Formation of a Late Jurassic carbonate platform on top of the obducted Dinaridic ophiolites deduced from the analysis of carbonate pebbles and ophiolitic detritus in southwestern Serbia

Ophiolite derived material as parent rocks for Late Jurassic bauxite: evidence for Tithonian unroofing in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Eastern Alps, Austria)

“…Traces of such a platform with very similar facies and microfossils are documented by Gawlick et al (2020) in the Dinarides in basinal sediments, and it can be assumed that mount Lugberg is the first occurrence of this platform type in the Eastern Alps. Based on these results, the formation of the Lugberg bauxite can be reconstructed as follows:…”

“…The heavy minerals and their geochemistry, and the transportation of pre-bauxitized material, including slightly older broken pisoids, led to the following reconstruction of the area where the Lugberg bauxite developed: Uplift and unroofing started around the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian boundary (Missoni and Gawlick 2011a, b;Gawlick and Missoni 2019;Gawlick et al 2020) the time frame of the bauxite formation-and uplift movements affected mainly the obducted ophiolites with the platform on top (equivalent to the Kurbnesh platform in Albania: Schlagintweit et al 2008) and the Lärchberg Carbonate platform (Figs. 10,11).…”

“…Uplift of the core complex from the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian boundary resulted in unroofing, further westward transport of the obducted ophiolites, and propagating deformation of the already slightly folded Outer Dinarides with bauxite formation in emerged areas. Paleogeographic reconstruction and crosssection modified from Gawlick and Missoni (2019), including results from Vlahović et al (2005), Picotti and Cobianchi (2017), Gawlick et al (2020). Bauxites of ?Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age from Grubić (1963), Mindszenty et al (1995), Meço and Aliaj (2000), Timotijević (2001), Marković (2002, Mindszenty and D'Argenio (2002), Janković et al (2003), Pajović and Radusinović (2012), Pajović et al (2017) Its unique features differentiate the Lugberg bauxite clearly from other well-known Tithonian bauxites in the wider Adriatic plate, i.e., the bauxites in Istria or the Dinara Mt.…”

“…For a recent overview, see Gawlick and Missoni (2019) and Schmid et al (2020). The configuration of the ophiolitic nappe stack in the eroded southern Calcareous Alps and the formation of a Kimmeridgian-Tithonian carbonate platform on top (similar to what is known in the Albanides as shown by Schlagintweit et al 2008) and its subsequent uplift and erosion in the frame of mountain uplift and unroofing in the Tithonian like proven in the Dinarides/Albanides/Hellenides (Gawlick et al 2020 for a recent review) is still relatively unknown and existing reconstructions of this realm based on pebble analysis in the different resediments (Missoni and Gawlick 2011a, b). The discovery of bauxites in Tithonian shallow-water carbonates and their provenance from obducted and weathered ophiolites closes an important knowledge gap in the geodynamic history of the Northern Calcareous Alps.…”

“…Bauxite is not known from any of the platforms. Equivalents from a more southern carbonate platform formed on top of the obducted Neo-Tethys ophiolites, as known from Greece (Carras et al 2004), Albania (Schlagintweit et al 2008), or Serbia (Gawlick et al 2020 and references therein) were so far not detected in the Eastern Alps. Late Jurassic shallow-water components associated with ophiolitic detritus in the Kimmeridgian (Missoni and Gawlick 2011a, b;Gawlick et al 2015) may have derived from this platform, but a direct proof for the existence of an equivalent of the Kurbnesh Platform (Schlagintweit et al 2008) is still missing.…”