Studies of Miocene sediments in the Fore-Carpathian Basin, conducted by geologists from the University of Warsaw have provided new insights on the distribution of the facies infilling the basin, particularly in the forebulge and back-bulge zones. The origin of the large-scale sand bodies, evaporitic deposits and large-scale organic buildups is discussed, described and verified. These deposits originated in variable, shallow marine settings, differing in their water chemistry and the dynamics of sedimentary processes, and are unique with regard to the fossil assemblages they yield. Many years of taxonomic, biostratigraphic, palaeoecologic and ecotaphonomic investigations have resulted in the identification of the fossil assemblages of these sediments, their age, sedimentary settings and post-mortem conditions. Detailed studies were focused on corals, polychaetes, most classes of molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, and fishes.
Two new assemblages of Mississippian pelagic chondrichthyan microremains were recovered from the pelagic limestone of the area of Krzeszowice, NW of Kraków, Poland. The older assemblage represents the upper Tournaisian of Czatkowice Quarry and the younger one the upper Viséan of the Czernka stream valley at Czerna. The teeth of symmoriiform Falcatidae are the major component of both collections. A comparison of the taxonomic composition of the assemblage from Czerna (with the falcatids and Thrinacodus as the major components) to the previously published materials from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland), Muhua (southern China), and Grand Canyon (Northern Arizona, USA) revealed the closest similarity to the first of these, probably deposited in a deeper water environment, relatively far from submarine carbonate platforms. A short review of Mississippian falcatids shows that the late Viséan-Serpukhovian period was the time of the greatest diversity of this group.
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