Biostratigraphy and Zonation of the Lower Cretaceous Carbonate Succession from Cernavodă-Lock Section, South Dobrogea, Eastern Part of the Moesian Platform (Romania)
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Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, February 2014, Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 231 - 260 BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND ZONATION OF THE LOWER CRETACEOUS CARBONATE SUCCESSION FROM CERNAVODĂ-LOCK SECTION, SOUTH DOBROGEA, EASTERN PART OF THE MOESIAN PLATFORM (ROMANIA) Ovidiu N. DRAGASTAN1, Claudia ANTONIADE2 & Marius STOICA1 1University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, Nicolae Balcescu No. 1, 010041, Bucharest, Romania [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 2Petrom S.A. (I.C.P.T), Câmpina; [email protected] Abstract: A newly proposed biostratigraphic zonation of Early Cretaceous microfossils (mainly foraminifera) improved the resolution for dating the shelf carbonate platform deposits from Cernavodă-lock section, South Dobrogea, eastern part of the Moesian Platform. The zonation comprises 12 zones (biozones) for the Upper Berriasian-Valanginian-Lower Hauterivian. Benthic foraminifers marker are represented by Protopeneroplis ultragranulata, Andersenolina elongata, Dobrogelina anastasiui (Upper Berriasian), Haplophragmoides joukowski, Montsalevia salevensis, Carasuella cylindrica (Lower Valanginian), Danubiella gracilima, Rumanoloculina robusta, Meandrospira favrei (Upper Valanginian), respectively Protopeneroplis banatica, Vercorsella tenuis, Moesiloculina danubiana (Lower Hauterivian). The new biozonation scheme has allowed correlation of the studied succession with other major paleogeographic realms on the Romanian territory, in the eastern part of the Moesian Platform including South Dobrogea, in the Eastern Carpathians (Hăghimaş Mts., Transylvanian Carbonate Platform), the South Carpathians (Getic Carbonate Platform), the Apuseni Mts., as well as with Tethyan shelf basins of the European margin (France, Jura, Mont Saléve, Sardinia, Abruzzi Mts., Dinarides, Northern Calcareous Alps, West Carpathians, Stramberk Limestones) and the Western Pontides, Anatolia (Turkey). Keywords: Biostratigraphy, Biozones, Foraminifers, Lower Cretaceous, Cernavodă, South Dobrogea. Moesian Platform. 1. INTRODUCTION 1898), Simionescu (1906, 1913), Macovei (1911), and Macovei & Atanasiu (1934). The Moesian Carbonate Platform is a major A large amount of chronostratigraphic data tectonic unit of the Romanian territory, confined to concerning the local Lower Cretaceous were obtained the north by the Carpathian Foredeep and to the by different biostratigraphical methods, using south by the Balkan Orogene (Săndulescu 1984). palaeontology, micropalaeontology (foraminifers and The Moesian unit in the Romanian sector, or the ostracods), palaeo-algology (calcareous algae), as Wallachian Platform, includes Jurassic and Lower well as microfacies and palaeoenvironmental Cretaceous deposits cropping out in its eastern part, reconstruction of the carbonate shelf. in Central and South Dobrogea, and representing a The most important monographic review wide range of depositional settings, from continental was the synthesis of Macovei & Atanasiu (1934) deposits to inner and middle shelf shallow marine regarding the Cretaceous deposits of the Romanian carbonates, interlayered with Purbeckian evaporites Carpathians and Vorland, which also includes a (Dragastan 2001, Stoica 1997, 2007). synthesis and a drawing of the classical Cernavodă The investigated section is situated on the right profile. The authors distinguished the followings bank on the Danube – Black Sea Channel near the lithological units: Cernavoda lock, (Fig. 1). This new outcrop represent - basal nodular limestones with Diceras sp., a west to east tending extension of the classical north- Heterodiceras sp., Valletia tombecki and Monopleura south oriented Cernavodă section, on the right bank of valanginiensis, intercalated with unfossiliferous the Danube, described previously by Anastasiu (1896, marly-limestones, considered Valanginian in age; 231 Figure 1. a) The location of the study area, South Dobrogea, Romania. b) Geological map of the South Dobrogea, with the location of Cernavoda lock section-red rectangle (from Geological Map of Romania, scale 1:1 000 000, with the approval No. 101/22.01.2014 of the Geological Institute of Romania) - a non-fossiliferous sequence of marls and clays, well-known assemblage, representing different shelf limestones and siliceous nodules assigned to the and tidal flat to continental facies and communities. Hauterivian; The area represents today a protected area, as a - zoogenous limestones with brachiopods national paleontological and geological natural (Terebratula dutempleana), bivalves (Exogyra reserve. couloni, Ostrea sp., Requienia ammonia, Toucasia carinata), gastropods (Harpagodes pelagi), 2. SAMPLE LOCATIONS AND MATERIALS nautiloids (Nautilus neocomiensis), fishes (Coelodus sp.) and dinosaurs (Megalosaurus cf. superbus The micropaleontological content found at Cochirleni locality, 9 km south of (foraminifers, ostracods and microflora) reported Cernavodă). Based on these data, the succession was herein originates from the Lower Cretaceous assigned to the Valanginian-Barremian age sedimentary successions cropping out on the right (Simionescu 1913), in spite of the presence of a bank of the Danube-Black Sea channel at mixture of Valanginian, Barremian or even Aptian- Cernavodă-lock, South Dobrogea (Fig. 1 and Fig. 7). Lower Albian taxa. In fact, most of the reported taxa These calcareous-marly and clayey deposits belong indicate a Valanginian age. to the Cernavodă Formation (Upper Berriasian- - Aptian limestones yielding terebratulids, bivalves, Valanginian-Lower Hauterivian in age). gastropods, ammonites, with intercalations of The studied material comprises 45 samples fluviatile sands and pebbles, as well as marly and 65 thin sections, sampled from the new outcrop limestones with Orbitolina lenticularis. of Cernavodă-lock situated in the vicinity of The monographic paper of Dragastan et al., Cernavodă town. The samples and thin sections are (1998) showed that the Hauterivian and Barremian deposited in L.P.B. Collection V-MMPP deposits are absent from the classical profile of the (Microfacies, Micropalaeobotany, Palaeobotany and Cernavodă, this interval corresponding to a hiatus in Palynology), under the numbers 1215-1280, sedimentation. Laboratory of Palaeontology, Department of The rich Early Cretaceous fauna, microfauna Geology, University of Bucharest. and microflora from the Cernavodă area became a 232 3. LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC UNITS episodes yielding Zergabriella praturloni and Z. embergeri, both lower Berriasian in age. It grades The lithostratigraphic zonation of the Jurassic- towards the east, transitionally, into the Medgidia Cretaceous boundary and Lower Cretaceous deposits Member, a subunit defined in outcrops from the from South Dobrogea, in the eastern part of the concrete factory and the harbour of Medgidia locality. Moesian Platform, is based on the descriptive It is a polygenic subunit, which contains dolomites paleontological and lithological classifications of with stromatolites, pelsparitic limestones with marls, different authors (Simionescu, 1906, 1913, 1926, and caolinitic clays with gypsum crystals (Figs. 2, 3). 1927, Neagu et al., 1977; Dragastan, 1978; Neagu & Dragastan, 1984; Dragastan, 1985a,b; Avram et al., 1988, 1995-1996, Neagu et. al., 1997, Dragastan et al., 1998). The Lower Cretaceous formations are represented by calcareous and detrital deposits interlayered with Purbeckian evaporite and fresh- brackish water deposits close to the boundary with the Jurassic. According to the present study of the new section, a hiatus which covers the Upper Hauterivian- Barremian stratigraphic interval is present in the Cernavodă area. These deposits are widely developed in South Dobrogea, being crossed by several boreholes and having very instructive, spectacular outcrops, such as the classical, historical outcrops from Cernavodă Bridge and Hinog Hills (south of Cernavoda), on the right bank of the Danube (Fig. 1). They are underlain by Upper Jurassic deposits, with two different facies: a calcareous, dolomitic facies, and an evaporitic tidalitic-lagoonal, more or less detrital one, the deposition both of these being influenced by the North Dobrogean emergent land that bordered Moesian Dobrogea along the Capidava- Ovidiu fault. These evaporitic-detrital deposits correspond to the Purbeckian facies occurring at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary (Băncilă, 1973; Stoica, 1997, 2007). The Upper Jurassic - Lowermost Cretaceous deposits of South Dobrogea are divided into the Figure 2. Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous following lithostratigraphic units: lithostratigraphic units from Cernavodă-Medgidia- Poarta Albă area, South Dobrogea, Romania (after Avram et al., 1. The Rasova Formation Dragastan 1985a 1995-1996, and Dragastan et al., 1998, modified). (Oxfordian–Tithonian), and 2. The Amara Formation Dragastan 1985a The ostracods, charophytes and coprolites (Upper Kimmeridgian–Tithonian–Berriasian), association recorded from this subunit indicates a subdivided into four members: Lower to Middle and possible upper Berriasian age 2.1. Dunărea Member Avram et al. 1995- developed in Purbeckian facies (Stoica, 1997, 2007). 1996 (Kimmeridgian / Upper Kimmeridgian); Besides the already described Amara 2.2. Cireșu Member Avram et al. 1995-1996 Formation, the Lower Cretaceous deposits are (with Clypeina jurassica, Tithonian but not basal), represented by: 2.3. Zăvoaia Member in Avram et al. 1995- 3. The Cernavodă Formation Neagu and 1996 (Lower Berriasian) and Dragastan1984 subdivided into four subunits: