Facies analysis of marine Permian/Triassic boundary sections in Hungary

The Permian/Triassic boundary was recognized in continuous marine successions in several outcrops in the Bükk Mts, North Hungary and in a few core sections in the northeastern part of the Transdanubian Range. In the Bükk Mts, of four studied boundary sections only two proved to be complete. They represent an outer ramp setting. In these sections the topmost Permian is made up of dark gray limestone, rich in fragments of crinoids, calcareous algae, mollusks, brachiopods, ostracods, and foraminifera. There is a dramatic decrease in the amount of the bioclasts in the last two limestone layers, which are overlain by a 1 m-thick shale bed. The lower two-thirds of this bed still contain Permian fauna but its upper part is almost free of bioclasts. The overlying platy limestone contains a pauperized fossil assemblage indicating stress conditions. The two core sections studied in the Transdanubian Range represent an inner ramp setting. The uppermost Permian is made up of lagoonal-sabkha cycles. It is overlain by subtidal packstone-grainstone, rich in Late Permian fossils. Oolitic facies characterizes the boundary interval. Onset of ooid formation was probably the consequence of biotic decline leading to cessation of skeletal carbonate production. Along with oolite beds, stromatolites, micrite with "microspheres" and fine siliciclastic microlayers characterize the basal Triassic succession, reflecting overall stress conditions and the changing energy of the depositional environment.