Jurassic (Upper Bajocian-lowest Oxfordian) ammonitico rosso facies in the Pieniny Klippen Belt, Carpathians, Poland: its fauna, age, microfacies and sedimentary environment

The studied sections of the lower part of the Czorsztyn Limestone Fm. in the Czorsztyn Succession (Obłazowa Klippe, Czorsztyn Castle Klippe, and Krupianka Creek), and of the Niedzica Limestone Fm. in the Niedzica Succession (Niedzica-Podmajerz Klippe, Czajakowa Skała) in central and eastern parts of the Pieniny Klippen Belt in Poland have yielded ammonite faunas of Late Bajocian to Late Callovian/Early Oxfordian age. The cessation of the crinoid limestones deposition, and the onset of sedimentation of the ammonitico rosso-type limestones took place already in the Garantiana Chron, as proved by ammonite findings in the Niedzica Succession. The oldest recognised ammonitico rosso-type limestones in the Czorsztyn Succession correspond to late Parkinsoni Chron of the latest Bajocian. The dominance of thin-shelled pelecypods of the genus Bositra is typical of the ammonitico rosso-type deposits of late Middle Jurassic age in the study area. Two microfacies are distinguished here: the filament microfacies sensu stricto, and the filament-juvenile gastropod microfacies. The youngest deposits studied of the ammonitico rosso-type, of latest Callovian and/or Early Oxfordian ages, are developed either as the Globuligerina (“Protoglobigerina”) microfacies (in the Czorsztyn Succession, and some sections of the Niedzica Succession), or as the radiolarian microfacies (in the Niedzica Sucession). Two turnovers in sedimentation which occurred from the Late Bajocian to latest Callovian/ Early Oxfordian include: (1) a passage from the crinoid limestones to the ammonitico rosso-type limestones related to the Meso-Cimmerian faulting and subsiding of the Czorsztyn Ridge during Late Bajocian, (2) a passage from the deposits of the ammonitico rosso-type rich in filaments to those containing abundant planktonic organisms of the Globuligerina microfacies, and of the radiolarian microfacies. The latter, possibly induced by the tectonic factors, resulted mostly from a marked change in oceanic circulation in the northern part of the Tethys, at the turn of the Callovian and Oxfordian. In the paleontological part of the paper, the most important ammonite and brachiopod species, mostly of Late Bajocian and Bathonian ages, are described and illustrated.