The Talea Ori unit is the lowermost known tectonic unit of Crete and the
most external part of the Hellenides. Its stratigraphy ranges from Late
Carboniferous to Oligocene and outcrops of the lower part are only known
in the Talea Ori mountains (central Crete).
In this area, a black sandstone at the base of the Galinos Beds, thought
to be the oldest formation, contains zircons which were dated using the
single grain evaporation method. The majority of these grains yielded
Late Carboniferous ages (Variscan), while a small group yielded Early
Proterozoic ages. The age distribution of these zircons suggests that,
at the Carboniferous-Permian boundary, not much of the older North
Gondwanan basement was exposed and that a river system carried detrital
material from the Variscan belt towards the forming Neotethyan rift.
Additionally, higher up in the stratigraphy benthic foraminifers
(miliolids) were found in clasts from a conglomerate which was so far
thought to be of Early Triassic age [Epting, M., Kudrass, H.-R.,
Leppig, U., Schaffer, A., 1972. Geologie der Talea Ori/Kreta. N. Jb.
Geol. Palaont. Abh. 141, 259-285.]. These miliolids belong to the
species Hoyenella inconstans [Michalik, J., Jendrejakova, O., Borza,
K., 1979. Some new foraminifera species of the Fatra-Formation
(Uppermost Triassic) in the West Carpathians. Geol. Carpath. 30 (1),
61-91.], thus attributing a Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian?) maximal age
to this conglomerate. The carbonate platform from which the
miliolids-bearing clasts come is not known.
The presence to the north of a continuous hemipelagic record from the
Carboniferous to the Triassic (Phyllite-Quartzite and Tripali units),
attributed to the Palaeotethys realm, allows the Talea Ori unit and its
lateral equivalents (the Ionian zone) to be assigned to the westward
continuation of the Cimmerian block and therefore to the northern margin
of the East Mediterranean Neotethys ocean. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All
rights reserved.