The Lunz Formation is a

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and other Tethyan regions. It is composed of quartz

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s and

claystone Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too sm ...

s, locally with

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

interbeds. The basal part of the formation may contain marine fossils. It preserves

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

dating back to the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

stage of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

and represents significant siliciclastic input into the European carbonate shelf due to the

Carnian Pluvial Event The Carnian pluvial episode (CPE), often called the Carnian pluvial event, was an interval of major change in global climate synchronous with significant changes in Earth's biota both in the sea and on land. It occurred during the latter part of ...

.Kohút, M., Hofmann, M., Gavrila, M., Linnemann, U., Havrila, J., 2017: Tracking an upper limit of the “Carnian Crisis” and/or Carnian stage in the Western Carpathians (Slovakia). Int. J. Earth Sci. (Geol Rundsch), DOI: 10.1007/s00531-017-1491-8 Formation is traditionally divided into 3 members (Lunz Sandstone, Coal-bearing shales and Upper Sandstone), this concept was later modified and Trachyceras Beds and Reingraben shales were included into the basal part of the formation: * Trahyceras Beds (Trachycerasschichten, Aonschichten) represented by dark, often bituminous

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and calcareous

alteration containing abundant Trachyceratitic ammonites * Reingraben shales (Reingrabener Schiefer) often described as grey to black shales with Halobia bivalves * Main sandstone (Lunzer Hauptsandstein) - grey, brown to green sandstones (feldspar greywacke or arkose) in the basal part, representing thickest part of the formation * Coal-bearing clayey shales in the middle part * Upper sandstone (Lunzer Hangendsandstein) - considerably thinner quartz sandstones in the upper part of the formation The Lunz Formation overlies the Ladinian-Carnian

Wetterstein Formation The Wetterstein Formation is a regional geologic formation of the Northern Limestone Alps and Western Carpathians extending from southern Bavaria, Germany in the west, through northern Austria to northern Hungary and western Slovakia in the east. ...

and is covered by the Norian

Main Dolomite Main Dolomite (german: Hauptdolomit, hu, Fődolomit, it, Dolomia Principale) is a lithostratigraphic unit in the Alps of Europe. Formation was defined by K.W. Gümbel in 1857. Middle to Late Triassic sedimentary record in the Alpine realm is ...

. Formation was originally defined by M.V. Lipold as ''Lunzer Schichten'', according to Austrian town

Lunz am See Lunz am See is a municipality in the district of Scheibbs, Lower Austria, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a ...

. It occurs in the

Northern Calcareous Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. ...

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wi ...

. The Lunz Formation of the Northern Calcareous Alps is well known for well preserved Carnian flora - the so-called Lunz Flora.Dobruskina, I. A., 1998, Lunz flora in the Austrian Alps — a standard for Carnian floras. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 143, 4, 307-345

References

Geologic formations of Austria Triassic System of Europe Triassic Austria Carnian Stage Paleontology in Austria {{Triassic-stub

See also

References