Life in the fluvial hinterland of the late Sarmatian Sea (middle Miocene): a rare terrestrial fossil site in the Styrian Basin (Austria)

This paper describes the section and fossil content of a former gravel pit in the Eastern Styrian Basin (SE Austria), which exposes sediments of a fluvial system, ranging from within channel to overbank environments. A predominately terrestrial gastropod fauna of 15 species so far, was recovered from a palaeosol formed in a moist and vegetated, floodplain or abandoned channel. Up-section, a shallow freshwater pond/lake developed within the floodplain, settled by fishes, molluscs and ostracods. By integrating regional geological and biostratigraphical data derived from the terrestrial gastropod fauna as well as from the other recovered biota, these strata are of late middle Miocene (late Sarmatian s.str.) age. Hence, this fossil site provides a rare insight into the terrestrial habitats in the hinterland of the Sarmatian Sea and their biota, which are otherwise barely known in Central Europe.

The Pennsylvanian Springhill Mines Formation: sedimentological framework for a portion of the Joggins Fossil Cliffs UNESCO World Heritage Site

This is the first detailed study of the coastal exposure of the Springhill Mines Formation within the Joggins Fossil Cliffs World Heritage Site. A 16.9-m-thick interval of dark laminated mudrocks and sharpbased sandstones at the base of our section is reassigned to the top of the Joggins Formation. This interval records a rapid, presumably widespread flooding event and the temporary establishment of a marginalmarine to brackish bay. The overlying 697 m of strata represent deposition in poorly drained and well-drained environments, and are assigned to the Springhill Mines Formation. Strata reflecting poorly drained environments contain green and grey mudrocks, thin coals, sheet sandstones, and channel bodies interpreted to have been deposited in coastal swamps and low-lying parts of a floodplain. Intervals reflecting well-drained conditions contain reddish brown mudrocks, sheet sandstones, and channel bodies interpreted to have been deposited on a vegetated floodplain that was periodically exposed to oxidizing conditions. Strata reflecting poorly drained conditions are thick and abundant in the lower half of the formation and well-drained intervals become thick and more abundant in the upper half. The shift in facies abundance is accompanied by an interpreted evolution in fluvial style from predominantly anastomosed channels (below 376 m) to sheet-like channel bodies (376–449 m) and ultimately to predominantly meandering-channel bodies (449–697 m). The formation-scale changes in drainage conditions and fluvial style records decreased halokinetic subsidence and aggradation of the alluvial surface as sediments shed from the Caledonia Highlands prograded into this part of the basin.

Lateral Distributions of Depth-Averaged Velocity in Compound Channels with Submerged Vegetated Floodplains

Lateral distributions of depth-averaged velocity in open compound channels with submerged vegetated floodplains are analyzed, based on an analytical solution to the depth-integrated Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation with a term included to account for the effects of vegetation. The cases of open channels are: rectangular channel with submerged vegetated corner, and compound channel with submerged vegetated floodplain. The present paper proposes a method for predicting lateral distribution of the depth-averaged velocity with submerged vegetated floodplains. The method is based on a two-layer approach where flow above and through the vegetation layer is described separately. An experiment in compound channel with submerged vegetated floodplain is carried out for the present research. The analytical solutions of the three cases are compared with experimental data. The corresponding analytical depth-averaged velocity distributions show good agreement with the experimental data.