Aretz et al_2011.pdf - ORBi - Université de Liège

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Kölner Forum Geol. Paläont., 19 (2011)
M. ARETZ, S. DELCULÉE, J. DENAYER & E. POTY (Eds.)
Abstracts, 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Sponges, Liège, August 19-29, 2011
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The aim of this work is to illustrate the coral community that characterized the inner zone of the Upper
Jurassic platform margin of the central Apennines proposed by RUSCIADELLI et al. (2011). The collection
contains over 105 coral samples and more than 220 thin sections. The coral determination is still in
progress, a number of taxa is left in open nomenclature and some new genera and species need to be
assigned. This collection provides the first comprehensive study of coral taxonomy carried out in the Upper
Jurassic shallow-water carbonates of the Central Apennines after the pioneering work of PREVER (1909).
Corals colonies are generally in situ or with a low degree of reworking. They can be found as isolated
bioconstructions or as metric scale (1 to 10m 2 extended) dense and sparse aggregates with a variable, but
generally high density. In general, corals display a wide range of features in terms of growth fabric,
morphology (branching ramose, phaceloid, massive and solitary) and diversity of families and genera (ca.
30). The genera Amphiastrea, Pleurophyllia, Aulastraea, Thecidiosmilia, Intersmilia, Cyathophora, Pseudocoenia,
Stylosmilia, Stylina, Heliocoenia, Montlivaltia, Clausastrea, Placophyllia, Dermosmilia, Calamophylliopsis,
Eugyriopsis, Ironella, ?Ogilvinella, Pruvostastraea, Psammogyra, Microsolena, Comoseris, Dimorpharaea,
Thamnasteria, and Solenocoenia have been detected among others.
The reconstruction of the depositional profile and the sedimentological characteristics of the
environment where corals thrived open up major new perspectives for their paleoecological and
biogeographical interpretation. These perspectives make the central Apennines reef complex a possible
landmark case study to investigate more objectively and thoroughly the role of the main factors, such as
light, sedimentation and wave energy, that concur in the formation of the zoned character of the Intra-
Tethyan reefs.
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986-1001.
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