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Facies and fossil associations in Ladinian carbonate olistoliths at Dole pri Litiji, Slovenia

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Abstract

The Ladinian Pseudozilian formation in the central part of the Sava Folds, Slovenia, was deposited in a deeper marine basin situated among the carbonate platforms lining the western margin of the Neotethys. The formation consists of shale and sandstone, hemipelagic limestone, volcanics, and volcanoclastics. At Dole pri Litiji, tuffaceous sandstone contains metre-scale olistoliths dominated by microbialites, solenoporacean algae, sponges, microproblematica and, to a minor extent, corals. Six types of fossil reef associations were recognized based on different proportions of these components. The presence of Ladinella porata Ott, dasycladaceans, and solenoporacean algae suggests the olistoliths originate from within the photic zone, perhaps the platform margin or the upper slope. Similar or even identical associations can be found in other Anisian to early Carnian reefs, suggesting the perseverance of reef associations that established themselves during the Middle Triassic recovery. Rather than replacing the older associations, new associations were added through time. The Anisian–early Carnian reef associations thus probably remained present even after the Late Triassic rise of scleractinian corals to dominance.

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Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (Programme no. P1-0011). We thank Goce Mitrevski who provided valuable information related to the situation in the field. We are grateful to reviewers Francisco Sánchez-Beristain and Michael Link for their thorough check and constructive remarks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva cesta 12, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Luka Gale

  2. Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva ulica 14, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Luka Gale & Tea Kolar-Jurkovšek

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraîchers 13, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Camille Peybernes

  4. Radmirje 114, 3333, Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenia

    Tilen Mavrič

  5. Kamnica 27, 1262, Dol pri Ljubljani, Slovenia

    Bogdan Jurkovšek

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  1. Luka Gale
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Gale, L., Peybernes, C., Mavrič, T. et al. Facies and fossil associations in Ladinian carbonate olistoliths at Dole pri Litiji, Slovenia. Facies 66, 18 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-020-00601-0

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