Foraminifera from the Eocene variegated shales near Barwinek (Magura unit, Outer Carpathians), the type locality of Noth (1912) revisited

Abstract

This is the final version of the article. Available from the Polish Geological Society via the URL in this record.A rich deep-water agglutinated foraminifera (DWAF) fauna (approximately 50 taxa) is documented from the lower to middle Eocene Variegated Shales of the Magura Unit, Outer Carpathians. Four localities have been sampled from the Barwinek region, which are thought to correspond to those studied by Rudolf Noth in 1912. A stream section of variegated red and green shales outcrop near Zyndranowa (Poland), was logged and extensively sampled. A further two outcrops of red shales were sampled in stream sections near Vyšny Komarnik (Slovakia), and a stream section close to Olchowiec (Poland). The DWAF recovered closely resemble assemblages of the same age in localities throughout the Carpathians. The material under study in this report has been correlated using the first appearance of Reticulophragmium amplectens, dating the samples early Middle Eocene. Two DWAF assemblages have been differentiated. The 'Rhabdammina Assemblage' is found mainly in green shales and is thought to be indicative of a high-energy slope or deep sea fan environment slightly reduced in oxygen; and the 'Paratrochamminoides Assemblage' is found mainly in red shales and is thought to be indicative of a well-oxygenated condensed sequence. The two faunas are otherwise very similar in composition. Of the seven new species described by Noth in 1912, one has been identified in this report and re-described as Paratrochamminoides deflexiformis (Noth).This study was originally carried out as an MSc project in Micropalaeontology at U.C.L. We would like to thank AAPG student Grants-in-Aid programme and the EEC-Socrates programme for the essential funding provided in support of this projec