First record of Rhabdoceras suessi (Ammonoidea, Late Triassic) from the Transylvanian Triassic Series of the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) and a review of its biochronology, paleobiogeography and paleoecology

Abstract The occurrence of the heteromorphic ammonoid Rhabdoceras suessi Hauer, 1860, is recorded for the first time in the Upper Triassic limestone of the Timon-Ciungi olistolith in the Rarău Syncline, Eastern Carpathians. A single specimen of Rhabdoceras suessi co-occurs with Monotis (Monotis) salinaria that constrains its occurrence here to the Upper Norian (Sevatian 1). It is the only known heteromorphic ammonoid in the Upper Triassic of the Romanian Carpathians. Rhabdoceras suessi is a cosmopolitan species widely recorded in low and mid-paleolatitude faunas. It ranges from the Late Norian to the Rhaetian and is suitable for high-resolution worldwide correlations only when it co-occurs with shorter-ranging choristoceratids, monotid bivalves, or the hydrozoan Heterastridium. Formerly considered as the index fossil for the Upper Norian (Sevatian) Suessi Zone, by the latest 1970s this species lost its key biochronologic status among Late Triassic ammonoids, and it generated a controversy in the 1980s concerning the status of the Rhaetian stage. New stratigraphic data from North America and Europe in the subsequent decades resulted in a revised ammonoid biostratigraphy for the uppermost Triassic, the Rhaetian being reinstalled as the topmost stage in the current standard timescale of the Triassic. The geographic distribution of Rhabdoceras is compiled from published worldwide records, and its paleobiogeography and paleoecology are discussed

Cenomanian rudist-dominated shelf-margin limestones from the Panormide carbonate platform (Sicily, Italy): facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy

Sedimentological, paleontological and sequence analyses of Cenomanian limestones in Sicily reveal thc facies architecture and dynamics of a Mid Cretaceous rudistdominated platform margin from Western Tethys. The studied deposits outcrop near Palermo, as part of a large structural unit of the Sicilian Maghrebids. They belong to the Panormide carbonate platform, a Mesocenozoic paleogeographic domain of the African margin. The lateral continuity of the beds along three nearly parallel E-W outcrop sections allowed the recording of cm/dm thick lithological and faunal variations. Nine main lithofacies associations have been recognised along about 200 m of subvertical strata. Their vertical and lateral organisation points to a transition from highenergy shelf-margin rudist patches and shoals to more internal lagoonal-tidal environments over a short distance. The lithofacies evolution and stacking pattern along the three sections made it possible to define elementary cycles, composite cycles and larger-scale sequences with a dominant shallowing-upward trend. Their hierarchical organisation implies that sea-level fluctuations were an important factor in their formation. The cycles are characterised by a great variation in facies as a result of transgressive-regressive events in different sectors of the interred Cenomanian shelf. Subtidal cycles typical of the shelf margin (4-10 m-thick) are particularly well identifiable. They are madc of large Caprinidae and Sauvagesiac rudstonc-to-floatstone (about 2/3 of the total thickness), capped by rudist-conglomerates, often organised into 3-5 fining-upward amalgamated beds and showing, in places, effects of surfacerelated diagenesis, in more internal shelf areas the cycles consist of Caprinidae-Radiolitidae floatstonc grading up into amalgamated beds of angular bioclastic rudstone/ grainstone. Alternations of foraminifer/ostracod mudstone/wackestone and bioclastic grainstone/finc-rudstonc, capped by lofcritcs and/or by other emersion-related overprintings, characterise the cycles formed in the peritidal zones. These cycles arc stacked into three incomplete depositional sequences. The sequence boundaries have been identified by the abrupt interposition of peritidal cycles in subtidal rudist-rich cycles, with evidence of brief subaerial exposure