Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic continental carbonates from the Apuseni Mountains, Romania: facies, lithology and paleoenvironments

We studied deposits belonging to the Bihor Unit from the Northern Apuseni Mountains (Romania). The described outcrops are located in the SW of Șes Mountain and the northeastern Pădurea Craiului Massif. We determined the depositional environment and the mechanisms controlling the accumulation of Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic continental deposits. The sedimentary formations contain carbonate breccia and calcretes embedded in continental clay deposits. Late Triassic–Early Jurassic depositional processes were influenced by the inherited paleobasement of the subaerially exposed Middle Triassic deposits. Numerous fragments of Anisian and Ladinian carbonate deposits are encased in weathered clay deposits accumulated on karstification surfaces developed at the top of Middle Triassic limestones. We integrated facies analysis and clay mineralogy to obtain an accurate interpretation of the continental processes acting at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in the northern part of the Apuseni Mountains. The composition of the carbonate pebbles is described in terms of the carbonate facies, whereas the clay mineralogy was determined by applying X-ray powder diffraction. Thirteen facies associations are described consisting of carbonate, siliciclastic and ferilitic rock types. Such facies indicate sediment accumulation in a continental, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic depositional environment. A Late Triassic exposure event was followed by an Early Jurassic (Hettangian) transgression. Two major facies types are identified on the basis of their depositional environment. The first category includes subaerially exposed Triassic carbonates and ferilitic facies, while the second category consists of transgressive siliciclastic facies from the basal Lower Jurassic (Hettangian) sediments. The existing data suggest continental deposition in alternating, arid–humid warm climate conditions at the Triassic–Jurassic transition.