Upper Cretaceous rudist biostratigraphy of the Bey Daglari Carbonate Platform, Western Taurides, SW Turkey

The Upper Cretaceous (Middle Cenomanian-Coniacian) successions of the Bey Daglari Carbonate Platform (Western Taurides, SW Turkey) are represented by rudist-bearing shallow-water limestones. Four rudist lithosomes are distinguished for the first time from the Eastern, Northern and Southern Areas of the Bey Daglan Autochthon. The oldest rudist assemblages dominated by caprinids are observed in the Eastern (Katran Dag) Area (caprinid lithosomes) and suggest a Middle-Late Cenomanian age. The uppermost part of the platform carbonates in the Northern Area is characterized by an association of hippuritid and radiolitid rudist bivalves dominated by Vaccinites praegiganteus (Toucas) (hippuritid lithosomes). The rudist fauna indicates the Late Turonian age, which is confirmed by the previously obtained Sr-87/Sr-86 values of well-preserved low-Mg calcite of Vaccinites praegiganteus (Toucas) shells. The rudist associations of the Southern (Susuzdag) Area are represented by two rudist formations. The lower lithosomes are mainly made up of hippuritids and radiolitids (hippuritid-radiolitid lithosomes). The stratigraphical distributions of the species of the assemblage indicate a Santonian-Early Campanian age. The rudist associations of the upper lithosomes are dominated by species of Joufia and Gorjanovicia (Joufia-Gorjanovicia lithosomes), which suggest a Late Campanian-Maastrichtian age. Identification of the rudist lithosomes yields information on the palaeobiogeographic distribution of the rudist species in the eastern Mediterranean region and also on the biostratigraphic frame of the Upper Cretaceous successions of the Bey Daglari Carbonate Platform. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.