Micropaleontological insight into the Badenian Sea from the North Croatian Basin

During the Badenian (Langhian-early Serravallian), a diverse biocenosis inhabited the warm marine environments of the epicontinental Central Paratethys Sea. The investigated site in the southeastern part of the Pannonian Basin (North Croatian Basin) provides a unique insight into the palaeoenvironmental evolution of that part of the sea, including changes in water depth, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient levels. A multi-micropaleontological study integrated benthic and planktonic foraminifera, ostracods, calcareous nannoplankton, palynological assemblages, and diversity proxies. This approach encompasses biostratigraphic dating and detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

The studied sediments described a transition from an oligotrophic deeper marine environment, frequently influenced by terrigenous input  (river discharge) to shallow marine habitats. A short-lived eutrophication event, likely triggered by high nutrient activity and transport into the marine basin, occurred slightly above the volcanoclastic layer, correlative to dated tuff in the vicinity (14.4 ± 0.03 Ma, Marković et al., 2021). Following the overall shallowing trend, the environment stabilized into a shallow, oligotrophic state.

This research contributes to a refined understanding of the Miocene environmental history of the southern Pannonian Basin, adding more pieces to  the puzzle called the evolutionary history of the  Central Paratethys. By integrated multiple proxy groups, we aimed to elucidate the timing and character of key environmental changes within this region.

 

Marković, F.; Kuiper, K.; Ćorić, S.; Hajek-Tadesse, V.; Kučenjak, M.H.; Bakrač, K.; Pezelj, Đ. & Kovačić, M. (2021): Middle Miocene marine flooding: New 40Ar/39Ar age constraints with integrated biostratigraphy on tuffs from the North Croatian Basin. Geologia Croatica, 74(3), 237–252. 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was conducted in the scope of the internal research project „RAMPA - Development of Miocene paleoenvironments in Croatia and their connection with global events“at the Croatian Geological Survey, funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026 of the European Union – NextGenerationEU, and monitored by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia.

Partly this research was also supported by the internal research project WEGETA – Weathering and vegetation intertwined-multiproxy approach to understand the fate of terrestrial ecosystems in times of global climate change“ at the Croatian Geological Survey, funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021–2026 of the European Union – NextGenerationEU, and monitored by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia and „PYROSKA – Miocene syn-rift evolution of the North Croatian Basin (Carpathian-Pannonian Region): a multi-proxy approach, correlation and integration of sedimentary and volcanic record“ at the Croatian Geological Survey, funded by Croatian Science Foundation, Installation Research projects (UIO-2019-04-7761).