Stratigraphy and microfacies of the Upper Cretaceous Pucisca Formation, Island of Brac, Croatia

The island of Brac is a small part of the large Adriatic-Dinaridic carbonate platform, mainly built up of Upper Cretaceous and, to a lesser extent, Palaeogene deposits, The Pucisca Formation (Campanian) is one of the six lithostratigraphic units of the Upper Cretaceous succession (the Bra Group) which includes carbonate deposits ranging in age from the Mid Cenomanian to Maastrichtian. The Pucisca Formation contains three superpositional-lateral subunits: the Bra Marble, the Rasotica, and the Lovrecina members, which comprise seven microfacies types (MF) of foraminifera-bearing limestones based on analysis of larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages and microfacies features. MF-types range from assemblages dominated by hyaline foraminifera (the Bra Marble Member, late transgressive systems tract, TST) to assemblages dominated by various taxa of imperforate foraminifera (the Rasotica and Lovrecina members, highstand systems tract, HST). The assemblages of benthic hyaline and imperforate foraminifera and microfacies are used for interpretation of palaeo-environmental features of the Pucisca Formation. Some of the larger benthic foraminiferal species from the Pucisca Formation have enabled new morphological observations to be made. (C) 2001 Academic Press.