Kendl (Lower Austria) - Pielach Formation (Oligocene of Austria)

Where: Lower Austria, Austria (48.2° N, 15.2° E: paleocoordinates 46.2° N, 14.0° E)

• coordinate stated in text

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Pielach Formation, Chattian (28.1 - 23.0 Ma)

• STRATIGRAPHY: The section starts with about 1 m blueish to brown clay and silt with rootled beds. A rich macrofossil assemblage appears at the top of the overlying silty/sandy part of about 2 m thickness. Up to 1 m silty sand follows, with abundant gastropods. AGE: The Pielach Formation can be dated o the lower Polle Bozone Ng. Z. 1., ranging from the Kiscellian to the Early Egerian. The Early Egerian age can be inferred for the upper part of the Pielach Formation, based on its interfingering with the Melk and Linz Formations. Assigned here to Late Kiscellian-Early Egerian = Chattian.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lagoonal; lithified, shelly/skeletal, silty sandstone

• Overlies fluvial-estuarine facies, as indicated by rooted beds and coal lenses. Upsection macrofauna suggests marine influence, littoral environments, a community indicating lagoonal, brackish conditions. Mesohalie or even polyhaline salinities are probable for the fauna. The fauna of the overlying beds reflects and increase in salinity and a gradual shift from the littoral to the sublittoral.
• Silty/sandy unit with rich molluscan fauna, overlain by silty sand with abundant mollusca. Lithification not mentioned in text, but assigned on the basis of photographic plates - some specimens of which are clearly derived from lithified sediment.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: quarrying,

• Lists obtained from previous accounts and material obtained from collections at Inst. of Pal. Vienna, Geol. Surv. Austria Vienna, and Mus. Nat. Hist. Vienna. Further sources for this material is limited because hardly any contemporaneous outcrop exist beside the stream-bed at Kendl.

Primary reference: M. Harzhauser and O. Mandic. 2001. Late Oligocene gastropods and bivalves from the Lower and Upper Austrian Molasse Basin. Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Schriftenreihe der Erdwissenschaftlichen Komimissionen 14:671-795 [A. Miller/A. Hendy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 55242: authorized by Austin Hendy, entered by Austin Hendy on 30.09.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Exhaustive for Mollusca. Nomenclature follows modern usage, with revisions and new taxonomic descriptions in present manuscript. KEY: r - rare; f - frequent; a - very abundant
Bivalvia
 Mytilida - Mytilidae
 Ostreida - Malleidae
 Pectinida - Anomiidae
Anomia ephippium Linnaeus 1758 jingle
 Thraciida - Thraciidae
Thracia ventricosa Philippi 1843 clam
 Cardiida - Tellinidae
"Peronidia postera" = Tellina (Peronidia)
"Peronidia postera" = Tellina (Peronidia) tellin clam
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Cordiopsis incrassata Nyst 1836 venus clam
 Cardiida - Ungulinidae
"Diplodonta rotundata" = Diplodonta (Diplodonta) rotundata
"Diplodonta rotundata" = Diplodonta (Diplodonta) rotundata Montagu 1803 clam
Gastropoda
 Neogastropoda - Nassariidae
Bullia hungarica Gábor 1936 snail
 Sorbeoconcha - Naticidae
Euspira helicina Brocchi 1814 moon snail
 Cerithioidea - Turritellidae
Turritella (Haustator) venus d'Orbigny 1852 turret shell
 Cerithioidea - Batillariidae
Granulolabium plicatum Bruguiére 1792 snail
 Cerithioidea - Potamididae
"Tympanotonos margaritaceus" = Mesohalina margaritaceus
"Tympanotonos margaritaceus" = Mesohalina margaritaceus Brocchi 1814 horn snail
Subspecies: Tympanotonos margaritaceus calcaratus
 Neritoidea - Neritidae
"Neritina picta" = Agapilia picta
"Neritina picta" = Agapilia picta Férussac 1825 snail