Inoceramid stratigraphy and depositional architecture of the Campanian and Maastrichtian of the Miechów Synclinorium (southern Poland)

Abstract

Dynamic evolution of the Campanian and Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Miechów Synclinorium is presented. Through chronostratigraphic analysis, the geometry of the Campanian and Maastrichtian of the area is interpreted, while microfacies analysis allowed determination of some of the paleoenvironmental parameters (rate of sedimentation, bottom condition and terrigenous input). The chronostratigraphy is based on inoceramid biostratigraphy. Nine inoceramid zones are recognized: Sphenoceramus patootensiformis, Sphaeroceramus sarumensis-Cataceramus dariensis and ‘Inoceramus’ azerbaydjanensis-‘Inoceramus’ vorhelmensis, ‘Inoceramus’ tenuilineatus, Sphaeroceramus pertenuiformis, ‘Inoceramus’ inkermanensis and ‘Inoceramus’ costaecus-‘Inoceramus’ redbirdensis (Campanian); Endocostea typica and Trochoceramus radiosus (Maastrichtian). Five unconformities (isochronous in the study area) represented by horizons of slower sedimentation rate, were recognized. They correlate with eustatic sea-level changes, well recorded in European successions (Jarvis et al. 2002, 2006; Niebuhr et al. 2011). Unconformity horizons allow six alloformations to be distinguished. The thickness of particular chronostratigraphic units within the Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian increases progressively toward the axis of the Danish-Polish Trough, which indicates that the inversion of the trough could not have started before the Late Maastrichtian.