PALYNOSTRATIGRAPHIC AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE MAASTRICHTIAN FROM OARDA DE JOS (SOUTHWESTERN TRANSYLVANIAN BASIN)

A palynological, palynofacies and organic geochemical investigation of the Upper Cretaceous continental vertebrate site of Oarda de Jos allowed us to constrain its age and to make more detailed inferences about its depositional environment. The recovered palynomorph assemblage is represented mainly by angiosperm pollen and fern spores, alongside rare taxa of gymnosperms. Biostratigraphically significant taxa identified in the assemblage restrict the age of the studies deposits to the later early Maastrichtian. The palynofloral evidence indicates plant communities that mainly preferred higher-altitude areas and cooler-wetter conditions. However, a spore and pollen assemblage which derives from vegetation typical of lacustrine areas or riverbanks also occurs in the studied deposits. The studied palynoflora shows quite significant differences compared to previously published palynological assemblages from the same geological unit (the Sebeș Formation), although from deposits located slightly to the north, at Pâclișa. Organic geochemical data show that certain organic biomarkers such as n-alkanes n-C16 to n-C18 reach the highest values, and indicate that they may derive from freshwater colonial green algae such as Scenedesmus. The palynofacies constituents used to reconstruct the depositional environment suggest an exclusive terrestrial organic matter deposited in a stagnant-water fluvial/lacustrine environment.