Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the late Neogene of Crete (Greece)

Abstract

A planktonic foraminiferal zonation is established for the Middle/Upper Miocene - Pliocene interval in Crete. It is based upon the investigation of samples from 29 sections. Eight zones are distinguished. A comparison with samples from other Neogene sections from Italy, Spain, Algeria, and the islands of Karpathos, Malta and Gozo shows that the Cretan zonation is valid for intra - Mediterranean correlations. The zonal schemes established by Bizon (1967: Western Greece) and Cita (1973: DSDP cores, Leg 13) seem to be rather different from the Cretan zonation. This is certainly due to different paleontological criteria applied by these authors and different limiting species concepts rather than significant differences in the planktonic foraminiferal successions. Clues for correlating our zonal scheme with Blow's standard zonation (1969) appear to be limited. The Late Neogene sediments in Crete are thought to range from Zone N 15 to Zone N 21. The study of the faunas of some Late Neogene stratotypes, including those of the Tortonian, Messinian, Andalusian, Tabianian and Piacenzian, enables the positioning of our Cretan zonation within the chronostratigraphic scale. The systematic part of the study deals with some 40 taxa. Attention is paid to their horizontal and vertical variation. For wall structure investigations the Scanning Electron Microscope has been used.