Larger benthic foraminifera (fusulinids) in petrogenetic frequencies: the Paleozoic treasure of the Carnic Alps

Marine deposits of Middle and Late Paleozoic age are restricted to certain areas in Central Europe. The Carnic Alps represent one of those exceptional regions, where one can study impressive sections from the Ordovician up to the PermianTriassic boundary including the oldest reef limestones (Dullo 1992). This part of the Alps belongs tectonically to the Southern Alps, which has witnessed the Variscan and the Alpine Orogeny. Already, Leopold v Buch (1824) visited that area. However, systematic geological investigations commenced in the middle of the nineteenth century after the foundation of the Geological Survey of Austria and in particular by (Geyer 1895), who guided the 9th International Geological Congress in 1903 to this region. Pioneering studies with respect to the biostratigraphy were carried out by v. Gaertner (1931) for the Lower Paleozoic sequences and by Kahler and Kahler (e.g., 1937), who mainly focussed on the larger benthic foraminifera (fusulinid).