DIVERSE ICHNOFAUNA IN TURBIDITES OF THE ADRIATIC FLYSCH, MONTENEGRO

Adriatic Flysch in southern Montenegro is a 300 m thick sequence of turbidities (Eocene to Miocene in age) arranged in three superimposed fans. The trace fossils in turbidites are abundant and consist of ichnofacies attributed to both post-depositional and pre-depositional environments. We identified and described seven species of Paleodictyon, four species of Ophiomorpha, and single species of Planolites, Scolicia, Nereites, Cosmorhaphe, Spirohaphe, and Taphrhelminthopsis. The ichnofossils in Adriatic Flysh belong to Nereites Ichnofacies, which consists of Nereites and Paleodictyon ichnosubfacies representing distal submarine fan environments, and Ophiomorpha rudis ichnosubfacies representing proximal submarine fan and channel environments. Most diverse are Paleodictyon ichnofosils, which include: Paleodictyon Arvense, Paleodictyon Hexagonum, Paleodictyon Itallicum, Paleodictyon Maximum, Paleodictyon Majus, Paleodicyon Strozzi, and newly described Paleodictyon Antibarum species. There are four species of Ophiomorpha: Ophiomorpha Annulata, Ophiomorpha irregulare, Ophimorpha nodosa, and Ophiomorpha rudis. Each of the ichnofossils is attributed to one or more organisms, except Paleodictyon which continues to remain a mystery. The diversity and abundance of ichnofossils suggests that this deep marine ecosystem had the ample amount of nutrients and space to support a wide variety of organisms. We created two tables from published taxonomic descriptions of Paleodictyon and Ophiomorpha in which all identified samples from Adriatic Flysch are added.