PALEODICTYON ASSEMBLAGE FROM FRASIN, SUCEAVA COUNTY (EASTERN CARPATHIANS, ROMANIA)

Abstract

Hypichnia with Strobilorharphe, Megagrapton, Spirodesmos, Helminthopsis, Treptichnus, and the elite Paleodictyon, representative for „deep-sea farmers” (graphoglyptides) of the Paleodictyon ichnosubfacies, belonging to Nereites ichnofacies is described in Lower-Middle Eocene flysch deposits of Tarcău Nappe (in the north of Eastern Carpathians). The Paleodictyon is preserved as three superimposed networks, covering a half square meter of lower bounding surface of a Tc bed, indicating a quasi-nonerosive character of the turbidity current which exhumed the pre-depositional delicate farming traces. This paleoenvironment is supported by the agglutinated foraminifera, dominated by tubular forms (Bathysiphon sp., Psammosiphonella cylindrica, Nothia excelsa) collected from shale the above and below turbidite bed, accumulated in relative quiet intervals, depleted of nutrients and oxygen. Such conditions may exist in offshore, where organisms develop highly organized feeding strategies.