Sedimentological Characteristics and Paleoenvironmental Implication of Triassic Vertebrate Localities in Villány (villány Hills, Southern Hungary)

Abstract There are two Triassic vertebrate sites in Villány Hills (Southern Hungary), where productive and continuous excavations have been carried out in the last six years resulting in a rich and diversified assemblage of shallow marine to coastal animals. The studied formations belong to the Villány–Bihor Unit of the Tisza Megaunit, which was located at the passive margin of the European Plate during the Triassic. The relatively diverse vertebrate assemblage was collected from a Road-cut on Templom Hill and a newly discovered site at a construction zone located on the Somssich Hill. Four main lithofacies were identified and interpreted in the newly discovered Construction vertebrate site consisting of dolomite (deposited in a shallow, restricted lagoon environment), dolomarl (shallow marine sediments with enhanced terrigenous input), reddish silty claystone (paleosol) and sandstone (terrigenous provenance) indicating that the sediments of the Construction vertebrate site were formed in a subtidal to peritidal zone of the inner ramp environment, where the main controlling factor of the alternating sedimentation was the climate change. However, the recurring paleosol formation in the middle part of the section also indicates a rapid sea-level fall when the marine sediments were repeatedly exposed to subaerial conditions. In the Road-cut site the siliciclastic sediments of the Mészhegy Sandstone Formation are exposed, representing a nearshore, shallow marine environment characterized by high siliciclastic input from the mainland.