Palynological constraints on the age of the Carboniferous clastic succession of SW Poland (Fore-Sudetic area) based on miospore data

Abstract

New palynological studies of the Carboniferous clastic deposits of SW Poland from six deep boreholes have provided diverse, but poorly preserved miospore assemblages. Probably all of these are mixed, consisting of taxa typical of the interval from the Famennian to the Namurian. Namurian A deposits have been identified in the Paproć 29 and Katarzynin 2 boreholes. The stratigraphic position of rocks from other profiles, where miospores were more badly preserved, has been established in a more general way. In the Objezierze IG 1 borehole the rocks were dated as not older than late Viséan while rocks from the Kalisz IG 1, Dankowice IG 1 and Dymek IG 1 boreholes are considered as not older than Viséan. The abundance of reworked miospores in rocks from the Paproć 29 and Katarzynin 2 boreholes is proof that cannibalization of older rocks containing miospores took place in this sedimentary basin in the early Namurian. Source rocks belonged either to the Famennian-Tournaisian and Viséan or to a Viséan interval containing Famennian-Tournaisian reworked miospores. Some observations on the limitations of the stratigraphical interpretation of those mixed and poorly preserved miospore assemblages are provided.