Projects / Programmes
Environmental and productivity changes on a Tethyan Early - Middle Jurassic carbonate platform: example from the northern margin of the Dinaric Carbonate Platform (Trnovski gozd, Slovenia)
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.06.02 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Geology |
Palaeontology and biostratigraphy |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| P450 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Stratigraphy |
| P460 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Sedimentology |
| P420 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry |
| B330 |
Biomedical sciences |
Palaeozoology, phylogeny |
stratigraphy, sedimentology, marine carbonate production, paleoenvironments, Early and Middle Jurassic, Dinaric Carbonate Platform, Slovenia
Researchers (4)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
During the late Early Jurassic (late Pliensbachian and early Toarcian), carbonate-platform environments in the Tethys were subjected to severe climatic oscilations, rapid sea-level changes and intense tectonic subsidence. As a consequence, most carbonate platforms were ultimately drowned and many shallow-marine organisms became extinct.
We propose to study the carbonate succession on Trnovski gozd (SW Slovenia), which comprises the northern margin of the Dinaric Carbonate Platform. Trnovski gozd is an excellent example of a carbonate platform that did recover from the drowning event, and is characterized by a continuous sedimentary sequence through Early and Middle Jurassic. It thus offers a unique opportunity to examine environmental, productivity and biotic changes through and around the critical late Pliensbachian-early Toarcian interval.
Our goal is to first document the evolution of the carbonate platform depositional environments which will be achieved through the integration of lithostratigraphy, facies analysis, paleoecology, biostratigraphy and geochemical analyses. Then, we will examine the relationship between the determined sedimentological and paleoenvironmental changes and the biotic response, independently obtained by morphological and geochemical analysis of brachiopods. The proposed study will be an integrative case-study, showing facies successions, changes in depositional environments, variations in mode of carbonate production, biostratigraphy, and biogeochemical parameters, calibrated to the time-scale for the Early-Middle Jurassic. Broader implications of the results will be discussed in terms of global and regional events including climate, sea-level changes, the Toarcian anoxic event, paleogeography and biological record.
Significance for science
The results provide a novel contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the Dinaric Carbonate Platform and to the knowledge on diversity of Lower Jurassic platform facies of Mediterranean carbonate platforms in general. They allow detailed stratigraphic correlation with coeval successions of the SW Dinaric Carbonate Platform in Montenegro, the Trento Platform in northern Italy, and other carbonate platforms in Spain and Morocco.
The results of the carbon isotope study provide new data for the Pliensbachian-Toarcian isotope curve in a shallow-marine setting. The so far published carbon-isotope curves for this time interval have been established only in sediments of pelagic basins and distal carbonate ramps.
Significance for the country
The stratigraphic research provides a basis for a detailed lithostratigraphic subdivision of Pliensbachian to Aalenian carbonate successions in western Slovenia. These results can be directly used in basic and applied geological mapping and other regional geological investigations.
The reference section is easily accessible and the entire succession is well exposed. Different limestone facies with a variety of characteristic fossils and sedimentary structures can be observed macroscopically. The section is one of the best preserved and most instructive examples of Lower Jurassic platform facies in Slovenia. The section is certainly suitable to be officially registered as a geological site of national importance for conservation and protection of the Slovenian natural heritage. In addition, the results of the project can be applied for educational purposes, since the area represents a very good training locality for students, particularly for sedimentology and paleontology.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
