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Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm

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A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (12 November 2021) | Viewed by 28197

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Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Gawlick

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Chair of Petroleum Geology, Department Applied Geosciences and Geophysics, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Peter Tunner Str. 5, 8700 Leoben, Austria
Interests: basin evolution; stratigraphy; sedimentology; facies analysis; mountain building processes; diagenesis; geochemistry; sedimentary deposits; geodynamics
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Dr. Michał Krobicki

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Department of General Geology and Geotourism, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Interests: palaeoecology; palaeogeography; palaeobiogeography; palaeoceanography; Mesozoic marine invertebrates; Tethys Ocean; geodynamic; sedimentology; volcanogenic rocks
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Prof. Dr. Laszlo Bujtor

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Institute of Geography and Environmental Science, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eszterházy tér 1, 3300 Eger, Hungary
Interests: biostratigraphy; mesozoic ammonites; brachiopods; paleoecology; biogeography; stable isotopes
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Dear Colleagues,

The overall geologic history of the Western Tethys Realm is today relatively well reconstructed, but the mountain ranges in that area are also known for their bewildering complexity. However, several crucial and topical questions remain, especially related to the older Mesozoic plate configuration. There is still no agreement on the number and position of oceanic domains and continental realms which may have existed, even though there is progress in the reconstruction of the geodynamic history, based on e.g., 1) biostratigraphic age dating and better understanding of the depositional environment of the sedimentary sequences, 2) analyses on ophiolites to constrain the characteristics of lost oceanic basins, their age, and mode of emplacement, 3) palaeomagnetic studies to reconstruct tectonic motions of different units, 4) analyses of metamorphic rocks including age dating, 5) mineral deposit formation, 6) structural studies, 7) palaeoecological investigations in wider palaeoceanographical conditions, 8) volcanogenic events, and a lot of other studies enlightening more and more the rather complex situation in the Western Tethys Realm. The Western Tethys Realm has been studied in detail over nearly 200 years and still acts for many topics in geoscience as reference, but the area still provides a lot of chances to contribute essential information to make progress in the body of knowledge on mountain building processes, reconstructions of depositional environments through time in space, the evolution of the organisms and their exact biostratigraphy, to understand deposit formation related to plate tectonic processes, and many other topics. This Special Issue should provide authors also the possibility to discuss other views on the history of the Western Tethys Realm and in wider context/connections of the whole Tethys, including its Eastern part. Overview articles related to special topics as well as very specialized articles opening new perspectives or present overlooked aspects are highly welcome. This Special Issue is dedicated to Dr. Sigrid Missoni, to honour her contributions to unravel the geological history of the Western Tethys Realm. She lost her last fight against cancer and died too young, at the age of 48. She leaves a big hole in the scientific community.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Gawlick
Dr. Michał Krobicki
Prof. Dr. Laszlo Bujtor
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Biostratigraphy
Geodynamics
Palaeogeography
Palaeoecology
Plate tectonics
Palaeooceanography
Deposit formation
Tethys Ocean
Palaeozoic–Mesozoic–Cenozoic
Tectonostratigraphy

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Geology, Paleontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm, Volume II in Minerals (2 articles)

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Research

19 pages, 4035 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Paleogene Gosau Group Slope Basins of the Incipient Eastern Alpine Orogenic Wedge: A Case Study at the Gams Basin (Austria)

by Veronika Koukal, Michael Wagreich, Mădălina-Elena Kallanxhi and Wolfgang Knierzinger

Minerals 2022, 12(2), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020178 - 29 Jan 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2461

Abstract

This study investigates the Paleogene deep-water depositional system of the Gosau Group at Gams, Styria (Austria). The examined sections of the Danian to the Ypresian age (NP1–NP12) comprise sediments of the Nierental and Zwieselalm Formations. Four deep-water clastic facies assemblages were encountered: (1) pelagic marls with thin turbidites, (2) carbonate-rich turbidites, (3) carbonate-poor turbidites, and (4) marl-bearing turbidites; slump beds and mass flow deposits are common features in all facies assemblages. Based on heavy mineral, thin section, microprobe, and paleoflow analyses, provenance was from the surrounding Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) rocks and exhuming metamorphic Upper Austroalpine units to the south. In addition, biogenic calcareous material was delivered by adjacent contemporaneous shelf zones. The sedimentary depocenter was situated at the slope of the incipient Alpine orogenic wedge, in frontal parts of the NCA, facing the subducting Penninic Ocean/Alpine Tethys. The evolution of the Gams Basin was connected to the eoalpine and mesoalpine orogeny and the adjunctive transpressional setting. The Gams deep-water depositional system is interpreted as an aggrading or prograding submarine fan, deposited into a small confined slope basin, positioned along an active continental margin, bound and influenced by (strike-slip) faults, related to crustal shortening. The development of the Gams slope basin and its infilling sequences was mainly dominated by tectonism and sediment supply, rather than by eustatic sea-level fluctuations. The basin was cut off during the Eocene due to renewed orogeny. A Quaternary analogue for the Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene basin setting of the Gams area is represented by the Santa Monica Basin in the California Continental Borderland. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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26 pages, 5910 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Planktonic Biota Constituents Responses to Global Sea-Level Changes Recorded in the Uppermost Albian to Middle Cenomanian Deep-Water Facies of the Outer Carpathians

by Zbigniew Górny, Marta Bąk, Krzysztof Bąk and Piotr Strzeboński

Minerals 2022, 12(2), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020152 - 26 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2473

Abstract

Interpretations of sea-level changes over geological time are mainly based on analyses of sediments deposited within stable platforms. One of the criteria for recognizing these changes is the composition of skeleton-bearing protists living in environments close to the shoreline and on the continental shelf. It can be assumed that the source of information about sea-level changes may also be found in assemblages of microfossils redeposited from the shelf to the marginal ocean basin. With such an assumption, this article presents an interpretation of changes in marine plankton communities (radiolarians and planktonic foraminifera), which during late Albian–middle Cenomanian were redeposited with carbonate mud by gravity currents from the peri-Tethyan shelf to the northern, marginal Silesian Basin of the Western Tethys. Planktonic biota identified in sediments deposited by gravity flows and those found in hemipelagic shales separating them, indicate that their composition may be correlated with eustatic changes in the sea level from the late Albian (KAl8) to middle Cenomanian (KCe3). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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13 pages, 5629 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Evidence of the Brizziite, Sodium Antimonate from the Central Paratethys Sea Strata in Poland

by Bożena Gołębiowska, Monika Pilarz and Krzysztof Bukowski

Minerals 2021, 11(12), 1403; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11121403 - 11 Dec 2021

Viewed by 2804

Abstract

Brizziite, a rare sodium antimonate (NaSb⁵⁺O₃), and fluorcalcioroméite ((Ca,Na)₂Sb⁵⁺₂O₆F), have been identified in two boreholes (Pasternik and Włosienica) which are situated 50 km apart. Both wells are located west of Krakow, Poland, and were drilled in the Miocene strata of the Paratethys Sea (a remnant of the Tethys Ocean). The Sb minerals are scattered in a solidified light blue silica gel within marls and layered clays. They occur most often as anhedral grains up to 20 μm in size. The presence of these phases was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy (RS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The brizziite from this study represents a secondary mineral after the alteration of roméite within a supergene zone, or crystallization from Sb-rich solutions derived by the leaching of the weathered primary roméite. Hence, the calcium and fluorine admixtures in their composition, determined by EPMA, indicate intergrowths of brizziite and roméite on the micro- to crypto-scale. The presence of the antimony in the study area is related to rejuvenated Old-Paleozoic polymetallic ore-mineralization occurring in the basement of the Krakow-Silesia Monocline. The phenomenon of the repeatability of brizziite in Pasternik and Włosienica, distant by several tens of kilometers, can be explained by the following three steps: (i) the penetration of the chloride ions from the drying up seawaters of the Paratethys Sea into the Miocene groundwater system, (ii) the mobilization of Sb⁵⁺ in the form of chloride complexes, and, finally, (iii) the transportation of the Sb-bearing solutions within the marly and clay sediments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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11 pages, 3758 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Onychites from Polish Jura and Their Functional Morphology

by Przemysław Sztajner

Minerals 2021, 11(11), 1207; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11111207 - 29 Oct 2021

Viewed by 1714

Abstract

Onychites aff. barbatus is excessively rare in the Polish Jura. This paper describes a recent find from the basal middle Oxfordian. The specimen is preserved in a manner typical for other finds of this kind in platy limestones, i.e., as compressed and flattened imprints with remnants of carbonized organic matter. Excellent preservation of the surfaces enables a precise reconstruction of the original structure. Accordingly, I hypothesize on the attachment to soft parts and the function of the belemnite onychites. The high diversity of known onychites, especially from Europe (NW Tethys), indicates that they served a variety of purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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18 pages, 9058 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Progressive Low-Grade Metamorphism Reconstructed from the Raman Spectroscopy of Carbonaceous Material and an EBSD Analysis of Quartz in the Sanbagawa Metamorphic Event, Central Japan

by Hidetoshi Hara, Hiroshi Mori, Kohei Tominaga and Yuki Nobe

Minerals 2021, 11(8), 854; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080854 - 8 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3023

Abstract

Low-grade metamorphic temperature conditions associated with the Sanbagawa metamorphic event were estimated by the Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous material (RSCM) in pelitic rocks and an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis of the quartz in siliceous rocks. Analytical samples were collected from the Sanbagawa metamorphic complex, the Mikabu greenstones, and the Chichibu accretionary complex in the eastern Kanto Mountains, central Japan. Previously, low-grade Sanbagawa metamorphism was only broadly recognized as pumpellyite–actinolite facies assigned to the chlorite zone. The RSCM results indicate metamorphic temperatures of 358 °C and 368 °C for the chlorite zone and 387 °C for the garnet zone of the Sanbagawa metamorphic complex, 315 °C for the Mikabu greenstones, and 234–266 °C for the Chichibu accretionary complex. From the EBSD analyses, the diameter of the quartz grains calculated by the root mean square (RMS) approximation ranges from 55.9 to 69.0 μm for the Sanbagawa metamorphic complex, 9.5 to 23.5 μm for the Mikabu greenstones, and 2.9 to 7.3 μm for the Chichibu accretionary complex. The opening angles of the c-axis fabric approximate 40–50°, presenting temperatures of 324–393 °C for the Sanbagawa metamorphic complex and the Mikabu greenstones. The temperature conditions show a continuous increase with no apparent gaps from these low-grade metamorphosed rocks. In addition, there exists an empirical exponential relationship between the estimated metamorphic temperatures and the RMS values of the quartz grains. In this study, integrated analyses of multiple rock types provided valuable information on progressive low-grade metamorphism and a similar approach may be applied to study other metamorphic complexes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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26 pages, 7242 KiB

Open AccessArticle

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

by Justyna Kowal-Kasprzyk, Anna Waśkowska, Jan Golonka, Michał Krobicki, Petr Skupien and Tadeusz Słomka

Minerals 2021, 11(7), 747; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11070747 - 9 Jul 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3093

Abstract

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. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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34 pages, 16980 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Proxy Provenance Analyses of the Kingriali and Datta Formations (Triassic–Jurassic Transition): Evidence for Westward Extension of the Neo-Tethys Passive Margin from the Salt Range (Pakistan)

by Shahid Iqbal, Michael Wagreich, Mehwish Bibi, Irfan U. Jan and Susanne Gier

Minerals 2021, 11(6), 573; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060573 - 27 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5207

Abstract

The Salt Range, in Pakistan, preserves an insightful sedimentary record of passive margin dynamics along the NW margin of the Indian Plate during the Mesozoic. This study develops provenance analyses of the Upper Triassic (Kingriali Formation) to Lower Jurassic (Datta Formation) siliciclastics from the Salt and Trans Indus ranges based on outcrop analysis, petrography, bulk sediment elemental geochemistry, and heavy-mineral data. The sandstones are texturally and compositionally mature quartz arenites and the conglomerates are quartz rich oligomictic conglomerates. Geochemical proxies support sediment derivation from acidic sources and deposition under a passive margin setting. The transparent heavy mineral suite consists of zircon, tourmaline, and rutile (ZTR) with minor staurolite in the Triassic strata that diminishes in the Jurassic strata. Together, these data indicate that the sediments were supplied by erosion of the older siliciclastics of the eastern Salt Range and adjoining areas of the Indian Plate. The proportion of recycled component exceeds the previous literature estimates for direct sediment derivation from the Indian Shield. A possible increase in detritus supply from the Salt Range itself indicates notably different conditions of sediment generation, during the Triassic–Jurassic transition. The present results suggest that, during the Triassic–Jurassic transition in the Salt Range, direct sediment supply from the Indian Shield was probably reduced and the Triassic and older siliciclastics were exhumed on an elevated passive margin and reworked by a locally established fluvio-deltaic system. The sediment transport had a north-northwestward trend parallel to the northwestern Tethyan margin of the Indian Plate and normal to its opening axis. During the Late Triassic, hot and arid hot-house palaeoclimate prevailed in the area that gave way to a hot and humid greenhouse palaeoclimate across the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary. Sedimentological similarity between the Salt Range succession and the Neo-Tethyan succession exposed to the east on the northern Indian passive Neo-Tethyan margin suggests a possible westward extension of this margin. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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28 pages, 11880 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Zircon Chemistry and Oxidation State of Magmas for the Duobaoshan-Tongshan Ore-Bearing Intrusions in the Northeastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, NE China

by Jian Wang, Keiko Hattori, Yanchen Yang and Haiqi Yuan

Minerals 2021, 11(5), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11050503 - 10 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3261

Abstract

The Duobaoshan (DBS)-Tongshan (TS) porphyry Cu–(Mo) deposit (4.4 Mt Cu, 0.15 Mt Mo) is located in the northeastern part of the central Asian orogenic belt (CAOB) in northeastern China. It is hosted by early Ordovician dioritic to granodioritic intrusions which are characterized by the subduction-related geochemical signatures including high concentrations of large ion lithophile elements (LILEs) and light rare earth elements (LREEs), and low concentrations of heavy REEs (HREEs) and high-field -strength elements (HFSEs), such as Nb, Ta, Zr and Ti in bulk rock compositions. Furthermore, they show adakitic geochemical signatures of high Sr/Y ratios (29~55) due to high Sr (290~750 ppm) and low Y (<18 ppm). Zircon trace element abundances and published Sr-Nd-Hf isotope data of these rocks suggest that the parental magmas for these ore-bearing intrusions were rich in H₂O and formed by partial melting of a juvenile lower crust/lithospheric mantle or metasomatized mantle wedge during the northwestward subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean before the collision of the Songnen block with the Erguna-Xing’an amalgamated block in the early Carboniferous. Values of Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ and Ce/Nd in zircons are 307~461 and 14.1~20.3 for mineralized granodiorites, and 231~350 and 12.4~18.2 for variably altered diorite and granodiorites in DBS, whereas those for DBS-TS microgabbros are 174~357 and 7.4~22, and 45.9~62.6 and 5.0~5.8 for the early Mosozoic Qz-monzonites, respectively. Zircon Eu/Eu* values are high and similar among mineralized granodiorites (~0.6), altered diorite and granodiorites (~0.6) and the Mesozoic Qz-monzonites (~0.8), whereas the values are low and variable for the DBS-TS microgabbros (0.3~0.6). The magma oxidation state calculated from zircon chemistry and whole rock compositions are FMQ +1.0 to +1.5 in mineralized samples, and FMQ +2.4 to +4.2 in altered samples. The values are comparable to those for the fertile intrusions hosting porphyry Cu-Mo-(Au) deposits in the central and western CAOB and elsewhere in the world. Elevated oxidation state is also observed in the TS microgabbros, FMQ +1.4 to +1.9, and the early Mesozoic Qz-monzonites, FMQ +2.4 to +2.5. Comparison of zircon geochemistry data from porphyry deposists elsewhere suggests that positive Ce anomalies are generally associated with fertile intrusions, but not all igneous rocks with high Ce anomalies are Cu fertile. The findings in this study are useful in exploration work and evaluating oxidation state of magmas for porphyry Cu-(Mo) deposits in the region and elsewhere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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12 pages, 21821 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Termination of Organic-Rich Accumulation of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 in the Deep-Water Carpathian Basins Based on Carbon Stable Isotope Data

by Marta Bąk and Krzysztof Bąk

Minerals 2021, 11(4), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11040420 - 15 Apr 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2402

Abstract

Organic-rich black shales intercalated with green radiolarian shales and bentonites, 2.2 m thick, represent an equivalent of the Bonarelli Level in the Outer Carpathian deep-water succession. Carbon stable isotope data from four sections in the Outer Carpathians show that termination of organic-rich accumulation, related to the oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE2), occurred at the same time in this part of the Western Tethys. The excellent marker of this event is a first horizon of Fe–Mn layer (nodules), a few centimeters thick, directly covering the youngest black shale layer of the Bonarelli-equivalent Level, which is regarded as the regional chronohorizon. The youngest succession of the organic-rich shales, ca. 30 cm thick, corresponds to the latest Cenomanian interval of δ¹³C_org values displaying a negative trend, which represents a terminal part within the OAE2 carbon isotope excursion. A deep negative shift which ends this falling trend, close to the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in δ¹³C curves from many sections around the world, is not visible in the Outer Carpathian successions. The reason for this was the long period of stratigraphic condensation, which is reflected in the ferromanganese sediments of this area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology, Palaeontology, Palaeogeography of the Western Tethys Realm)

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