Sedimentology and biostratigraphy of the Biancone Limestone Formation of the Tolmin Basin (Southern Alps, NW Slovenia)

The Tolmin Basin constitutes the western part of the Slovenian Basin, a large Mesozoic interplatform basin that was bounded to the north by the Julian Carbonate Platform and to the south by the Dinaric Carbonate Platform. Today, it is found along the structural boundary between the Southern Alps and the External Dinarides in northwestern Slovenia. After the drowning of the Julian Carbonate Platform, the Tolmin Basin was dominated by pelagic deposits, namely the Toarcian marlstones (Perbla Formation), the Aalenian to lower Tithonian siliceous limestones and radiolarites (Tolmin Formation), and the upper Tithonian to the Berriasian Biancone Limestone Formation. In this study, a basin-scale sedimentary evolution and calpionellid biostratigraphy of the latter is presented. The Biancone Limestone Formation is a calpionellid-bearing pelagic limestone typical of all deepened segments of the Adria microplate in this time interval. It is generally monotonous but shows considerable vertical and lateral variations. The lower boundary with radiolarites is sharp, revealing a pronounced and rapid overturn in pelagic sedimentation. The lower Berriasian slumps indicate a tectonic pulse. Rare beds of resedimented limestones, assigned to the middle Berriasian, are similar in composition to those intercalated in the underlying radiolarites. They thus show that the factors that led to a significant shift in pelagic sedimentation had little or no effect on shallow-marine carbonate production. In the upper Berriasian, an increase in clay content is evident in the formation, which is explained by the uplift and erosion of the propagating thrust belt in the Neotethys area, superimposed by humidification.