Search results for " cretaceous"
showing 10 items of 23 documents
Facies Architecture and Evolution of a Cretaceous, Tectonically-Controlled, Carbonate Slope from Western Sicily (Italy)
2018
The stratigraphic architecture of a Cretaceous carbonate slope from north western Sicily (Italy) has been reconstructed on the basis of detailed field sections. The wire cut walls of a number of quarries that extract the Cretaceous limestones as ornamental stones allowed the mapping of the stratal architecture and lithologies at various scales. The vertical and lateral facies relationships in this about 1000 m thick depositional system account for a complex sedimentary dynamics along a carbonate platform escarpment that was strongly influenced by syn-sedimentary transtensional tectonics associated to magmatism. Although the original relationships with the carbonate platform were obscured by…
Preparation protocols for SEM visualization of charred fossil plants: the case of Weichselia reticulata pinnule anatomy
2021
The cosmopolite Mesozoic fern Weichselia reticulata presents many peculiarities in the anatomy of its stem as well as in the architecture of its leaves. Previous analyses of the ultrastructure of their pinnule laminas provided some insight on xeromorphic traits. In this work new protocols for the preparation of charred compression foliage specimens embedded in a limestone matrix for their observation under SEM are presented, which enhance the observation of different plant tissues. The preparation with HCl allows for the visualization of the whole lamina, from the upper to the lower epidermis, which had not been done to date. Additionally, collodion, latex, or wax coverings of the fossils b…
Sedimentary dynamics and extensional structuring related to early Cretaceous rifting of Neocomian and Barremian deposits of the interior basin of Gab…
2008
18 pages; International audience; Recent field and subsurface data about the early Neocomian N'dombo series and the Neocomian to mid-Barremian Schistes series of the interior basin of Gabon further our understanding of the initial stages of early Cretaceous N40–60E extensional rifting. The syn-rift series comprise fluvial–lacustrine claystones–sandstones, rare conglomerates, and carbonates. The syn-rift fill begins with braided-stream feldspathic sandstones. These are overlain first by fluvial–lacustrine deposits and then by predominantly lacustrine–palustrine claystones, which are potential petroleum source rocks. The claystones are eroded in part and are capped by the pre-Aptian angular u…
Paleoclimate and extensional tectonics of short-lived lacustrine environments. Lower Cretaceous of the Panormide Southern Tethyan carbonate platform …
2017
Abstract Subaerial erosion and continental sedimentation interbedded with shallow-water carbonates are unequivocal stratigraphic records to evaluate paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate evolution of emerged landmass. Stratigraphic analysis of the Cretaceous Monte Gallo section of the Mesozoic Panormide carbonate platform, in the northern side of the Palermo Mountains (NW Sicily) records a peculiar continental-derived clays that interrupted the shallow-water carbonate sedimentation. These clays rest, with lenticular geometries, above the tectonically-enhanced subaerial erosional unconformity of the Barremian-Lower Aptian Requienid limestones and are covered by the Upper Cretaceous Rudistid li…
Lower Cretaceous formations (Berriasian/Valanginian to Albian) from the East of the Paris Basin: lithostratigraphy and depositional environments.
2023
The Paris Basin is a Meso-Cenozoic intracontinental basin characterised during the Early Cretaceous by a continental evolution. However, in its southeastern part, due to transgressions originating from the Tethys, the Lower Cretaceous continental deposits were occasionally interrupted by the deposition of marine sediments. In this area, the sedimentary succession includes above the Lower Tithonian “Calcaires du Barrois”, the transgressive “Sables de Soulaines” Formation on the Late Jurassic emersion surface. This formation showing facies characteristic of a tidal flat is reputed to be Valanginian in age, but there is no dating element and could as well begin in the Late Berriasian. Above,…
Palaeohistology and palaeopathology of an Aeolosaurini (Sauropoda: Titanosauria) from Morro do Cambambe (Upper Cretaceous, Brazil)
2021
A recent publication of fossil bones of titanosaurs assigned to Aeolosaurini from the Morro do Cambambe site (Mato Grosso state, Brazil, Upper Cretaceous) reported anomalous growth in some of them. Here, we present osteohistological sections of elements to understand not only the microstructure and growth of such bones, but also the nature of those anomalies. Among them, we selected one cervical and one mediumposterior dorsal rib, and a haemal arch. The primary bone of all specimens consisted of a variation of the fibrolamellar complex, with the inner cortex being rich in woven bone with dispersed longitudinal canals, while the outer cortex was parallel-fibred with rows of longitudinal cana…
Geoconservation in Sicily (Italy): the Example of the Isola delle Femmine (Palermo)
2022
Abstract The Regional Administration of Sicily recently erected Isola delle Femmine—a small island of the Tyrrhenian Sea, close to Palermo—as a geosite. A detailed geological survey has been carried out in order to define the most important geological features of the island together with the development of a new geological map based on topographic data and a digital model at 1:2.000 scale specially processed. Finally, a geological pathway through the island has been traced and illustrated. The geological substrate of Isola delle Femmine consists of a Mesozoic carbonate succession belonging to the Panormide Carbonate Platform. Two lithostratigraphic units have been differentiated. The lowest…
Fossil echinoid (Echinoidea, Echinodermata) diversity of the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) in the Paris Basin (France).
2013
11 pages; International audience; This dataset inventories occurrence records of fossil echinoid specimens collected in the Calcaires à Spatangues Formation (CSF) that crops out in the southeast of the Paris Basin (France), and is dated from the Acanthodiscus radiatus chronozone (ca. 132 Ma, early Hauterivian, Early Cretaceous). Fossil richness and abundance of the CSF has attracted the attention of palaeontologists since the middle of the nineteenth century. This dataset compiles occurrence data (referenced by locality names and geographic coordinates with decimal numbers) of fossil echinoids both collated from the literature published over a century and a half, and completed by data from …
Report on the 4th International Meeting of the IUGS Lower Cretaceous ammonite working group, the "Kilian Group" (Dijon, France, 30th August 2010).
2011
8 pages; International audience; The 4th Kilian Group meeting (Dijon, France, 30th August 2010) focused on the Aptian and Albian Stages. For the Aptian, a two-fold division of the stage was adopted for the Mediterranean area with a boundary between the Dufrenoyia furcata and Epicheloniceras martini Zones. The main changes to the zonal scheme concern the Lower Aptian with: the introduction of a Deshayesites luppovi Subzone in the upper part of the Deshayesites oglanlensis Zone; the replacement of Deshayesites weissi by Deshayesites forbesi as new indexspecies of the second interval zone; the introduction of a Roloboceras hambrovi Subzone in the upper part of the D. forbesi Zone; and the subd…
Carbonate slope re‐sedimentation in a tectonically‐active setting (Western Sicily Cretaceous Escarpment, Italy)
2020
Tectonic processes are widely considered as a mechanism causing carbonate platform margin instabilities leading to the emplacement of mass transport deposits and calciturbidites. However, only few examples establishing a clear link between tectonics and re-sedimentation processes are known from the lit- erature. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional wire-cut walls of hun- dreds of quarries extracting ornamental limestones (for example, Perlato di Sicilia) from the Western Sicily Cretaceous Escarpment in Italy expose a series of mass transport deposits. The depositional architecture, spatial facies distri- bution and sedimentary features of these deposits were studied in detail. Thin sec…