Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

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Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / p a l a e o

The Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein),

Germanic Basin
Heinz W. Kozur a, G.H. Bachmann b,⁎
a
Rézsü u. 83, H-1029 Budapest, Hungary
b
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Geowissenschaften,Von-Seckendorff-Platz 3, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo (MCWI) of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) and age-equivalent
Received 9 March 2009 strata of the northwestern Tethys occurred entirely within equivalents of the upper subzone of the Austrotra-
Received in revised form 29 October 2009 chyceras austriacum ammonoid zone of the late Julian. Its duration is estimated to be only about 0.7–0.8 myr. In
Accepted 3 November 2009
both the Germanic Basin and the northwestern Tethys, the warm climate during the MCWI was characterized by a
Available online 16 November 2009
rate of precipitation that exceeded somewhat the evaporation but was not so great as to be pluvial. The MCWI was
Keywords:
related to the atmospheric circulation of a megamonsoonal system that was characterized by strong, moisture-
Triassic laden, northwesterly flowing trade winds that rose as they reached the estimated 2000–3000 m high eastern
Carnian shoulder uplift of a huge rift causing them to drop an extraordinary amount of rain. This eastern shoulder uplift lay
Germany within the Caledonides of modern day western Scandinavia. This region only, between 30 and 50°N
Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) palaeolatitude, had a truly pluvial climate, and the huge amounts of fresh water dropped there transported
Biofacies large amounts of siliciclastics from this rift-shoulder uplift southward into the Germanic Basin.
Climate Before deposition of the siliciclastics an early Julian eustatic sea-level fall caused widespread erosion in the
Germanic Basin. In the later part of late Julian, a transgression from the eastern gates with the concurrent strong
fresh water influx from the north flooded the centre of the northern Germanic Basin with a shallow brackish sea in
which the Osterhagen Horizon (Basisschichten) of the lower Stuttgart Formation was deposited. In the upper
Osterhagen Horizon the salinity rapidly decreased from mesohaline through mio- and oligohaline to fresh water
levels. In southern Germany the Basisschichten formed entirely within fresh water or very low salinity brackish
environments. Later, a slight subsidence of the southwestern Germanic Basin shifted the main outflow of fresh
water toward the southwestern end of the basin, creating local brackish conditions in the northern marginal part
of the northwestern Tethys (e.g. in the Lunz Beds). During this time interval, tidal influence also can be found in
the Stuttgart Formation deposited in palaeoestuaries of the southwestern Germanic Basin adjacent to the Tethys.
The very strong fresh water influx from the north, however, prevented these estuaries from developing a strongly
elevated salt content, so that only fresh water to oligohaline brackish faunas are found there such as the Eberstadt
bivalve–conchostracan fauna.
At the base of the Tuvalian, the megamonsoonal system either disintegrated or else the trade winds shifted their
principal flow direction. This caused the climate within the Germanic Basin and in the nearby northwestern
Tethys Sea to become arid again as it had been before the deposition of the Stuttgart Formation. These changes in
the atmospheric circulation patterns also terminated the pluvial climatic regime to the north along the
Scandinavian eastern rift-shoulder uplift. This in turn ended the transport of huge amounts of siliciclastics from
this region southward into the Germanic Basin and ended the deposition of the Schilfsandstein. After this, the
hypersaline sabkha and playa sedimentation of the Weser Formation began, which was accompanied by some
minor marine ingressions in the southwestern Germanic Basin.
© 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction dry girdle around the Tropic of Cancer (Stampfli and Borel, 2004;
Stampfli and Kozur, 2006). This time interval primarily was
During the late Longobardian to late Tuvalian times the Germanic characterized by hypersaline sedimentation that formed the Grabfeld
Basin was located between 20° and 30°N paleolatitude in the northern Formation (in the past referred to as Lower Gypsum Keuper) and its
widespread deposits of gypsum and some halite (Bachmann and
⁎ Corresponding author.
Kozur, 2004). The Tuvalian Weser Formation (in the past referred to
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H.W. Kozur), as Upper Gypsum Keuper) consists likewise of hypersaline sediments
[email protected] (G.H. Bachmann). that are rich in gypsum and locally contain halite. Thus, throughout

0031-0182/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.11.004
108 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

the late Longobardian and Cordevolian times, and in Tuvalian time, kites sutherlandi zones) to the Ladinian (e.g. Krystyn, 1974, 1978; Tozer,
the arid sedimentation occurring in the Germanic Basin matches well 1984). This no longer is possible, however, because the base of the Carnian
with the estimated palaeolatitudinal position of that area around the since then has been defined as the base of the D. canadensis Zone (Fig. 1) as
Tropic of Cancer and its northern low latitude dry girdle. proposed by Broglio Loriga et al. (1998). This boundary is convenient not
In contrast, climatic conditions were different during deposition of only for correlation within the Tethyan realm and with higher northern
the middle Carnian (middle to upper Julian) Stuttgart Formation latitudes, but also for correlation with continental beds. Close to the base
(Schilfsandstein). Kozur (1972, 1975) inferred for this time interval a of the D. canadensis Zone there is a distinct change in sporomorphs. About
wet climate that seemed not to fit well with the palaeogeographic 3.7 m above the base of the zone (total thickness almost 150 m in the
position of the Germanic Basin at that time. Interestingly, during this proposed GSSP Stuores Wiesen section), is the first appearance of Pati-
same time interval, in the northwestern Tethyan Lunz and North nasporites densus Leschik, Vallasporites ignacii Leschik and several other
Alpine Raibl formations brachyhaline marine to brackish intercala- species, which are important for correlation with the Germanic Triassic.
tions occur with conchostracans and brackish ostracods, also indicat- The conchostracan species Laxitextella multireticulata (Reible) first appears
ing a strong fresh water influx. Schröder (1977) assumed a “perhaps at the newly defined Carnian base, e.g., in the Germanic Basin (Fig. 1),
more humid intermezzo” for the Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Forma- where it begins together with a palynoflora with P. densus and V. ignacii
tion). Simms and Ruffell (1989) invoked a “Carnian pluvial episode” to (close to the FAD of these two species). Similarly, in the Newark
explain this, and later authors referred to it as the “middle Carnian Supergroup, Kozur and Weems (2007) have been able to recognize the
pluvial event”. Visscher and Van der Zwan (1981), Van der Zwan and base of the Carnian by the first appearance of L. multireticulata. Beside this
Spaak (1992) and Visscher et al. (1994), however, rejected such an Carnian conchostracan species, the late Ladinian Euestheria minuta (von
interpretation and assumed that the deposition of the Schilfsandstein Zieten) is still present in the entire Cordevolian.
(Stuttgart Formation) occurred during a persistently arid climate in Among conodonts, the Cordevolian contains the typical Carnian
Carnian time. They postulated that the palaeogeographic setting of the Paragondolella noah (Hayashi) plus other genera and species that
Germanic Basin at that time was a kind of “Nile valley in a Carnian continue up from the Longobardian, such as Budurovignathus and
Sahara” (Visscher and Van der Zwan, 1981, p. 632). This interpretation Pseudofurnishius. Among radiolarians, saturnalids (Parasaturnalidae
is in fair agreement with the palaeogeographic position of the Kozur & Mostler) begin at the base of the Cordevolian, even while the
Germanic Basin around the Tropic of Cancer, but it is not supported typical Middle Triassic Oertlispongidae Kozur & Mostler are still
by the facies of the Stuttgart Formation. The wide areal extent of the present. The same picture is seen in many other radiolarian groups.
Stuttgart Formation fluvial facies only could be explained in this model Within the stratigraphically important bivalve groups, the Upper
by assuming an approximately 1000 km wide “Nile valley” in the Triassic Halobia first appears in the Cordevolian, but the Middle
northern part of the Germanic Basin and an at least 300 km wide “Nile Triassic genus Daonella persists.
valley” in its southern part—without any facies being present that This mixture of Carnian and Ladinian elements in all stratigraphi-
would be equivalent to a surrounding Carnian Sahara. cally important fossil groups can be observed throughout the entire
This paper proposes that the Schilfsandstein clastics were derived Cordevolian (Daxatina canadensis Zone and Trachyceras aon Zone). In
from a rift-shoulder uplift located in the western Scandinavian the Julian (Trachyceras aonoides Zone and Austrotrachyceras austria-
Caledonides, in a depositional setting that was primarily controlled cum Zone), however, nearly all holdovers from the Ladinian have
by climate, changes in sea level and local subsidence. disappeared. Only one Daonella species persists into the T. aonoides
Zone (Krystyn et al., 2002).
2. Carnian stratigraphy The base of the Tuvalian similarly is marked by distinct changes in
most faunal groups, mainly among the nekton and plankton, but the
The Carnian was originally subdivided into three substages: Cordevo- deep water benthos do not change significantly and shallow water
lian, Julian and Tuvalian (Mojsisovics et al., 1895). All three substages can benthos (ostracods) are affected only moderately. Most striking is the
be readily distinguished from each other (Fig. 1). The Cordevolian is turnover from the upper Julian ammonoids of the Austrotrachyceras
characterized by a Carnian fauna which still contains, in all faunal groups, a austriacum Zone to the Tropites faunas of the lower Tuvalian and the
considerable percentage of Ladinian faunal elements. Typical Carnian changes from the Julian radiolarian faunas to the Tuvalian radiolarian
ammonoid genera like Trachyceras are present in the Cordevolian, but faunas (Fig. 1). This latter group is characterized by the appearance of
genera like Frankites (which appeared first in the upper Ladinian) still numerous new species within genera that were already present in the
range high into the Cordevolian (Kozur, 1976; Balini and Jenks, 2007; Julian, and also by the appearance of some entirely new groups (e.g.
Mietto et al., 2007). This often has led to assignment of the Cordevolian (or Unumidae Kozur, Podobursa Wisnowski, and the genus Syringocapsa
at least the Daxatina canadensis and the largely contemporaneous Fran- Neviani, none of which achieve their widest distribution until the

Fig. 1. Biozonation of the marine and continental Carnian in the Tethys and in the Germanic Basin. The Carnian–Norian boundary is not yet defined. Vertical axis does not reflect the relative
temporal duration of these biozones. G. jandianus = Guembelites jandianus; E. orchardi–N. navicula = Epigondolella orchardi–Norigondolella navicula; M. primitius = Metapolygnathus primitius;
L. cf. laxitexta - n. gen. = Laxitextella cf. laxitexta - n. gen. cf. fimbriata; L. n. sp. - Palaeol. n. sp. = Laxitextella n. sp. - Palaeolimnadia n.sp.; P. ? schwan. = Palaeolimnadia ? schwanbergensis.
Ammonoid column after Krystyn (1978) and Krystyn et al. (2002). Conodont column after Kozur (2003). Radiolarian column after Kozur and Mostler (1994) and this paper. Halobiid column
slightly modified from Krystyn (1978), Krystyn et al. (2002) and McRoberts (2007). Conchostracan column modified from Kozur and Weems (2007, in press).
 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119 109

Jurassic). Distinct changes also can be observed among conodonts, (Noyan and Kozur, 2007), which begins in the upper S. kerri Zone and
though these changes are more subtle than those seen among in the upper Guembelites jandianus Zone of the Tethys region. Krystyn's
ammonoids and radiolarians. Among conodonts, the last species of (1980) earlier correlation of the S. kerri Zone with the upper G. jan-
the genus Gladigondolella, Gladigondolella tethydis (Huckriede), dis- dianus ammonoid zone was not supported by later established
appeared at the Julian–Tuvalian boundary. It is not yet clear whether conodont ranges, so Krystyn et al. (2002) modified their interval of
the characteristic lower Tuvalian conodont Paragondolella postincli- correlation so that the base of the S. kerri Zone correlated with the base
nata Kozur appears exactly at the base of the Tuvalian or whether it is of the G. jandianus Zone. Even now some additional correlation
already present within the uppermost Julian. Among shallow water problems with ammonoids exist. McRoberts (2007) regarded the FOD
ostracods, the upper Julian Simeonella alpina Bunza & Kozur is of Gonionotites as a proxy for the base of the S. kerri Zone. Krystyn et al.
replaced by the lower Tuvalian Simeonella nostorica Monostori. (2002), however, used Gonionotites italicus as the index species for the
When the lower Carnian boundary was placed at the base of the G. italicus Subzone of the late Tuvalian Anatropites spinosus Zone.
Trachyceras aon Zone, as advocated previously by some specialists In continental beds the vertebrates and conchostracans show a
(e.g. Krystyn and Tozer, see above), the Cordevolian consisted of only rather distinct change close to the Carnian–Norian boundary (Fig. 2).
one ammonoid zone. This definition of the Cordevolian made that The youngest Carnian conchostracan fauna of the Heldburg Gypsum
substage so short that Krystyn (1974) united the Cordevolian and Julian Member has a typical Carnian association that includes Laxitextella
into a single substage despite the strong faunistic contrast between its freybergi Kelber & Kozur, a typical form of the Coburg Sandstone.
Cordevolian and Julian parts (see above). Consequently, Krystyn (1978) Alongside this and other late Carnian conchostracans and Carnian
subdivided his Julian s.l. into a Julian 1 (the restricted Cordevolian sporomorphs, is the earliest occurrence of the latest Tuvalian to
Substage) and Julian 2 (= the Julian Substage s.s.). We contend that it is earliest Norian conchostracan species, Palaeolimnadia schwanbergen-
much more useful to keep the original substage names for the sis. In the lowermost Norian, this species occurs widely as monospe-
Cordevolian and Julian as was done for about 80 years after they were cific faunas, e.g. in the basal Arnstadt Formation and in the Warford
introduced by Mojsisovics et al. (1895). This is especially logical since Member of the lower Passaic Formation at the same level where the
the decision to place the Carnian boundary at the base of the Daxatina first Aetosaurus occurs in the Newark Basin. This latter genus can be
canadensis Zone. Now the Cordevolian and Julian both have two used to define the lower and middle Norian interval in both North
ammonoid zones, the D. canadensis and T. aon Zones for the Cordevolian America and in Europe. Although there is a distinct change from an
and the Trachyceras aonoides and Austrotrachyceras austriacum zones upper Tuvalian to lower Norian assemblage, it is not clear whether
for the Julian. In discussions with Krystyn, it is clear that he now has no this change correlates with the base of the Stikinoceras kerri
objection to returning to the use of the Cordevolian and Julian substages. (Guembelites jandianus) Zone or with the base of the Epigondolella
Therefore, in the present paper we recognize the Cordevolian and Julian quadrata conodont zone within these two ammonoid zones.
as separate and roughly equal substages of the Carnian stage.
The Norian base is not yet defined by the Subcommission on 3. Correlation of the Stuttgart Formation with the international
Triassic Stratigraphy. The changes around the Carnian–Norian bound- marine (Tethyan) scale
ary are gradual among the most stratigraphically important fossil
groups, and correlation problems exist among most of these groups. The correlation of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) with
The base of the Stikinoceras kerri Zone is generally used in North the Tethyan scale is rather well established (Figs. 2, 3). Kozur (1972,
America to define the base of the Norian. This boundary corresponds 1975) correlated the Schilfsandstein by ostracods, megaflora and
to the base of the Epigondolella orchardi–Norigondolella navicula Zone megaspores with the Julian of the Lunz Beds and the North Alpine Raibl
of Kozur (2003). A readily recognizable Norian base, defined by Beds of Austria and contemporaneous beds in Hungary. The wet
conodonts, would be the base of the Epigondolella quadrata Zone climatic interval of the Schilfsandstein between under- and overlying

Fig. 2. Correlation of the Stuttgart Formation and other Carnian units with the marine scale. Vertical axis does not reflect the relative temporal duration of the deposition of these
various units. In particular, the upper Julian Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone (in its upper part contemporaneous with the Stuttgart Formation) is strongly expanded in comparison
to the other ammonoid zones, causing the Julian to seem abnormally long in comparison to the Cordevolian and Tuvalian. For abbreviations within the ammonoid and conchostracan
zones, see explanation of Fig. 1. Minor local erosional gaps occur at the bases of the fluvial sandstones.
110 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

dry climates was also taken into consideration, because brackish Osterhagen Horizon (Duchrow, 1984) comprising brackish to brachyha-
intercalations also are known from the Lunz Beds, indicating a strong line marine beds in its lower part and slightly brackish to fresh water
influx of fresh water into the Tethys within this stratigraphic interval. deposits in its upper part. These beds are overlain by the predominantly
The Julian age for the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) has been fluvial part of the lower Stuttgart Formation. The second sedimentation
generally accepted. A slight modification of this correlation was made phase begins with the fresh water to slightly brackish Gaildorf Horizon
by Bachmann and Kozur (2004), because Simeonella alpina Bunza & (Lang, 1909), overlain by the fluvial upper Schilfsandstein which is in
Kozur, which occurs in the basin centre in northern Germany within a southwestern Germany partly replaced by the Dunkle Mergel (in English,
short interval of mesohaline brackish to brachyhaline marine beds at literally “dark marls”; Lang, 1909; Frank, 1929). The biostratigraphic
the very base of the Stuttgart Formation, is known elsewhere only from correlation combined with correlation of the (climatically controlled)
the (upper) Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone and contemporaneous sedimentation phases results in a very detailed correlation between the
beds of the Alps and Hungary and not from the early Julian Trachyceras Stuttgart Formation of the Germanic Basin and the Lunz Formation of
aonoides Zone. For this reason Bachmann and Kozur (2004) concluded the Northern Calcareous Alps (Fig. 3). For the first sedimentation phase
that the Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Formation) could only begin during this is biostratigraphically confirmed by Simeonella alpina. In the second
the late Julian s.s. The upper boundary of the Stuttgart Formation sedimentation phase “Omphaloptycha” lunzensis Yen occurs both in the
coincides with the Julian–Tuvalian boundary. This is indicated by the Northern Calcareous Alps and in the Gaildorf Horizon of the Stuttgart
bivalve fauna with Costatoria vestita (von Alberti) in the Dolomie de Formation of the Germanic Basin, but this gastropod is not a
Beaumont immediately above the Stuttgart Formation of eastern biostratigraphic guide form, but rather a facies fossil.
France. According to Prof. Renato Posenato, Ferrara (pers. comm.), C.
vestita occurs in latest Julian and earliest Tuvalian strata, and his 4. Facies of the Stuttgart Formation
specimens (sampled in situ) came from near the supposed Julian/
Tuvalian boundary. The sudden end of the wet intermezzo at the top of The facies of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) have been
the Stuttgart Formation, at the top of the North Alpine Raibl marls and discussed in some detail by Shukla and Bachmann (2007) and
sandstones (top of Julian by marine faunas, Hornung et al., 2007a) and references quoted therein. We agree with this facies interpretation
at the top of the Lunz Formation (top of Julian by marine faunas, and do not repeat it here. Instead we mainly discuss the question
Hornung et al., 2007a) confirms the correlation of the top of the whether evidence for a marine influence in some brackish parts of the
Stuttgart Formation with the top of the Julian. Thus, the Stuttgart Schilfsandstein is present or not, because this question is controversially
Formation comprises only the late late Julian. discussed until now. Moreover, we discuss the evidence for two
The detailed biostratigraphic correlations of the Lunz Formation and transgressive horizons in the Stuttgart Formation because they provide
the North Alpine Raibl Beds by Hornung (2007) are very important. He arguments for a two-fold subdivision of the Stuttgart Formation.
adopted the late Julian s.s. age of the Schilfsandstein and correlated it with In southern Germany there has been a long-standing controversy as
the upper Reingraben Shales above the lower Julian gap, with the first to whether the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) is lacustrine–fluvial
Marl–Sandstone Member of the North Alpine Raibl Beds, and with the or a marine unit. Over a century ago, Thürach (1888/1889, p. 133 ff.)
uppermost Reingraben Beds and the Lunz Formation in the Lunz region. assumed a predominantly fluvial Schilfsandstein but suggested tempo-
This lithostratigraphic correlation on a biostratigraphic basis convincingly rarily saline water (in the sense of brackish) during the deposition of a
restricts the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) to equivalents of the silty–shaly interval that seems to correspond to the Gaildorf Horizon
upper Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone of the Northern Alps. based on such fish remains that do not occur in fresh water, but only in
A marine transgression (brackish beds in the basal Stuttgart marine and brackish deposits (see below). The majority of later geologists
Formation) above a rather long stratigraphic gap in the basin centre of have preferred a deltaic or fluvial–lacustrine origin for the Schilfsandstein
the northern Germanic Basin correlates with the late phase of the (e. g., Wurster 1964; DSK, 2005). Linck (1968), however, published on a
transgression that initiated deposition of the Reingraben Shales above collection of bivalves from the Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Formation) at
a gap which separates the Reingraben Shales from the underlying Eberstadt near Heilbronn (South Germany), which he regarded as
Wetterstein Formation. In the Reifling/Lunz region, two phases of representing a diverse marine fauna of 47 species within 17 genera that
deposition can be observed. The first phase is represented by the lived in a shallow shelf sea. Warth (1988) restudied this fauna and
Reingraben Shales and the overlying Hauptsandstein, the second sharply reduced its diversity to only 3 species within 3 genera, and he
phase by the Schieferkomplex and its overlying Hangendsandstein of concluded that this fauna and all other subaquatic Schilfsandstein faunas
the Lunz Formation (which is thinner than the Hauptsandstein). had lived either in continental lakes with variable salt content or in fluvial
In the Stuttgart Formation, two similar sedimentation phases (or environments. Kozur (1975) and Bachmann and Kozur (2004) have since
cycles in the sense of Etzold and Franz, 2005) within the same late Julian painted a more detailed picture without such generalisations. Geyer
time interval also are seen. These contemporaneous sedimentation (1989, 1990) also pointed out that the question of marine influence in the
phases of similar character in two different sedimentation areas suggest Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Formation) can be considered only within
that these two depositional phases in the Lunz Formation of the Northern narrow stratigraphic horizons and not in terms of any sort of basin-wide
Calcareous Alps and in the Stuttgart Formation of the Germanic Basin generalisation.
were controlled by climate and/or sea-level changes. The first sedimen- In the lower part of the Osterhagen Horizon of the Stuttgart
tation phase begins in the basin centre of northern Germany with the Formation, in the basin centre in northern Germany, a distinct marine

Fig. 3. Correlation of the North Alpine Lunz Formation with the Stuttgart Formation of the Germanic Basin.
 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119 111

transgression occurred following a rather prolonged stratigraphic especially common in brackish beds, but also can occur in fully marine
hiatus. During this same time interval, a strong influx of fresh water deposits. It was stated by Warth (1988) referring to Newell (1942),
from the north occurred. The concurrent influx of sea water through that the presence of Myalinella Newell indicates fresh water. However,
the Eastern Carpathian Gate and (or?) the Upper Silesian Gate, in as noted by Geyer (1989), Newell (1969, p. N 291) subsequently
combination with the influx of fresh water from the north, created a changed his earlier view and assigned Myalinella to the marine
large brackish sea in the centre of the Germanic Basin where representatives of the family Myalinellidae.
mesohaline to pliohaline brackish marls, shales and siltstones were The taxonomic status of Myalinella dorsocurvata (Linck) is disputed.
deposited and also subordinate amounts of brachyhaline marine Although Geyer (1987) considered this species to be a synonym of
bivalve- and ostracod-rich limestones occur. In southern Germany, Modiolus transiens Linck, Warth (1988) considered M. transiens to be a
the silty–clayey Basisschichten (“Basal Beds”) of the Stuttgart synonym of “Myalinella” dorsocurvata. Geyer (1989) correctly stated
Formation may correspond to the upper part of the North German that, by the action of the first revising author, Modiolus dorsocurvatus
Osterhagen Horizon. They contain, when present, only a fresh water Linck must be regarded as a junior synonym of M. transiens and not vice-
to very low salinity brackish fauna with Darwinula and conchostra- versa. The argument of Warth (1990) that the holotype of M. transiens is
cans, but also with some Chondrichthyes taxa, which generally do not badly preserved is not convincing, because the holotype of M. dorso-
penetrate fresh water lakes (Thürach, 1888/1889; Seilacher, 1943). In curvatus is not better preserved. Moreover, if both Geyer (1987) and
contrast, a clear marine influence in the northern Germanic Basin is Warth (1988) regarded both species as synonymous without question-
indicated by euryhaline marine ostracods, mainly Simeonella alpina ing their synonymy, then the diagnostic features of the species must be
which is common in marine and brackish beds of the lower North visible on the holotype of both M. transiens and M. dorsocurvatus. This
Alpine Raibl Beds, the Reingraben Shales, the lower Lunz Formation nomenclatural question, however, does not directly affect the generic
and time-equivalent beds in Hungary. As shown by Kozur (1975) and assignment. Neither the holotype of M. transiens nor the holotype of M.
Bachmann and Kozur (2004), the southernmost occurrence of S. al- dorsocurvatus shows the long, straight dorsal margin that is typical for
pina in the Germanic Basin is in the western Thuringian Basin, where Myalinella. Thus, Modiolus ? transiens is more closely related to Modio-
it occurs very rarely in mesohaline siltstones and shales of the lus than to Myalinella, but even so it is not a typical representative of this
Osterhagen Horizon of the Stuttgart Formation. Lutkevichinella genus. For purposes of palaeoecological evaluation, moreover, the
oblonga Kozur, another euryhaline marine ostracod species is present assignment to Modiolus or Myalinella has no importance, because both
in the northern Germanic Basin but does not occur as far south as the genera contain species that could live in marine, brackish and perhaps
western Thuringian Basin. even fresh water environments. As the Stuttgart Formation from
As pointed out by Kozur (1975) and Bachmann and Kozur (2004), the Eberstadt also has a rich conchostracan fauna, a fully marine environ-
marine influence rapidly decreases upward within the Basisschichten ment can be excluded. Most probably fresh water to oligohaline brackish
(Osterhagen Horizon) of the northern Germanic Basin centre. The middle environments were present, though brackish water ostracods have not
and upper Osterhagen Horizon grade from mesohaline facies (with rare been found yet beside the conchostracans.
Simeonella alpina, Darwinula, Karnocythere germanica Wienholz & The bivalve fauna from Eberstadt occurs at a stratigraphic level
Kozur, and Limnocythere ? triassica Kozur) through mio- and oligohaline where in southwestern Germany tidal influence has been documented
facies (with the above-mentioned taxa but without S. alpina and (Gehrmann and Aigner, 2002; Shukla and Bachmann, 2007). This
increasing numbers of Darwinula) to entirely fresh water deposits. marine influence came from the southwest through the Burgundian
These fresh water deposits begin either in the upper Osterhagen Horizon Gate or rather the Alemannic Gate, the latter of which was situated in
or in the overlying sandstones that often cut deeply into the Osterhagen northern Switzerland near the Alpenrhein Depression (Bachmann et
Horizon or remove them totally. In the Germanic Basin in northern al., in press). The position of the Alemannic Gate was first recognized
Germany, these sandstones are fluvial, and lacustrine beds between these by Szulc (2000), who described it under the name Western Gate. To
sandstone bodies mostly contain a fresh water fauna. In a widespread avoid confusion with the Burgundian Gate, Bachmann et al. (in press)
clayey–silty layer at the level of the Gaildorf Horizon, a generally mio- to renamed this feature as the Alemannic Gate. This connection between
oligohaline fauna with K. germanica and “Omphaloptycha” lunzensis Yen the southwestern Germanic Basin and the northwestern shelf of the
(a euryhaline marine gastropod) occurs that marks a second, much Meliata Ocean first opened during the Bithynian and Pelsonian (Götz
weaker marine ingression within the Stuttgart Formation in the region of and Gast, 2007).
the basin centre. This is the youngest horizon with brackish influence The presence of a tidal influence in the deltaic-estuarine Stuttgart
found anywhere in the Stuttgart Formation. Formation of the southwestern Germanic Basin does not mean that
In the Germanic Basin of southern Germany, the situation is rather there was a strong sea water influx from the southwest. The fresh
different. There we have found no evidence for a distinct brackish water inflow from the north into the Germanic Basin was so strong
influence in the Basisschichten (probably an equivalent of the upper that the outflow from the Germanic Basin in the southwestern part of
Osterhagen Horizon) of the Stuttgart Formation (no Simeonella alpina the basin (Alemannic Gate or ? Burgundian Gate) and even in the
and other euryhaline marine ostracods which require at least east–southeast (Carpathian Gate, Upper Silesian Gate) was signifi-
mesohaline brackish salinity). We so far have only investigated a few cantly stronger than the inflow of sea water. Deeper water troughs
exposures of the Basisschichten in southern Germany, but it is favourable for sea water inflow were obviously not present in the
noteworthy that none of our other colleagues have ever reported Germanic Basin during the Stuttgart Formation. Moreover, even in the
brackish faunal elements from the Basisschichten there. The bivalves, Tethys Sea adjacent to the Germanic Basin brackish water environ-
regarded in the past as partly consisting of marine bivalves, came from ments were widespread, as indicated by conchostracan-bearing beds
the main Schilfsandstein between the Basisschichten (Osterhagen in the Western Carpathians (Kozur and Mock, 1993), by brackish beds
Horizon) and the Gaildorf Horizon and from the Gaildorf Horizon itself. with conchostracans in the Lunz Fm (Hornung, 2007) and by brackish
After the revision of the Eberstadt fauna by Warth (1988), only three water ostracods in the North Alpine Raibl Beds (Bunza and Kozur,
species are recognized now within this fauna: Unio keuperinus Berger, 1971). This palaeogeography produced a depositional environment
Unionites equisetitis (Linck) and Myalinella dorsocurvata (Linck). similar to that found today in the Sea of Azov, where salt content of
Triassic species assigned to Unio have a wide range of salinity tolerance the water is only 2–11‰ (mainly oligo- to miohaline brackish), much
and occur in fresh water, brackish and hypersaline beds, but not in fully less than the salt content of surface water in the nearby Black Sea
marine deposits. They are strongly euryhaline bivalves. Unionites (around 17‰). In this situation, brackish water-tolerant bivalves are
(genus group) species can occur in fresh water (e.g. in the Norian Bull able to penetrate far into the fresh water environments of nearby
Run Formation of the Newark Supergroup in the Culpeper Basin), are rivers. Thus, brackish water bivalves are very common in the fresh
112 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

water environment of the lower Don River near Rostov, 50–80 km basin centre, the salinity changed again to oligo-miohaline, as indicated
inland (pers. observation by H.W. Kozur). by the presence of the brackish water ostracod Karnocythere germanica
The distinctly different facies found in the Stuttgart Formation of the and by the immigration of some strongly euryhaline marine forms such
northern and southern Germanic Basin can be explained by the as the gastropod “Omphaloptycha” lunzensis Yen (Kannegieser and
following scenario. During the sea-level lowstand in the lower Julian Kozur, 1972). After this, the fresh water influx and sand transport from
Trachyceras aonoides Zone, a stratigraphic gap occurs throughout the the north resumed again and became again more pronounced with the
entire Germanic Basin. During that time interval, in shallow marine deposition of the upper fluvial sandstones that partly eroded away at
carbonate platforms of the Tethys but also in western North America, their base the lacustrine to oligohaline brackish sediments of the
there is an observable break in sedimentation, e.g. above the Wetterstein Gaildorf Horizon and equivalents. The “Dunkle Mergel”, found in the
Formation in the Northern Alps and above the Cassian Dolomites in the southern Germanic Basin, consists of several metres of predominantly
Southern Alps (Hornung et al., 2007b; Breda et al., 2008). With a sea- dark redbrown silt–claystone layers that contain sparse dolomite and
level rise during the Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone (culminating in a gypsum nodules. In its lower part, the beds contain a few thin sandy
relative highstand in the upper A. austriacum Zone) a widespread layers, but in the upper part the layers generally are sand-free. The age
transgression occurred in the Tethys and other marine regions (e.g. and facies of this unit are not yet well known; the upper sand-free part
deposition of the Reingraben Shales). During the sea-level highstand the may range up into the basal Weser Formation, at least for some beds
deepest part of the Germanic Basin, located in the northern Germanic assigned to the upper “Dunkle Mergel” (Frank, 1929).
Basin, was slightly below sea level. In contrast, the southern Germanic The variation in the amount of fresh water and sand transported
Basin (southern Germany) was still at or very slightly above sea level. It into the Germanic Basin from the north, mentioned above, also can be
was during this time that a marine transgression from the Eastern recognized in the northwestern Tethys where, in the Lunz Formation,
Carpathian Gate and/or the upper Silesian Gate flooded the central the deposition of the Hauptsandstein is interrupted by deposition of
Germanic Basin with a very shallow brackish sea that did not extend as the Schieferkomplex before sandstone deposition resumes with the
far south as the southern Germanic Basin, where either sedimentation Hangendsandstein (Fig. 3).
began a little later or else the initial pulse of deposition occurred in local A drastic change in climate from wet to arid occurred at the end of
fresh water lakes that were neither connected with the big brackish sea Julian time, not only in the Germanic Basin and in the northern Tethys,
in the central Germanic Basin nor with the Tethys. but also in the region north of the Germanic Basin. This aridisation,
Even before the sea-level highstand, a distinct climatic change which ended the strong influx of fresh water from the north into the
occurred which had replaced a predominantly arid climate with a more Germanic Basin, also ended the deposition of sandstones in the
wet climate throughout the Germanic Basin, the Tethys and especially in Germanic Basin at the upper boundary of the Stuttgart Formation.
the region north of the Germanic Basin (see below). Huge amounts of Deposition of the Lunz Formation also ended at the same time, with the
fresh water, transporting a great deal of fine-grained siliciclastic material beginning of deposition of the slightly hypersaline limestones of the
into the Germanic Basin, came from the north into the Germanic Basin. Opponitz Formation. The facies in the fresh water to slightly brackish
This prevented a marine sea from developing in the basin centre (or a (oligo- to miohaline) estuaries in southwestern Germany and adjacent
hypersaline sea, if the climate had remained predominantly arid as in the eastern France also changed to slightly hypersaline marine, resulting
Grabfeld Formation). Instead a large, very shallow brackish water sea in the deposition of the Dolomie de Beaumont whose depositional
developed in which brackish marls, claystones, siltstones, a few environment can best be described as an inverse estuary in which
sandstones and minor amounts of brachyhaline marine limestones salinity increases from the mouth to the head (e. g., Tomczak, 1999).
(Osterhagen Horizon) were deposited. The fresh water influx from the This facies change could have been caused entirely by the drastic
north was so strong that not only was the very shallow water brackish sea climate change, with little or no sea-level rise being needed to explain
rapidly filled up by deltaic deposits, but the salt content of the sea rapidly it, or it was caused by a short transgression into the southwestern
decreased and graded from mesohaline brackish through mio- and Germanic Basin. Toward the NE, the slightly hypersaline marine
oligohaline into fresh water by the middle and upper Osterhagen Horizon inverse estuary, in which the Dolomie de Beaumont was deposited,
and in the main Schilfsandstein above the Osterhagen Horizon. Obviously changed into a sabkha that was intermittently flooded by hypersaline
the outflow of brackish water through the Eastern Carpathian Gate and/ water resulting in the deposition of a few thin dolomitic layers
or Upper Silesian Gate was much higher than the sea water influx. After between dark grey or reddish shales (so-called Hauptsteinmergel)
the central Germanic Basin was largely sediment-filled, and the brackish and, farther north, thin gypsum layers. This facies ranges toward the
sea had changed into a fresh water lake, outflow began toward the SW NE as far as the Thuringian Basin. Farther to the north, the sabkha was
through the southern Germanic Basin into the Tethys. This may be related not intermittently flooded by hypersaline water, and only red
to subsidence in the southwestern Germanic Basin that again opened the hypersaline sediments of an inland sabkha were deposited immedi-
way for a connection between the southwestern part of the basin through ately above the Stuttgart Formation. In both southern Germany and
the Alemannic Gate or the Burgundian Gate. The fresh water influence in eastern France, similar sabkha or playa sediments, respectively, of the
the northwestern Tethys through this opening was so strong that, in the Weser Formation overlie the Dolomie de Beaumont and Hauptstein-
shallow water Lunz Formation, the marine facies changed partly into mergel. In northern Germany, such sediments directly follow above
brackish facies that even contain conchostracans (Hornung, 2007) and the Stuttgart Formation because marine or hypersaline-marine
brackish ostracods (Bunza and Kozur, 1971). For this reason, we cannot intercalations are absent immediately above the Stuttgart Formation.
expect marine conditions to have intruded into the main part of the The strong lateral facies changes from predominantly fluvial
Stuttgart Formation above the Osterhagen Horizon, and even the sandstones deposited in broad river valleys (in German literature
presence of a tidal influence in the estuary deposits of southwestern traditionally and somewhat misleading referred to as “Flutfazies” =
Germany does not necessarily indicate the occurrence of marine or “flood facies”; Thürach, 1888/1889) to silty, clayey, subordinately sandy
mesohaline brackish and higher saline brackish deposits. Even for the sediments deposited on large flood plains (“Normalfazies” = “normal
Eberstadt bivalve–conchostracan fauna, only a fresh water to oligohaline facies”) has prevented the development of a generally accepted
brackish environment is indicated. subdivision of the Stuttgart Formation.
When the supply of fresh water and transported sand from the north As clearly shown in the Keuper monograph (DSK, 2005)
into the Germanic Basin decreased for a very short interval (Gaildorf throughout the various regions in Germany the Stuttgart Formation
Horizon and time-equivalents), the deposition of fluvial sandstones was either is shown as undivided or split into two subdivisions. The two-
interrupted basin-wide by the deposition of predominantly lacustrine fold subdivision is based on two sedimentation phases within the
sediments and only minor amounts of fluvial sandy sediments. In the Stuttgart Formation (see previous chapter). Both sedimentary phases
 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119 113

begin with a transgressive unit. The transgressive unit of the first occurred, but this was insignificant compared to the pre-Schilfsand-
sedimentation phase (Osterhagen Horizon = Basisschichten of the stein erosion because the Estheria Beds below the Osterhagen
Stuttgart Formation) lies above a long gap uniformly on various Horizon, which does not exhibit an erosional base, may be as deeply
horizons of the Estheria Beds of the upper Grabfeld Formation. These eroded as beneath the sandstone bodies of the strings that show an
transgressive deposits are, in the basin centre of northern Germany, obvious erosional base. In southern Germany there occur rather
several metres thick and consist of thin-bedded shales, siltstones, frequently up to several metres thick breccias of thin-bedded silty
sandstones and limestone beds that are in the lower part brachyhaline Schilfsandstein material at the base of sandstone strings (Gwinner,
to mesohaline brackish but grade upward through mio- and oligoha- 1970; Bachmann and Brunner, 2002) which we interpret as the relics
line brackish beds into fresh water beds. In southern Germany the of reworked Osterhagen Horizon (Basisschichten).
Basisschichten (Osterhagen Horizon) have been first recognized by The second depositional phase begins with the widespread
Thürach (1888/1889), but somewhat misleadingly named as “Über- transgressive Gaildorf Horizon consisting of up to several metres of
gangsschichten” (“transitional beds”) between the Estheria Beds and claystones, silty claystones, dolomitic marls and some dolomites. This
the Schilfsandstein (Fig. 4). These “Übergangsschichten” are up to a horizon contains both fresh water and brackish water fossils, such as
few metres thick and of fresh water to slightly brackish origin. the brackish ostracod Karnocythere germanica Wienholz & Kozur, the
The overlying main part of the first depositional phase consists of fresh water to mesohaline brackish ostracod genus Darwinula, the
several tens of metres thick beds consisting mainly of thick fluvial marine to brackish gastropod “Omphaloptycha” lunzensis Yen, and
sandstone bodies or shales and siltstones respectively thought to be such fish genera as Polyacrodus and Saurichthys which occur in
mostly of fluvial or estuarine origin with some tidal influence in marine, brackish and slightly hypersaline, but not in fresh water
southwestern Germany (e. g., Shukla and Bachmann, 2007). The facies. Thürach (1888/1889) first recognized an interval that was later
sandstone bodies are thickest in strings (broad river valleys) that trend referred to as Gaildorf Horizon by Lang (1909). He characterized this
generally NNE–SSW and have deeply eroded bases. Often the horizon as lacustrine and already inferred some salinity by certain fish
underlying Osterhagen Horizon is partly or totally removed. In the remains. Moreover he recognized that the horizon uniformly overlies
latter case, the erosional base of the thick sandstone bodies in the different facies (fluvial, flood plain and pedogene sediments) and by
strings lies directly on the deeply eroded Estheria Beds of the Grabfeld this its transgressive character. This horizon is in turn overlain by the
Formation (Fig. 2). Up to 10–20 m of upper Estheria beds and parts of upper fluvial sandstones and siltstones. The base of the predominantly
the middle Estheria Beds may be removed (e.g., Thürach, 1888/1889; fluvial big sandstone bodies of the upper Stuttgart Formation in the
Bachmann and Wild, 1976; Etzold and Schweizer, in DSK, 2005; Shukla strings is erosional, and often the underlying Gaildorf Horizon is partly
and Bachmann, 2007). In the Dinkelsbühl borehole nearly the entire or totally removed. In the latter case, the erosional base of the thick
Estheria Beds were found to be eroded (Haunschild and Ott, 1982). sandstone bodies of the upper Stuttgart Formation lies directly on the
The erosion of parts of the Estheria Beds below the sandstone sandstones of the lower Stuttgart Formation. In this latter case no
bodies of the strings has led to the opinion that the deposition of the clear subdivision into lower and upper Stuttgart Formation is possible.
Schilfsandstein, at the erosional bases of the strings, directly caused Alternatively, Franz (2008) and Barnasch (2009) have suggested a
the erosion of large parts of the underlying Estheria Beds. However, at three-fold lithostratigraphic subdivision into Lower Stuttgart Forma-
Farnersberg near Heilbronn (South Germany; Bachmann and Brunner, tion (= Osterhagen Horizon), Middle Stuttgart Formation (the mainly
2002, p. 139) we have observed lacustrine silty–clayey Basisschichten fluvial part above the Osterhagen Horizon up to the transgressive,
(Osterhagen Horizon) of the Stuttgart Formation, rich in conchos- slightly brackish to lacustrine Gaildorf Horizon) and the Upper
tracans and some Darwinula, lying directly upon middle Estheria Beds Stuttgart Formation (comprising the upper fluvial sandstone and
without any indication of an erosional lag bed. The entire upper other beds above the Gaildorf Horizon). The erosive bases of the thick
Estheria Beds and the upper half of the middle Estheria Beds, some fluvial sandstone bodies of the strings, which locally remove a part of
20 m altogether, have been removed, but the presence of thin very or the entire transgressive horizon of each package, are used to define
fine-grained Basisschichten immediately above the deeply eroded the bases of the Middle and Upper Schilfsandstein, respectively.
Estheria Beds clearly shows that the erosion of the Estheria Beds
occurred well before the sedimentation of the Stuttgart Formation 5. Palaeoclimatic implications
began. This erosional event seems to have started as early as the
uppermost Grabfeld Formation (Hauschke, 1988; Nitsch, 1996; Etzold The short intermezzo of lacustrine, brackish and fluvial sediments that
and Schweizer in DSK, 2005) and continued during the pre- lies above the predominantly hypersaline beds of the upper Longobardian
Schilfsandstein hiatus. The following sandstone bodies of the strings to Cordevolian Grabfeld Formation (Lower Gypsum Keuper) and below
were deposited in up to 10–20 m deep incised valleys (Aigner and the hypersaline Weser Formation (Upper Gypsum Keuper), with its
Bachmann, 1992) which already had formed well before the abundant gypsum and some halite deposits, was explained by Kozur
sedimentation of the Stuttgart Formation began. Some additional (1972, 1975) as the result of a short, wet climatic interval (precipita-
erosion at the base of the big sandstone bodies of the strings surely tionN evaporation). This is indicated by the fact that, despite the warm

Fig. 4. Correlation of the different subdivisions of the Stuttgart Formation. Not to scale. The Stuttgart Formation in southern Germany (Thürach, 1888/1889; Lang, 1909; Etzold and
Schweizer, in DSK, 2005) does not begin before the upper Osterhagen Horizon (upper Basisschichten) of the lower Stuttgart Formation in northern Germany and Thuringia with
fresh water to slightly brackish faunas. (Other data from Wienholz and Kozur, 1970, Duchrow, 1984, Beutler, 2005, Franz, 2005, and this paper)
114 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

climate present from the base of the Stuttgart Formation up to the lower (Visscher and Van der Zwan, 1981, p. 632). A problem for this model,
boundary of the Gaildorf Horizon, no indication of an arid climate can be however, is the total lack of any evidence for “Carnian Sahara”
found. Across about a 1000 km E–W distance in the northern Germanic deposits in the Stuttgart Formation (see above).
Basin, only lacustrine, brackish or fluvial sediments can be found, both in Simms and Ruffell (1989) assumed, like Kozur (1972, 1975), that
the basin centre and in its marginal parts. The same can be observed across there had been a wet middle Carnian episode between the arid pre-
a distance of about 1000 km in a NNE–SSW direction from Denmark to Schilfsandstein and post-Schilfsandstein climates, and they named
southwestern Germany. The sporomorphs (including megaspores) this interval the middle Carnian “pluvial episode”. However, neither in
during the late Julian indicate a rather wet climate throughout the entire the Germanic Basin nor in the northwestern Tethys can a true pluvial
Germanic Basin. They are not simply sporomorphs from plants of local episode be demonstrated. A pluvial (i.e. rain-dominated) climate
swamps or river bank swamps, because they occur also in the Tethys. The would have triggered a strong siliciclastic input from the immediately
flood plains outside the fluviatile strings represent fresh water to adjacent regions of the Germanic Basin, e.g. from the Vindelician–
oligohaline brackish lakes with conchostracans and Darwinula, pedogene Bohemian Land. Yet, during the sedimentation of the Stuttgart
and some fluvial sediments. In an arid climate, sabkhas with hypersaline Formation, the siliciclastic input from the Vindelician–Bohemian
lakes would have developed, as are seen below and above the Stuttgart Land was rather low (Stets and Wurster, 1977; Paul et al., 2008) and
Formation. even in southern Germany the main sediment transport came from
Visscher and Van der Zwan (1981), Van der Zwan and Spaak the north–northeast and not from the adjacent Vindelician–Bohemian
(1992) and Visscher et al. (1994) assumed that the climate during the Land. A true pluvial climate, however, surely prevailed to the far north
deposition of the Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Formation) was as arid as of the Germanic Basin, in the sediment source area along the eastern
that in the underlying and overlying formations and that the flora may shoulder uplift of a rift region west of modern day Scandinavia (see
have grown on riverbank swamps in “Nile valleys in a Carnian Sahara” below and Fig. 5) that at that time provided huge amounts of fresh

Fig. 5. Palaeogeographic map for the late Julian, modified from Stampfli and Borel (2004) and Stampfli and Kozur (2006). The northwestern Tethys north of the Apulian-Tauride
block was a large sea with a mixture of oceanic crust, thinned continental crust (in rift basins and at the margin of the oceanic basins) and continental crust. It extended from the
Palaeotethyan remnant (Pal. T.) in the south through the broad Pindos rift basin (Pi) (which at that time had not yet developed oceanic crust), the Maliak Ocean to the Meliata Ocean
and a broad shallow water sea north of it (present Northern Calcareous Alps and Western Carpathians). A rift basin from the Küre Ocean through the Dobrogea (D) toward the
northwest to the Pieniny rift basin (P) at the boundary between Inner and Outer Western Carpathians was an important component of the marine East Carpathian Gate to the
Germanic Basin (G B). A huge continental rift system ran at this time between modern day western Scandinavia and the eastern coast of central and northern Greenland. Huge
amounts of clastic Schilfsandstein sediments were transported to the Germanic Basin (big open arrow) from the high eastern shoulder uplift in the western Scandinavian
Caledonides region. The subaerial continental Apulian-Tauride ridge of the western Cimmerian Microcontinent (C) between the remnant Palaeotethys in the north and the
Neotethys in the south was broken for the first time in the Triassic between the Bey Dağları block (Bd) in the west and the Geydağ block (Gd) in the east (Kozur, 2000; small arrow).
 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119 115

water and siliciclastic sediments to the Germanic Basin and through it Basin and in the northwestern Tethys, because tectonic changes in
to the northern shelf of the Meliata-Hallstatt Ocean. connection with the closure of the Palaeotethys and the geomorphol-
Siliciclastic sediments are widespread in the middle Carnian of the ogy of the source area of the huge amounts of siliciclastic sediments
Tethys, and they often have been assumed to be related to tectonic also must be considered. In the middle Carnian, a soft collision began
movements in connection with the closure of the Palaeotethys. In between the Cimmerian microcontinent and continental splinters
some cases, they are clearly related to these tectonic movements (e.g. detached from Eurasia (Fig. 5; Stampfli and Kozur, 2006). This
the middle Carnian siliciclastic beds at the base of the Pindos sequence resulted in the closure of the Palaeotethys, except for a few remnant
in Greece), but in the northwestern Tethys region the middle Carnian basins. North of the Cimmerian continent, several former back-arc
shale and sandstone successions instead are clearly climatically basins of the Palaeotethys still existed (the Küre Ocean, Meliata
controlled and also related to sea-level changes. These beds include Ocean, Maliak Ocean and a big rift basin where later the Pindos Ocean
the Reingraben Shales and the sandstones of the overlying Lunz would develop). These were interconnected mainly by shallow to
Formation and the Reingraben Shales plus the overlying first Marl– moderately deep seas that rested on submerged continental crust that
Sandstone Member of the North Alpine Raibl Beds (Hornung et al., was ruptured by rather deep rift basins. These oceanic basins and
2007b). Various names have been used to describe this siliciclastic connecting seas, together with remnants of the Palaeotethys and the
event/interval in the northwestern Tethys and in the Stuttgart shelf seas of the aforementioned oceanic basins, formed the
Formation of the Germanic Basin, such as “Northern Alpine Raibl subtropical northwestern Tethys Sea (Fig. 5). South of the Cimmerian
Event” (Angermeier et al., 1963), “middle Carnian wet interval” microcontinent, the much warmer tropical Neotethys was situated.
(Kozur 1972, 1975), “Reingraben turning point” or “Reingraben Until the end of the Cordevolian, the Apulian-Tauride block that
Event” (Schlager and Schöllnberger, 1974), “Carnian Pluvial Episode” formed the western part of the Cimmerian microcontinent was a
(Simms and Ruffell, 1989), and “Carnian crisis” (Hornung, 2007). subaerial barrier between the Neotethys and the northwestern Tethys
Recently, the term “Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo (MCWI)” was Sea. The pronounced temperature differences between the regions
introduced by Kozur and Bachmann (2008a) in connection with the north and south of the Apulian-Tauride block caused a distinct
“more humid intermezzo” of Schröder (1977) to emphasize the provincialism between the Neotethys plus its shelves and the
climatic regime that produced this siliciclastic interval. In recent northwestern Tethys Sea in nearly all fossil groups. According to
publications publication often the term “pluvial event” is used which Kozur (2000), the Apulian-Tauride block disintegrated during the
has neither the priority nor is scientifically correct. It is not an event, middle Carnian due to a rupture between the Bey Dağları block (Bd) in
but a short interval (intermezzo sensu Schröder, 1977). A rain- the west and the Geydağ block (Gd) in the east (Fig. 5). Only after that
dominated pluvial climate would cause a strong clastic input from the could warm water currents from the equatorial Neotethys directly
Vindelician Land and other subaerial areas around the Germanic reach the northwestern Tethys north of the Apulian-Tauride block
Basin. But the clastic input from the immediate surroundings of the (small arrow in Fig. 5). This led after the end of the Cordevolian both
Germanic Basin was during the Stuttgart Formation not significantly to a considerable rise in the surface water temperature of the
higher than during the underlying arid Grabfeld Formation (Benk northwestern Tethys and to a sudden end to the strong provincialism
Sandstein Formation) and overlying arid intervals (Steigerwald that had existed up until then between the Neotethyan and
Formation, Hassberge Formation). Therefore a pluvial climate can be northwestern Tethyan faunas (Kozur, 2000).
excluded for the Stuttgart Formation of the Germanic Basin. Such a This postulated rise of the surface water temperature in the upper
climate was only present far away from the Germanic Basin, in Julian of the northwestern Tethys has been confirmed by Hornung
western Scandinavia (see chapter discussion). et al. (2007b). During and especially at the end of the Middle Carnian
Ever since the careful studies by Hornung in the Northern Alps and Wet Intermezzo, at the base of the Tuvalian, a distinct increase in sea
other parts of the Tethys (summarized in Hornung, 2007), it generally water temperatures has been observed. The calculated water
has been accepted that there was a real Middle Carnian Wet temperature from the measured δ18O of conodonts by Hornung
Intermezzo in the Germanic Basin and in the adjacent northwestern et al. (2007a,b) for the Hallstatt Limestones of the Alps increases
Tethys region and not just a strong influx of outside fresh water into during the Carnian from around 15 °C to 23–25 °C, and these
an otherwise arid region. But often a pluvial event is automatically temperatures obviously represent bottom water temperatures. They
assumed, even though this cannot be demonstrated anywhere within fit well with the palaeolatitude of the depositional area of the Hallstatt
the Germanic Basin or in the adjacent northwestern Tethys region Limestones at the margin of the Meliata-Hallstatt Ocean (for
(see above). palaeolatitude, see, e.g., Stampfli and Kozur, 2006), and with a
A slight shift in climate began in the Gaildorf Horizon and younger water depth of about 100–200 m for most of the Hallstatt Limestones.
beds of the Stuttgart Formation where the strong influx of fresh water The abrupt increase of the bottom water temperatures to 23–25 °C
and large amount of siliciclastics continued from the north into the at the base of the Tuvalian (Hornung et al., 2007b) indicates seemingly
Germanic Basin and through it into the northern margin of the both unusually high surface water temperatures well above 30 °C and
northwestern Tethys, but for the first time occasional gypsum nodules probably also distinct changes in the oceanic water circulation
appear in the Stuttgart Formation. This means that the climate within pattern, partly connected with the closure of the Palaeotethys.
the Germanic Basin had begun to change to semihumid–semiarid and These unusually high water temperatures may be the principal reason
becomes more similar to the model of Visscher and Van der Zwan for the faunal turnover. In favour of this hypothesis is the fact that the
(1981). Even so, the climate was not yet arid. This major change benthos living below 100 m water depth were practically unaffected.
towards an arid climate did not happen until the base of the Weser Despite the fact that it is difficult to reconstruct the surface water
Formation immediately above the Stuttgart Formation. At that level, temperatures from the measured bottom water temperatures in
not only was there a strong change in the climate of the Germanic Hornung et al. (2007a,b), it is obvious that the surface water
Basin and the adjacent northwestern Tethys region but also the strong temperatures in the northwestern Tethys increased during the Middle
influx of fresh water from the north ended and with it the deposition Carnian Wet Intermezzo to more than 30 °C in a similar scale than the
of the Stuttgart Formation. bottom water temperatures. This caused the trade winds blowing
northwest from the Tethys toward the Germanic Basin and the region
6. Discussion north of it to strengthen and hold more moisture than before. This
partly explains the climatic shift in the Germanic Basin, but the huge
The cause of the Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo cannot be amount of fresh water entering the basin from the north also implies
explained simply by local changes in the climate in the Germanic that there must have been a mountain barrier that blocked the trade
116 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119

winds of this monsoonal regime to thereby produce a huge amount of “normal” arid character of the region around the Tropic of Cancer
rain in the north far outside of the Germanic Basin. would have been re-established. Thus, if the Middle Carnian Wet
During the Carnian, there was a huge rift belt between the west coast Intermezzo and the pluvial climate around the rift-shoulder uplift in
of modern day Scandinavia and the east coast of modern day northern western Scandinavia ended due to a sudden change in the
and central Greenland (Fig. 5; Ziegler, 1988). This rift belt extended atmospheric circulation, this would have shifted the northwestwardly
southwestward along the east coast of central and southern Greenland directed Tethyan trade winds away from the western Scandinavian
in the direction of the Newark rift system along the east coast of modern rift-shoulder uplift or perhaps shut them down altogether.
day North America (Fig. 5). Other branches of this rift ran northwest of In the southern Tethys, the wet intermezzo lasted longer than it
Scotland and Ireland, and a smaller one ran parallel to but slightly inland did in the Germanic Basin and northern Tethys. In the western
of the margin of Scandinavia into the modern day North Sea. Most Neotethys, in the Sicanian palaeogeographic realm of western Sicily,
probably, the rift system between Scandinavia and Greenland devel- the marls and shales of the “Mufara” Formation encompass both the
oped at the same time as the rift basins of the Newark rift system. Kozur uppermost Julian and the lower Tuvalian (H. W. Kozur, personal
and Weems (2007) have provided evidence that this rift system started investigations). In the Lagonegro Basin, the interval representing the
in the eastern United States during the early Carnian. In the Fundy Basin wet intermezzo definitely includes the lower Tuvalian, though it could
of eastern Maritime Canada, however, the rifting already had begun have begun in the upper Julian because the upper Julian is missing due
earlier during the Middle Triassic (perhaps as early as late Anisian but to a discontinuity in stratigraphic record in the investigated section at
certainly by the late Ladinian). Therefore, the rift system west of the base of the silty beds (Furin et al., 2006 with erratum 2007; Rigo et
Scandinavia might be expected to have become active as early as the al., 2007). In the Southern Alps (eastern Dolomites), the wet
Middle Triassic, particularly in the late Ladinian. This timing of the intermezzo is represented by the Heiligkreuz Formation, which
initiation of rifting would explain why, during the late Ladinian Erfurt begins at the base of the Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone but also
Formation (Lettenkeuper), there was a strong influx of fresh water from includes sandstones and siltstones in its Member C that belong
the north into the Germanic Basin that was accompanied by according to Hornung et al. (2007b) to the lower Tuvalian. This
considerable sediment transport. This pattern is rather similar to the indicates that the monsoonal system had shifted significantly
one seen later in the Stuttgart Formation (Poeppelreiter, 1999). southward of its earlier position by the beginning of the Tuvalian.
The eastern shoulder of this rift-system uplift was located in the The unusual Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo clearly was present
Caledonides of modern day western Scandinavia. By the middle across a wide belt of the normally dry girdle found around the low
Carnian, this rift shoulder may have had an altitude of 2000–3000 m; latitude Tropic of Cancer and also affected the immediately adjacent
similar elevations are known from the shoulder uplift of the modern northern tropics region (e.g. in the upper Julian of the Newark rift
day southern Red Sea rift, in Ethiopia and partly also along the East system, where as much as 2000 m of fluvial sediments are present;
African rift system. This would have been a barrier high enough to Kozur and Weems, 2007). North of the Tropic of Cancer, there was a
block the trade winds of the monsoonal system that then swept region with a pluvial climate in palaeolatitudes of about 30–50°N
northwest from the Tethys across the Germanic Basin and beyond, which generated huge amounts of fresh water that flowed southward,
causing the very warm and moisture-rich air masses to rise along the transporting large volumes of siliciclastic sediments. Such a system is
eastern flank of the rift-shoulder uplift and produce huge amounts of inherently unstable, which explains why the Stuttgart Formation
precipitation. This rift-shoulder uplift likely was the principal source represents a geologically short time interval. According to Menning
of the very large amount of Schilfsandstein clastics that were and Deutsche Stratigraphische Kommission (2002) the Stuttgart
transported southward from this area into and across the Germanic Formation was deposited between 226 myr and 224.5 myr, which
Basin (Fig. 5). This scenario also best explains the predominance of lies according to present day numeric ages around the Carnian–Norian
Caledonian-age micas in the Stuttgart Formation (Paul et al., 2008). boundary and comprises a relatively short interval of 1.5 myr, but
The western rift-shoulder uplift of this rift system, as well as of its even this estimation is about twice too long (see below).
south–southwestward continuation (east of southern and central In the past, Bachmann and Kozur (2004) assigned the upper
Greenland), may be a major source for the large volume of late Julian boundary of the Schilfsandstein (Stuttgart Formation) to 231 myr. Its
clastic sediments that are found in the Newark Supergroup rift basins lower boundary at that time could not be dated in the numeric scale,
(NSRB in Fig. 5) in eastern North America. but they were able to assign the base of the Carnian to 237 myr. As the
The rise in surface water temperature in the northwestern Tethys Stuttgart Formation comprises only the upper Austrotrachyceras
during the Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo readily explains the austriacum Zone, one of four ammonoid zones in the lower–middle
observed strengthening of the megamonsoonal wind regime flowing Carnian interval up to the top of the Julian, one-eighth of this time
from the northwestern Tethys towards the eastern rift-shoulder uplift interval or about 0.7–0.8 myr could be calculated for the duration of
of the huge rift between western Scandinavia and central and deposition of the Stuttgart Formation. The new dating of the upper
northern Greenland, but the rather sudden end of this intermezzo is part of lower Tuvalian at 230.91 ± 0.33 myr by Furin et al. (2006, and
much harder to explain. Just after the end of the Middle Carnian Wet erratum 2007) lowers the top of the Julian (and by this the top of the
Intermezzo, the bottom water temperatures in the Hallstatt region Stuttgart Formation) slightly from 231 myr downward to about
continued to increase, reaching a maximum of 23–25 °C. This would 232 myr (Kozur and Bachmann, 2008b), which leaves the total
indicate that surface water temperatures at that time were distinctly duration of the Stuttgart Formation only slightly shortened. As
above 30 °C in the northwestern Tethys. Yet, despite this very high pointed out above, two major sedimentation phases, each with a
surface water temperature in the northwestern Tethys region, which transgressive horizon (Osterhagen Horizon and Gaildorf Horizon,
should have increased evaporation and moisture transport, the respectively) at the base overlain by predominantly fluvial sediments
monsoonal regime totally changed because the Middle Carnian Wet can be recognized in the Stuttgart Formation. According to the above
Intermezzo and the clastic influx from the north both ended suddenly calculation for the duration of the Stuttgart Formation, these phases
at this time. If the direction of the trade winds changed at this time, may reflect two long eccentricity cycles of about 400,000 years.
however, the western Scandinavian rift-shoulder uplift would no
longer have been receiving the enormous amounts of precipitation 7. Conclusions
that it did during the Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo, and the strong
fresh water influx from the north into the Germanic Basin would have 1. The Carnian still can be productively subdivided into Cordevolian,
stopped. In this case, the trade winds also would have ceased to bring Julian and Tuvalian substages. The biostratigraphic zonations
increased local precipitation directly to the Germanic Basin and the within these substages are shown in Fig. 1.
 H.W. Kozur, G.H. Bachmann / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 290 (2010) 107–119 117

2. Within this scheme, the Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo of the normally dry girdle around the Tropic of Cancer ended abruptly at
Stuttgart Formation and of the adjacent northwestern Tethys the beginning of the Tuvalian, when this atmospheric circulation
occurred only during the upper part of the upper Julian pattern changed. This megamonsoonal system was strengthened
(corresponding only to the upper subzone of the Austrotrachy- considerably by a pronounced increase in surface water tem-
ceras austriacum ammonoid zone). Its duration can be calculated peratures in the northwestern Tethys that occurred due to the
as only about 0.7–0.8 myr, possibly reflecting two long eccentric- disintegration of the Apulian-Tauride block, which allowed
ity Milankovitch cycles of about 400,000 years. previously-blocked warm water currents of the equatorial
3. The climate in the Germanic Basin (and adjacent parts of the Neotethys to flow directly into the northwestern Tethys.
northwestern Tethys) during the deposition of the Stuttgart 8. The northwesterly flowing, moisture-laden trade winds of this
Formation was warm and wet (precipitation somewhat higher megamonsoonal atmospheric system were blocked at the eastern
than evaporation), but not so wet as to be pluvial and therefore rift-shoulder uplift of a large rift system between modern day
best characterized as a Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo (Kozur Scandinavia and northern and central Greenland. By the middle
and Bachmann, 2008a). Only the source region of the huge Carnian this rift-shoulder uplift probably had risen to a height of
volume of fresh water and siliciclastic sediments transported about 2000–3000 m. The presence of this rift-shoulder uplift,
from the north into the Germanic Basin had a pluvial climate. located in the Caledonides of western Scandinavia, also explains
4. Two phases of Stuttgart Formation deposition can be recognized: the predominance of micas of Caledonian age in the siliciclastic
Phase 1 which includes the transgressive brackish to lacustrine sediments of the Stuttgart Formation (Paul et al., 2008). Along the
Osterhagen Horizon (“Lower Schilfsandstein” of the three-fold eastern rift-shoulder uplift, the rising warm moisture-rich air
lithostratigraphic subdivision) and the main Schilfsandstein with masses from the trade winds produced extraordinarily strong
thick, mainly fluvial sandstone bodies arranged in strings monsoonal precipitation.
(“Middle Schilfsandstein” of the three-fold lithostratigraphic 9. The Schilfsandstein sedimentation ended rapidly by a sudden
subdivision; main part of lower Stuttgart Formation in the two- change of the Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo into the arid
fold subdivision). Phase 2 which includes the transgressive fresh Tuvalian climate. By this the huge influx of fresh water with
water to slightly brackish lake deposits of the Gaildorf Horizon strong sediment transport from the north into the Germanic Basin
and time-equivalents and the overlying upper fluviatile sand- ended rapidly. The Schilfsandstein estuary in the southwestern
stone. The transgressive lower parts of both phases (Osterhagen Germanic Basin with tidal influence, but fresh water to slightly
Horizon and Gaildorf Horizon, respectively) may be partly or brackish water salinity, changed into the smaller inverse estuary
totally eroded at the erosive bases of the overlying fluvial of the Dolomie de Beaumont and time-equivalents at the base of
sandstone bodies within the strings. These two major deposi- the Weser Formation, in which salinity increased inland.
tional phases also can be recognized in the Northern Alps (phase 10. The sedimentation of the Stuttgart Formation in the Germanic
1: upper Reingraben shales and Hauptsandstein of the lower Lunz Basin was not so much the product of regional crustal move-
Formation, and phase 2: Schieferkomplex and Hangendsandstein ments, as assumed by Wurster (1964) and Beutler (in DSK, 2005,
of the upper Lunz Formation). p. 85), but rather it was the result of an interaction of sea-level
5. A distinct marine transgression from the Eastern Carpathian Gate changes, a wet climate and a huge influx of fresh water from the
and/or? the Upper Silesian Gate during the lower Osterhagen north into the Germanic Basin that was accompanied by a very
Horizon, in concert with a concurrent strong inflow of fresh water considerable sediment transport. These factors also controlled
from the north, produced a large but very shallow brackish sea in both the beginning and the end of the Schilfsandstein sedimen-
the central basin within the northern half of the Germanic Basin. tation. Regional crustal movements (subsidence) influenced only
This sea extended as far southwestward as the western thickness distribution and facies distribution within the basin
Thuringian Basin. In the upper Osterhagen Horizon or in the (e.g. restriction of the strongly brackish development in the lower
overlying main Schilfsandstein, the depositional facies became Osterhagen Horizon to the basin centre in the northern Germanic
almost exclusively fresh water because the fresh water influx Basin).
overwhelmed and drove out the influx of sea water. In southern
Germany, the Basisschichten (probably an equivalent of the upper
Acknowledgments
Osterhagen Horizon) only include fresh water to very low salinity
brackish lake deposits.
HWK acknowledges additional support of office and field work by
6. Due to a slight subsidence in the southwestern Germanic Basin,
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.
the main outlet for fresh water from the Germanic Basin into the
Dr. R. Weems, USGS, Reston VA, is thanked for improving the
Tethys above the Osterhagen Horizon was in the southwestern
English text and for important discussions. We thank Dr. J. Barnasch,
part of the basin through the Alemannic Gate and possibly the
Kassel, Dipl.-Geol. A. Etzold, Emmendingen, Dr. M. Franz, Freiberg/Sa.,
Burgundian Gate. During the same time interval, there was a tidal
Dr. T. Hornung, Salzburg, Prof. L. Krystyn, Vienna, Dr. E. Nitsch,
influence in estuaries of the southwestern Germanic Basin that is
Freiburg i. Br., Prof. P. Gianolla, Ferrara, and Dr. M. Warth, Remseck
recognizable toward the north as far as Lower Franconia (Shukla
(Neckar), for important discussions and outcrop data, Dr. T. Hofmann,
and Bachmann, 2007). Salinity was very low in these southwest-
Vienna, for sending papers, and Dr. G. Stampfli, Lausanne, for
ern Germanic Basin estuaries, however, ranging from fresh water
palaeogeographic maps. We thank reviewer Dr. M. Simms for his
to oligohaline brackish in the case of the deposits containing the
very careful and helpful review and guest editor Prof. Dr. P. Wignall for
Eberstadt fauna.
improving our paper.
7. The Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo of the Stuttgart Formation
and contemporaneous deposits in the northwestern Tethys, as
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