Eocene Limestones Overlying Lower Cretaceous Deposits of Western lstria (Croatia): Did Some Parts of Present lstria Form Land During the Cretaceous?

Abstract

<div>In the region of the western Istrian anticline, erosional remains of the transgressive Eocene Foraminiferal limestones overly shallow water</div><div>deposits of Early Cretaceous age (Valanginian, Hauterivian and</div><div>Barremian). This evidence, together with the ocurrencc of bauxite</div><div>deposits and Palaeogene beds overlying Albian, Cenomanian and</div><div>Senonian limestones indicate the very high relief of the land transgressed</div><div>by the Palaeogene sea. Contrary to the traditional connection</div><div>beetween formation of the western Istrian anticline and the Laramian</div><div>tectonic phase at the end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), new</div><div>investigations suggest sporadic tectonic movements with constant</div><div>tectonic coordinate orientation from the Hauterivian to the end of the</div><div>Cretaceous. With these movements, formation of the anticline structure</div><div>began in the Early Cretaceous, with the emerged apical parts representing</div><div>land areas throughout most of the Cretaceous.</div>