Corals from the Tithonian carbonate complex in the Dąbrowa Tarnowska-Szczucin area (Polish Carpathian Foreland)

Abstract

The studied corals have been collected from cores of boreholes located in the central part of the Polish Carpathian Foreland in the Dąbrowa Tarnowska–Szczucin area. The Jurassic complex in this area presents a continuous stratigraphic section from the Upper Callovian to Tithonian, locally passing to the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian). Its thickness exceeds 1,100 m in this area. This complex is composed of marine, mainly shallow-water deposits. The corals occur within the upper part of the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) deposits, almost entirely within the Swarzów Limestone Formation (= coral-algal limestone formation). This occurrence marks the northernmost extent of Tithonian shallow-water corals in Poland and one of the northernmost in Europe. 42 coral species (among them 14 in open nomenclature) were identified in deposits of this formation. They include two new species: Complexastrea magna and Complexastrea dabroviensis. All taxa, except one, belong to the order Scleractinia. The described assemblage displays a Late Jurassic character. The broader stratigraphic span is assigned to some species, which are quoted from the Middle Jurassic and some species lasted until the Early Cretaceous, Berriasian and/or Valanginian.