Lower Kimmeridgian layer with bored and encrusted hiatus concretions (Upper Jurassic, Central Poland): implications for stratigraphy and basin evolution

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative analysis of a Lower Kimmeridgian layer with bored and encrusted hiatus concretions collected in three study areas, located in Central Poland. These studies demonstrate distinct similarities between the hiatus concretions in terms of their origin, development and stratigraphic position. The layer with its characteristic concretions seems to represent an important marker horizon for the Lower Kimmeridgian successions in Central Poland. The identification of this marker horizon in drill cores and exposures could be important for definition of the stratigraphic position of the sediments, which otherwise lack appropriate biostratigraphic information. The matrix of the concretions is composed of pelagic calciturbidites, which reflect flooding of the early Kimmeridgian platform. These sediments were lithified early and formed a hardground. The origin of the hiatus concretions probably is related to erosion of the hardground, followed by redeposition and several phases of exhumation and erosion, preceding final burial. The characteristic ecological successions, observed in the concretions, document an evolution from soft to firm and hard marine substrates, typical of hardgrounds and evidenced by various burrows, borings (Gastrochaenolites, Trypanites), and epizoans. Calciturbidite sedimentation, hardground erosion and redeposition of the hiatus concretions, known from deposits of the Platynota Zone in Central Poland, were associated with synsedimentary activity of the Holy Cross Fault, on the NE margin of the extensive, tectonic Małopolska Block.