«Mittlerer Grünsand»

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Representation and status

Color CMYK
N/A
Color RGB
R: 125 G: 125 B: 125
Rank
lithostratigraphic Bed
Validity
Unit is in Use
Status
incorrect name (though informally used)

Nomenclature

Deutsch
«Mittlerer Grünsand»
Français
«Mittlerer Grünsand»
Italiano
«Mittlerer Grünsand»
English
«Mittlerer Grünsand»
Historical Variants

Mittlerer Grünsand (Jeannet et al. 1935), calcaires glauconieux moyens et Couche à Pecten (Jeannet & Leupold 1935), Middle Greensand (Lihou 1995)

Description

Description

Nach einem Sedimentationsunterbruch und teilweiser Verkarstung des Liegenden stösst eine dritte Transgression der Euthal-Formation weiter gegen NNW vor und lagert einen glaukonitischen Sandstein bis Sandkalk ("mittlerer Grünsand"), lokal mit Austern, Pecten, selten Korallen, max. 3 Meter mächtig, ab.

Thickness
2-6 m östlich Elm (Lihou 1995) ; 3-9 m.

Components

Fossil Content
  • ostreids
  • pectinids

Discocyclinen

Palaenography and tectonic

  • Tertiary
Paleogeography
North Tethyan Shelf :
marge continentale européenne
Tectonic unit (resp. main category)
Kind of protolith
  • sedimentary
Metamorphism
non metamorphic

References

Definition
Lihou Joanne C. (1995) : A new look at the Blattengrat unit of eastern Switzerland: Early Tertiary foreland basin sediments from the south Helvetic realm Eclogae geol. Helv. 88/1, 91-114

p.104: North of these profiles, the basal unconformity is overlain by the Middle Greensand. The greensand east of Elm is 2-6 m thick below the first hardground (Fig. 4), and contains fragmented mollusc shells, usually pectens and oysters, becoming more brecciose upwards as foraminifera such as Discocyclina pratti, Operculina gigantea, Assilina placentula and Nummulites murchisoni appear, along with bryozoans which colonise firm or hard substrates; this becomes a well-developed hardground in the Upper Windegg profile. In Weisstannental, the greensand unit is less than 2 m thick and consists of a sterile glauconitic sandstone occasionally with phosphate nodules overlain by a hardground of pectens, large oysters and gastropods (Fig. 5). The development of a hardground at the top of the Middle Greensand indicates that there can have been little or no sediment input from the land at this time, or else a lack of accommodation space prevented sand deposition, and the sediment was by-passed further out onto the shelf. The main process operating was winnowing by currents or storm-related waves.

  • «Pectenschicht» (des Einsiedeln-Mb.)

    Rank
    lithostratigraphic unit
    Status
    incorrect name (though informally used)
    Valid term
    Einsiedeln-Member
    In short

    Grüner glaukonitischer Sandkalk mit vielen Pecten im Dach des «Mittleren Grünsandes».

  • «Austernschicht» (des Einsiedeln-Mb.)

    Rank
    lithostratigraphic unit
    Status
    incorrect name (though informally used)
    Valid term
    Einsiedeln-Member
    In short

    Grüner glaukonitischer Sandkalk mit kleinen Austern an der Basis des «Mittleren Sandsteins» (Basis des Einsiedeln-Members).

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