Foraminifera from the carbonate cobbles and pebbles of Early Jurassic conglomerates of Franz Joseph Land as direct evidence of the existence of a Late Palaeozoic carbonate succession in the northeastern Barents Sea

Abstract

Here we present the first description and images of foraminiferal fauna from the carbonate cobbles and pebbles of Early Jurassic polymictic conglomerates from Graham Bell Island, in the easternmost part of the Franz Joseph Land archipelago. The composition of the conglomerates suggests a proximal provenance area. The identified foraminiferal genera and species suggest a Serpukhovian–Late Carboniferous age for the primary carbonates from which the conglomerate clasts were derived, and which can be correlated with coeval carbonate strata of Svalbard, the Volga–Urals and the Pechora region. Combined with previous studies, our new data lead us to assert that a shallow-marine carbonate platform occupied the entire Barents shelf, including its northeasternmost part, during Carboniferous–Early(?) Permian time. This study improves our understanding of the composition and age of pre-Mesozoic successions of Franz Joseph Land and surrounding parts of the Barents Sea.