indicate that nubeculariids may have played an important binding role in Late Cretaceous peritidal laminated limestones.     

Alter und Genese des Nicoya-Komplexes,einer ozeanischen Paläokruste (Oberjura bis Eozän) im südlichen Zentralamerika

The Nicoya Complex, built by thick sequences of mainly oceanic basalts and exposed on the numerous pacific peninsulas of Costa Rica and Panama (Fig. 1), is, for the first time, divided by means of biostratigraphic and facies methods. This classification is not only possible by means of biostratigraphic dating of the overlying sediments but also of occasional inclusions of sedimentary silicious and calcareous exotic blocks within the basaltic sequences. This method shows that the formation of the Nicoya Complex, contrary to the hitherto idea of a uniphase and short development, not only took up very long periods of geological time but was also very discontinuously built. The Nicoya Complex can now be divided into six subcomplexes of different age which, in part, may already be regionally differentiated (Fig. 33). These subcomplexes have to be interpreted as being submarine, abyssal to bathyal sheet flows of mainly tholeiitic basalts up to several hundred meters in thickness. During these effusions of short time duration, the sedimentary cover, in the meantime deposited on the underlying effusiva, was more or less intensively reworked by these processes and deported within the new effusion body in form of exotic blocks (xenolithes, volcanic mélange) where contactmetamorphic changes partly occurred. The following subcomplexes, named after their type localities, are differentiated:

1. The subcomplex of Brasilito contains radiolarite-, respectively jaspilite-xenolithes (contactmetamorphosis!) of early Lower Cretaceous and especially Upper Jurassic. TheSphaerostylus lanceola- zone is proved by rich radiolarian faunas. In these radiolarites, developed below the CCD, partly workable manganese nodule deposits are occurring. Hitherto these were explained as being hydrothermal replacements of basic volcanites and sediments (Webber 1942,Roberts 1944) now compared with similar occurrences in the Olympic Peninsula (Roy 1976).
2. Because the xenolithes of the subcomplex of Junquillal have suffered stronger contactmetamorphosis, their biostratigraphic classification is not entirely proved.
3. The subcomplex of Murcielago on the Nicoya peninsula is widespread. Xenolithes, so far, were less useful here. But this subcomplex possesses well-developed sedimentary overlying units which are not noticed in the older ones. They start with radiolarian rocks of the older Campanian and succeed with pelagic limestones during the Upper Campanian, followed by mostly thick tuffitic sediments.
4. The subcomplex of Golfito contains numerous xenolithes from silicious limestones of the Upper Campanian in which, besides planktonic foraminifers, well-preserved radiolarians are met.
5. The subcomplex of Garza contains xenolithes of pelagic limestones rich of faunas of the Middle Maastrichtian planktonic foraminifers and is superposed by pelagic limestone of the uppermost Maastrichtian.
6. The subcomplex of Quepos contains xenolithes of Paleocene age (planktonic foraminifers and macro-foraminifers), partly developed as classical mélange in the sense of HSÜ, and is overlain by sediments of the Lower Eocene.

Consequently, the age of these volcanic occurrences can be classified biostratigraphically as follows: Late Lower Cretaceous (1); post-Cenomanian but pre-Campanian (2); about Santonian or Lowest Campanian (3); post-Campanian, probably at the beginning of the Maastrichtian (4); Upper Maastrichtian (5) and presumably boundary of Paleocene/Eocene (6). As these subcomplexes represent abyssal to bathyal volcanic lava sheets — adjoining and younger plutonic intrusions have to be neglected — they cannot be interpreted as being a primary oceanic crust built on a mid-oceanic ridge. Therefore, it can be assumed that such rocks are present in the underlying basal part of the older effusion bodies. In fact, pyrite deposits of massive layer-bounded sulphides, typical for the top of such ophiolithic sequences, are occurring in pillow basalts near Punta Gorda below the Brasilito subcomplex as far as can be geologically recognized (E.Kuypers 1977: personal communication). Using these and further data, the geotectonical development may be reconstructed (Fig. 34). An aseismic rise “Nicoya-Azuero” which “far away” in the Pacific is still developing since the end of the Jurassic (the palaeomagnetic test is still outstanding) and, since the formation of a subduction zone in the southern part of Central America, is moving into the direction of this zone — there is biostratigraphic proof of an island arc “Nicaragua-Panama” from about the Cenomanian onwards. In the Campanian, at least parts of this “Nicoya-Azuero rise” possess an authentic submarine relief of more than 4 km. Finally, during the Campanian, this rise slowly comes into contact with the subduction zone: Removing of the subduction to the E takes place [in the sense ofVogt et al. (1976)] leading to a plugging of the subduction zone by drifting of rise sections (cf. with the present geotectonical relation between the Cocos/Coiba rise and the Central American isthmus); and finally, during this course of movements, there is an advancing echelon shearing by parts of the rise into a lateral direction and an attachment to the island arc (cf.Lowrie 1978). During this time strong vertical movements also occur which, at times, lead to a considerable isostatic uplift of the southern Central America - (faunal exchange of short duration from N to S America! - cf. present situation). After the last oceanic effusions at the boundary Paleocene/Eocene, this development is finally completed during the Eocene, whilst the Central American subduction zone has finally shifted W in front of the “ruins” of the previous “Nicoya-Azuero rise” (plate boundary jumping). Since the Upper Eocene the Nicoya Complex tectonically shows platform characteristics and is continentally orientated.