Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous limestones from the Hăghimaș Massif (Eastern Carpathians, Romania): Microfacies, microfossils and depositional environments

Abstract

The Hăgimas Massif provides important data for reconstructing the geological evolution of the Transylvanian Carbonate Platform. This unit is present nowadays in the basement of the Transylvanian Depression and as large-scale olistoliths, which crop out in various locations in the Eastern Carpathians and Apuseni Mountains. They contain a large variety of microfacies as well as microfossil assemblages partly encompassing the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. This study presents a detailed account of uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous limestones from the Lapos Valley (Hăghimas Mountains) containing two distinct successions separated by a fault. The first succession contains platform margin and inner platform deposits (subtidal, intertidal) whereas the second one consists of inner platform deposits (shallow-subtidal to peritidal carbonates). The Upper Jurassic Stramberk-type facies is overlain by lower Berriasian regressive peritidal limestones. The upper Berriasian-? lower Valanginian consists mainly of inner platform deposits. They contain alternating, high and low-energy carbonates with rare calpionellids and calcispheres. The age assignment is based on a rich and diverse micropaleontological assemblage containing similar biota reported from other regions of the Tethysian Realm.