Cretaceous (Aptian/Albian–?Cenomanian) age of “black flysch” and adjacent deposits of the Grajcarek thrust-sheets in the Małe Pieniny Mts. (Pieniny Klippen Belt, Polish Outer Carpathians)

Abstract

Several sections record the relation between the “black flysch” and Upper Cretaceous red shales in the Grajcarek thrust-sheets. In all the sections studied the “black flysch” appears in the core of imbricated folds or thrust-sheets, whereas the limbs are composed of Upper Cretaceous deposits. The transitional beds between the “ black flysch” and the Upper Cretaceous red shales are composed of green and black bituminous shales, green and red radiolarites and cherty limestones. Biostratigraphical investigations have revealed a similar type and sequence of microfauna assemblages in all the sections studied and significant redeposition of Jurassic calcareous benthic foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton, molluscs, sponge spicules and crinoid elements. The Cretaceous age (Aptian/Albian–?Cenomanian) of the “black flysch” is shown by the presence of agglutinated foraminifera and microfacies data. These deposits are underlain by  a Kimmeridgian–Aptian radiolarite/limestone condensed succession and overlain by Turonian–Campanian hemipelagic red shales and Maastrichtian/Lower Paleocene conglomerates and thick-bedded silicilastic turbidites of the Jarmuta Formation. Such a sequence of deposits is typical of the Outer Carpathian basins and records the global Mid/Late Cretaceous phenomena in the world ocean, followed by the Cretaceous Oceanic Red Beds