Equatorial Shelf of the Palaeozoic Supercontinent – Cradle of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform

Abstract

During the Carboniferous and Permian, several carbonate platformsexisted along the eastern coast of the supercontinent Pangaea.Croatian Palaeozoic carbonate sediments were produced in this “carbonatefactory”. The dominant skeletal carbonate producers werecalcareous algae, with assistance from foraminifera, molluscs, brachiopodsand crinoids. Sporadically, reef structures were built by calcisponges,bryozoans, algal and cyanobacterial encrusters. Variscan and post-Variscan tectonic events strongly influenced the platform existence through uplift and deposition of molasse sediments, while a global catastrophe at the Permian/Triassic boundary only changed the biotic carbonate producers. A significant input of terrestrial material during the Lower Triassic, due to uplift and/or global regression, altered the mode of sedimentation along the shallow Palaeotethyan shelves. Platforms were partly restored during the Middle and Upper Triassic, and existed with short interruptions till the Middle Eocene.