STUDYING IN THE PAXOS ZONE THE CARBONATE DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT CHANGES DURING UPPER CRETACEOUS, IN SAMI AREA OF KEFALLINIA ISLAND, GREECE

Abstract

The shallow-marine carbonate sequence of Sami (Kefallinia isl. Fig. 1) is a part of the Upper Cretaceous carbonate platform of the Paxi zone. Detailed lithostratigraphic and microfacies analysis of that sequence revealed clear periodicities and cyclicity. The high-resolution stratigraphic analysis has shown a number of lithofacies organized in groups (lithofacies associations), suggesting, on the whole, sedimentary environments ranging from lagoonal to peritidal context. The vertical arrangement of these lithofacies allowed the identification of a cyclic recurrence of the depositional and early diagenetic features, including a meteoric overprint on top of the elementary cycles. The cycles exhibit a shallowing upward trend from shallow subtidal to inter-supratidal and hypersaline facies, in a warm shallow marine environment.