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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Palaeoenvironments and Biota of the Opole Cretaceous

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description

From the early 19th century, Opole has become an important centre of cement production: underneath a thin soil cover, Cretaceous marls and limestones proved to be ideal raw material for this process. Today, there are only two active quarries in the vicinity of Opole: Odra Nowa and Folwark. Turonian–lower Coniacian carbonates are characterised by a highly diverse fossil composition, with numerous invertebrate taxa, rarer vertebrate taxa, various plants, and rich microfossils. The latter include calcareous nannofossils, planktic and benthic foraminifera, and dinoflagellates, all illustrating a diverse marine ecosystem. New chemostratigraphic data for the succession complement the picture.