Latest Priabonian larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages at the demise of the Soğucak Carbonate Platform (Thrace Basin and Black Sea shelf, NW Turkey): implications for the shallow marine biostratigraphy
The Eocene-Oligocene transition corresponds to a significant biotic turnover globally. In shallow marine realms, the larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) belonging to most nummulitids and all orthophragminids became extinct at or near the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, reflecting the environmental deterioration. We here record the advanced developmental stages of midlatitude LBF from the Soğucak Carbonate Platform in NW Turkey on the brink of their extinction in the Tethys. The LBF assemblages in the uppermost part of the platform, exposed in Gökçetepe and Karaburun in the Thrace Basin and Black Sea shelf, are represented by the dominant occurrence of Heterostegina d'Orbigny, 1826, Spiroclypeus Douville, 1905, Operculina d'Orbigny, 1826, Discocyclina Gümbel, 1870, Nemkovella Less, 1987, Orbitoclypeus Silvestri, 1907, Asterocyclina Gümbel, 1870, and subordinate Assilina d'Orbigny, 1826, Nummulites Lamarck, 1801, and Pellatispira Boussac, 1906, characterizing shallow benthic zone (SBZ) 20. In general, the occurrence of Heterostegina, Spiroclypeus, Orbitoclypeus, and Asterocyclina in both sections suggests a deep environmental setting in the shelf. This interpretation is also supported by the presence of abundant planktonic foraminifera in Gökçetepe and the rareness of Nummulites and Assilina in both localities. The cooccurrence of Heterostegina reticulata and H. gracilis in Gökçetepe suggests a stratigraphic position in the lower part of SBZ 20, while in the absence of H. reticulata, Karaburun samples are referred to the upper part of the same biostratigraphic zone. Spiroclypeus carpaticus specimens in Gökçetepe possess more primitive features than those in Karaburun as recorded in the number of operculinid chambers (parameter X), further supporting the age relations of both sections. The occurrence of D. samantai, N. daguini, A. alticostata, and O. zitteli in association with H. gracilis and S. carpaticus in the latest Priabonian is reported here for the first time. Our findings prompt the revision of the upper stratigraphic ranges of these taxa in the Tethys.
___
- Adams CG, Butterlin J, Samanta BK (1986). Larger foraminifera
and events at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in the IndoWest Pacific region. In: Pomerol C, Premoli-Silva I (editors).
Terminal Eocene Events. Amsterdam, the Netherlands:
Elsevier, pp. 237-252.
- Aubry MP (1992). Late Paleogene Calcareous nannoplankton
evolution: a tale of climatic deterioration. In: Prothero D,
Berggren W (editors). Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic
Evolution. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, pp.
272-309.
- Bassi D (2005). Larger foraminiferal and coralline algal facies in
an Upper Eocene storm-influenced, shallow-water carbonate
platform (Colli Berici, north-eastern Italy). Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 226: 17-35.
- Beavington-Penney SJ, Racey A (2004). Ecology of extant
nummulitids and other larger benthic foraminifera:
applications in palaeoenvironmental analysis. Earth-Science
Reviews 67: 219-265.
- Benedetti A (2010). Biostratigraphic remarks on the Caltavuturo
Formation (Eocene-Oligocene) cropping out at Portella Colla
(Madonie Mts., Sicily). Revue de Paléobiologie 29: 197-216.
- Blanco-Bustamente S, Fernández-Rodríguez G, Fluegeman RH
(1999). A note on the biostratigraphy of Paleocene-Eocene
larger foraminifera from western Cuba. Micropaleontology 45:
19-26.
- Bordiga M, Henderiks J, Tori F, Monechi S, Fenero R et al. (2015).
Microfossil evidence for trophic changes during the EoceneOligocene transition in the South Atlantic (ODP Site 1263,
Walvis Ridge). Climate of the Past 11 (9): 1249-1270.
- Cahuzac B, Poignant A (1997). Essai de biozonation de l’OligoMiocène dans les bassins européens à l’aide des grands
foraminifères néritiques. Bulletin de la Société géologique de
France 168: 155-169 (in French).
- Cornacchia I, Brandano M, Raffi I, Tomassetti L, Flores I (2018). The
Eocene-Oligocene transition in the C-isotope record of the
carbonate successions in the Central Mediterranean. Global
and Planetary Change 167: 110-122.
- Costa E, Garcés M, López-Blanco M, Serra-Kiel J, Bernaola G et al.
(2013). The Bartonian-Priabonian marine record of the eastern
South Pyrenean foreland basin (NE Spain): a new calibration of
the larger foraminifers and calcareous nannofossil biozonation.
Geologica Acta 11: 177-193.
- Daci A (1951). Etude paleontologique du Nummuliique entre
Kücükçekmece et Çatalca. Revue de la Faculte des Sciences de
l’Universite d’İstanbul 16: 89-246 (in French).
- Doust H, Arıkan Y (1974). The geology of the Thrace Basin. In:
Proceedings of the 2nd Petroleum Congress of Turkey, Ankara,
Turkey, pp. 119-136.
- Dunkley JT, Bown PR, Pearson PN, Wade BS, Coxall HK et al.
(2008). Major shifts in calcareous phytoplankton assemblages
through the Eocene-Oligocene transition of Tanzania and
their implications for low-latitude primary production.
Paleoceanography 23: 4204.
- Ferràndez-Cañadell C (1997). A new, ribbed species of Nemkovella
1987 (Discocyclinidae), and discussion on the genus
Actinocyclina Gümbel, 1870. Journal of Foraminiferal Research
27: 175-185.
- Fioroni C, Villa G, Persico D, Jovane L (2015). Middle EoceneLower Oligocene calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy
and paleoceanographic implications from Site 711. Marine
Micropaleontology 118: 50-62.
- Herb R (1978). Some species of Operculina and Heterostegina from
the Eocene of the Helvetic nappes of Switzerland and from
Northern Italy. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 71: 745-767.
- Kopp KO, Pavoni N, Schindler C (1969). Geologie Thrakiens IV: Das
Ergene Becken. Beihefte. Geologisches Jahrbuch 76: 1-136 (in
German with English abstract).
- Less G (1987). Paleontology and stratigraphy of the European
Orthophragminae. Geologica Hungarica Series Palaeontologica
51: 1-373.
- Less G (1998). Zonation of the Mediterranean Upper Paleocene
and Eocene by Orthophragminae. Opera Dela Slovenska
Akademija Znanosti in Umetnosti 34: 21-43.
- Less G (1999). The late Paleogene larger foraminiferal assemblages
of the Bükk Mountains (NE Hungary). Revista Española de
Micropaleontología 31: 347-356.
- Less G, Özcan E (2008). The late Eocene evolution of nummulitid
foraminifer Spiroclypeus in the Western Tethys 53: 303-316.
- Less G, Özcan E (2012). Bartonian-Priabonian larger benthic
foraminiferal events in the Western Tethys. Austrian Journal of
Earth Sciences 105: 129-140.
- Less G, Özcan E, Okay AI (2011). Stratigraphy and larger foraminifera
of the Middle Eocene to Lower Oligocene shallow-marine
units in the northern and eastern parts of the Thrace Basin,
NW Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 20: 793-845.
- Less G, Özcan E, Papazzoni CA, Stockar R (2008). The middle to
late Eocene evolution of nummulitid foraminifer Heterostegina
in the Western Tethys. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53: 317-
350.
- Maden Tetkik ve Arama Genel Müdürlüğü (2011). 1: 1 250 000 Scale
Geological Map of Turkey. Ankara, Turkey: MTA.
- Molina E, Torres-Silva AI, Coric S, Briguglio A (2016). Integrated
stratigraphy across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary at Norona,
Cuba, and the question of the extinction of orthophragminids.
Newsletters on Stratigraphy 49: 27-40.
- Nikishin AM, Okay AI, Tüysüz O, Demirer A, Amelin N et al. (2015).
The Black Sea basins structure and history: new model based
on new deep penetration regional seismic data. Part 1: Basins
structure and fill. Marine and Petroleum Geology 59: 638-655.
- Okay AI, Özcan E, Cavazza W, Okay N, Less G (2010). Upper
Eocene olistostromes, two contrasting basement types and the
initiation of the southern Thrace Basin, NW Turkey. Turkish
Journal of Earth Sciences 19: 1-25.
- Okay AI, Özcan E, Hakyemez A, Siyako M, Sunal G et al. (2019). The
Thrace Basin and the Black Sea - the Eocene-Oligocene marine
connection. Geological Magazine 156: 39-61.
- Okay AI, Tüysüz O (1999). Tethyan sutures of northern Turkey.
In: Durand B, Jolivet L, Horvath F, Seranne M (editors). The
Mediterranean Basins: Tertiary Extension Within the Alpine
Orogen. London, UK: Geological Society of London Special
Publications, pp. 475-515.
- Özcan E, Erbay S, Abbasi AI, Pereira CD, Erkızan LS et al. (2019).
The first record of Nemkovella daguini (Neumann, 1958)
from the middle-late Eocene of Oman (Arabian Peninsula)
and Meghalaya (Indian Subcontinent) and its significance in
Tethyan correlations and paleobiogeography. Rivista Italiana
Paleontologia e stratigrafia 125: 13-28.
- Özcan E, Less G, Báldi-Beke M, Kollányi K, Kertesz B (2006).
Biometric analysis of middle and upper Eocene Discocyclinidae
and Orbitoclypeidae (Foraminifera) from Turkey and
updated orthophragmine Zonation in the Western Tethys.
Micropaleontology 52: 485-520.
- Özcan E, Less G, Okay AI, Báldi-Beke M, Kollányi K et al. (2010).
Stratigraphy and larger foraminifera of the Eocene shallowmarine and olistostromal units of the southern part of the
Thrace Basin, NW Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences
19: 27-77.
- Özcan E, Okay AI, Bürkan KA, Yücel AO, Özcan Z (2018). MiddleLate Eocene marine record of the Biga Peninsula, NW Anatolia,
Turkey. Geologica Acta 16: 163-187.
- Özcan E, Özcan Z, Okay AI, Akbayram K (2020). Ypresian-to
Lutetian marine record in NW Turkey: a revised biostratigraphy
and implications for the Eocene paleogeography and
paleobiogeography. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 29: 1-27.
- Özcan E, Saraswati PK, Hanif M, Ali N (2016). Orthophragminids
with new axial thickening structures from the Bartonian of the
Indian subcontinent. Geologica Acta 14: 261-282.
- Papazzoni CA, Cosovic V, Briguglio A, Drobne K (2017). Towards
a calibrated larger foraminifera biostratigraphic zonation:
celebrating 18 years of the application of shallow benthic zones.
Palaios 32: 1-5.
- Pearson PN, McMillan IK, Wade BS, Jones TD, Coxall HK et al.
(2008). Extinction and environmental change across the
Eocene-Oligocene boundary in Tanzania. Geology 36 (2): 179-
182.
- Pomerol C, Silva IP (1986). The Eocene-Oligocene transition:
events and boundary. Developments in Palaeontology and
Stratigraphy 9: 1-24.
- Rasser MW, Less G, Baldi-Beke M (1999). Biostratigraphy and facies
of the late Eocene in the Upper Austrian molasse zone with
special reference to the larger foraminifera. Abhandlungen der
Geologischen Bundesanstalt 56 (2): 679-698.
- Sakınç M (1994). Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Karaburun
(İstanbul) marine Oligocene. Maden Tetkik ve Arama Dergisi
116: 9-14 (in Turkish with English abstract).
- Şengör AMC (1979). The North Anatolian transform fault: its age,
offset and tectonic significance. Journal of the Geological
Society of London 136: 269-282.
- Serra-Kiel J, Hottinger L, Caus E, Drobne K, Ferràndez-Cañadell C et
al. (1998). Larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Tethyan
Paleocene and Eocene. Bulletin de la Societé géologique de
France 169: 281-299.
- Siyako M (2006). Trakya havzası Tersiyer kaya birimleri.
Litostratigrafi Birimleri Serisi 2: 43-83 (in Turkish).
Siyako M, Huvaz O (2007). Eocene stratigraphic evolution of the
Thrace Basin, Turkey. Sedimentary Geology 198: 75-91.
- Sliwinska KK, Thomsen E, Schouten S, Schoon PL, HeilmannClausen C (2019). Climate-and gateway-driven cooling of
Late Eocene to earliest Oligocene sea surface temperatures in
the North Sea Basin. Scientific Reports 9: 4458. doi: 10.1038/
s41598-019-41013-7
- Sümengen M, Terlemez İ (1991). Stratigraphy of Eocene sediments
in the southwest Thrace. Bulletin of the Mineral Research and
Exploration (MTA) of Turkey 113: 15-29.
- Turgut S, Türkaslan M, Perinçek D (1991). Evolution of the Thrace
sedimentary basin and its hydrocarbon prospectivity. In:
Spencer AM (editor). Generation, Accumulation, and
Production of Europe’s Hydrocarbons. Special Publication of
the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists. Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 415-437.
- Zachos J, Pagani M, Sloan L, Thomas E, Billups K (2001). Trends,
rhythms, and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present.
Science 292: 686-693