Upper Cretaceous depositional environments and bivalve assemblages of far-east Asia: The Himenoura Group, Kyushu, Japan

The depositional environments and bivalve assemblages are determined for the Upper Cretaceous Hinoshima Formation of the Himenoura Group, Kamishima, Amakusa Islands, Kyushu, Japan. The Hinoshima Formation is characterized by a thick transgressive succession that varies from incised-valley-fill deposits to submarine slope deposits with high aggradation rates of depositional systems. The incised valley is filled with fluvial, bayhead delta, brackish-water estuary, and marine embayment deposits, and is overlain by thick slope deposits. Shallow marine bivalves are grouped into five fossil assemblages according to species composition: Glycymeris amakusensis (foreset beds of a bayhead delta), Nippononectes tamurai (foreset beds of a bayhead delta), Ezonuculana mactraeformis-Nucula formosa (central bay), Glycymeris amakusensis-Apiotrigonia minor (slope), and Inoceramus higoensis-Parvamussium yubarensis (slope). These bivalve assemblages all represent autochthonous and parautochthonous conditions except for a Glycymeris amakusensis-Apiotrigonia minor assemblage found in debris flow and slump deposits. The life habitats of these bivalves and the compositions of the assemblages are discussed in terms of the ecological history of fossil bivalves of the mid- to Late Cretaceous. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.