Anna Waśkowska

Olistostromes of the Pieniny Klippen Belt, Northern Carpathians

The olistostromes form two belts within the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) in the Northern Carpathians. They mark an early stage of the development of the accretionary prism. The first belt was formed during Late Cretaceous time as a result of subduction of the southern part of the Alpine Tethys. The fore-arc basin originated along this subduction zone, with synorogenic flysch deposits. Huge olistoliths deposited within the Cretaceous–Palaeogene flysch of the Zlatne Basin, presently located in the vicinity of the Haligovce village (eastern Slovakia), provide a good example of the fore-arc olistostrome setting. The second belt is related to the movement of the accretionary prism, which overrode the Czorsztyn Ridge during Late Cretaceous–Paleocene time. The destruction of this ridge led to the formation of submarine slumps and olistoliths along the southern margin of the Magura Basin. The Upper Cretaceous – Paleocene flysch sequences of the Magura Basin constitute the matrix of olistostromes. The large Homole block in the Jaworki village represents the best example of the Magura Basin olistolith. Numerous examples of olistoliths were documented in western Slovakia, Poland, eastern Slovakia and Ukraine. The olistostromes formed within the Zlatne and Magura basins orginated during the tectonic process, forming the olistostrome belts along the strike of the PKB structure.

Small-sized Trochammina assemblages in deep-water Eocene flysch deposits (Outer Carpathians, Poland) and their palaeoecological implications

The global climate change in the early Eocene contributed significantly to the turnover of benthic foraminifera. A major extinction within agglutinated and calcareous forms and the occurrence of opportunistic assemblages resulted. The Trochammina material described here belongs to these post-crisis assemblages. Foraminiferal assemblages with numerous Trochammina species are identified within deep-water Eocene deposits of the Polish part of the Outer Carpathians. Trochammina reach up to 80% of the assemblages, the remainder consists of cosmopolitan agglutinated foraminifera, mainly Bathysiphon, Recurvoides, Paratrochamminoides and Trochamminoides. The low biodiversity (average number of species 24, of genera 15) and the presence of dwarf forms are the main characteristics of the assemblages. These assemblages occur predominantly in shales with numerous organic traces (lower Hieroglyphic beds), deposited in the Silesian Basin (Outer Carpathians) which was on the northern margin of the western Tethys Ocean during the early Eocene (Ypresian, c. 50 Ma). The Trochammina biofacies developed in the Silesian Basin after the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum crisis, and is dominated by opportunistic forms, mainly represented by mobile epifauna and shallow-water infauna, interpreted as a recolonizing assemblage in a low energy environment.

The Upper Cretaceous Ostravice Sandstone in the Polish sector of the Silesian Nappe, Outer Western Carpathians

Abstract The Ostravice Sandstone Member was identified and described as a lithostratigraphic unit in the Polish part of the Outer Carpathians. This division occurs in the lowermost part of the Godula Formation, is underlain by variegated deposits of the Mazák Formation or directly by the Barnasiówka and Lhoty formations, and overlain by the Czernichów Member of the Godula Formation. Domination by thick- and very thick-bedded sandstones, conglomeratic sandstones and conglomerates rich in calcareous clasts, mostly of the Štramberk-type limestones, is typical for the Ostravice Sandstone Member. These deposits are widespread between the Moravskoslezské Beskydy Mountains in the Czech Republic and the Ciężkowice Foothills in Poland. The documentation of the Ostravice Sandstone Member occurrence as well as the petrological, sedimentological features, and inventory of the carbonate clasts are presented here.

Paleocene sedimentary record of ridge geodynamics in Outer Carpathian basins (Subsilesian Unit)

Abstract The stratigraphic position of the Goryczkowiec Sandstone reflects the Paleocene ridge geodynamics in the Outer Carpathian basins. The Goryczkowiec Sandstone was deposited on the slope of a ridge, known as the Subsilesian Sedimentary Area that originated during reorganization of the Outer Carpathian realm. A Paleocene age of this sandstone, documented clearly by autochthonous foraminiferal and algal assemblages indicates the time of the final formation of the Subsilesian Ridge. Abundant calcareous material of biogenic origin was transported by turbidity currents into deeper zones. This material includes fragments of carbonate buildups represented by algae, bryozoans and other organisms growing in the shallower part of the ridge. The Goryczkowiec Sandstone, previously known as the Szydłowiec Sandstone, is here redefined as a new lithostratigraphic unit within the Subsilesian Sedimentary Area in the marginal Outer Carpathians in Poland. The new name clarifies the ambivalence in the lithostratigraphic nomenclature

Ammopemphix hemisphaericus sp. nov., a new attached agglutinated foraminifer from the Pleistocene of the Arctic Ocean, and the taxonomic status of the genus Ammopemphix Loeblich, 1952

The new species Ammopemphix hemisphaericus sp. nov. is described from Pleistocene sediments of the Central Arctic Ocean. The species is a finely agglutinated monothalamous form with hemispherical shape and a terminal aperture located at the top of the test, often occurring in pseudocolonies. A. hemisphaericus sp. nov. attaches itself to inorganic or organic substrates, often growing attached to the inside surfaces of calcareous or agglutinated foraminiferal tests. Pseudocolonies of A. hemisphaericus sp. nov. may also attach themselves to previous generations of Ammopemphix individuals. Based on our study of numerous specimens of Ammopemphix from the Central Arctic Ocean, we propose modifications to the description of the genus. The genus may be pseudocolonial or consist of isolated individuals, and in the case of pseudocolonial forms, individual specimens may be arranged randomly or symmetrically. The genus Ammopemphix is found mostly in polar regions, and is here reported for the first time from the fossil record.

Discussion of ‘Olistostromes of the Pieniny Klippen Belt, Northern Carpathians’

J. Golonka, M. Krobicki, A. Waśkowska, M. Cieszkowski & A. Ślączka reply: We welcome the comments by our Slovakian colleagues and their critique of our results, particularly as we have discussed and published papers together several times about our ideas, sometimes, more or less, disputable (Aubrecht et al. 2003, 2006; Krobicki et al. 2003; Krobicki, Aubrecht & Golonka, 2003; Golonka et al. 2006; Pienkowski et al. 2008). We are pleased to see such warm reaction to our work/paper, which is focused on one of the rudimentary questions in the Pieniny Klippen Belt (PKB) area. How many/what kind of olistoliths/olistostromes occur within the inner structure of the PKB, and when and why did they originate mostly during the Palaeogene part of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic history of this region? We expected this discussion earlier. The content of our paper was presented at the 6 th Meeting of the Central European Tectonic Studies Group (CETeG) in Upohlav, Pieniny Klippen Belt, Slovakia (Cieszkowski et al. 2008), and later, at the XIX Congress of the Carpathian–Balkan Geological Association in Thessaloniki, Greece (Cieszkowski et al. 2010; Golonka et al. 2010). Some ideas were also briefly mentioned in the paper by Cieszkowski et al. (2009) in a journal issue edited by D. Plasienka. We assume that the comments are based on recent investigation, because the authors list the grants received to conduct the research. Therefore, the submitted comments sometimes present a point of view different from that published previously by some of the authors of the comments (RA, JM) (see Aubrecht et al. 2003; Krobicki, Aubrecht & Golonka, 2003; Wierzbowski et al. 2006; Pienkowski et al. 2008). The statement, ‘Certainly there are many still unresolved problems in the geology of the PKB, and it ought to be said that the co-authors of this discussion also do not fully agree with all interpretations formulated and illustrated by the first author’ perhaps explains this controversy. Of course, we agree that ‘there are many still unresolved problems in the geology of the PKB’. We also agree with the statement ‘olistostromes and olistoliths are quite frequent, but not omnipresent’. We depicted the distribution of the olistoliths and their relationship to the non-olistolith tectonic units of the PKB in Golonka et al. (2015, figs 3, 8).

Eocene Hieroglyphic beds of Silesian Nappe in Western Polish Carpathians : development and foraminiferal record

The sed i men ta tion of Hi ero glyphic Beds of the Silesian Nappe took place from the Early Eocene up to Late Eocene within the Carpathian Silesian Ba sin. These beds are dom i nated by thin-bed ded flysch con tain ing – at var i ous strati graphic po si tions – thick sand stone-free com plexes with var ie gated shales or ben ton ite laminae de vel oped dur ing a lim ited sup ply of ma te rial from the land. Their vari abil ity and bound ary se quences are pre sented. In gen eral, their lithological het er o ge ne ity is con nected by the ra tio of sand stones and shales, thick ness of lay ers and oc cur rence of dif fer ent type of shales. The Hi ero glyphic Beds are un der lain by the Ciê¿kowice Sand stone or di rectly by the Istebna Beds and over lain by the Globigerina Marls or di rectly by the Menilite Beds. In the Ypresian, dur ing the sed i men ta tion of Hi ero glyphic Beds, foraminiferal as so ci a tions with nu mer ous small-sized Trochammina de vel oped in the Silesian Ba sin af ter the PETM cri sis. Since the Lutetian, more di verse as so ci a tions oc curred in slightly more fa vour able con di tions, with Reticulophragmium amplectens (Grzybowski), Dolgenia latus (Grzybowski), and Reticulophragmium gerochi Neagu et al., which pre ferred cool wa ters, and are in dex fos sils for stra tig ra phy. The Hi ero glyphic Beds de vel oped dur ing a pe riod of grad u ally cool ing global cli mate. The grad ual de crease in tem per a ture stim u lated the trans fer of spe cies. The thermophilous forms, whose op ti mum de vel op ment took place in the Late Cre ta ceous–Paleocene, dis ap pear dur ing Lower and Mid dle Eocene and new spe cies that pre ferred cold bo real wa ters com monly oc cur in Middle and Late Ecocene. A pro found re struc tur ing of foraminiferal as sem blages took place in the Priabonian, when mas sive num bers of cal car e ous ben thic and plank tonic forms were de pos ited.