Owadów–Brzezinki site

The Owadów–Brzezinki site is a Jurassic fossil-bearing deposit cropping out in a quarry near the village of Owadów in central Poland.

Description

The Owadów–Brzezinki palaeontological site is located in the Tomaszów Syncline in the northwestern margin of the Holy Cross Mountains, near the village of Owadów, approximately 90 km south-west from Warsaw. It is dated to the Late Jurassic or, more precisely, to the late Tithonian or middle Volgian.[1] The discovery of this fossil-bearing deposit was announced by Adrian Kin and Błażej Błażejowski in 2012.[2] The former palaeontologist died prematurely in 2013 and the fossil dragonfly Eumorbaeschna adriankini found at Owadów was named in his honour.[3]

The biota discovered in the quarry at Owadów includes calpionelloids,[4] foraminifers, bivalves, ammonites, ostracods, decapod crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, brachiopods,[1] fish, a turtle, ichthyosaurs, and representatives of other groups, many of them previously unknown.[2] Remains of terrestrial animals were found too, including insects belonging to odonates[3] and beetles.[1]

Importance

Scientific

Jurassic marine invertebrates are not cosmopolitan, but Boreal and Tethyan palaeobiogeographic Realms possess separate faunas.[5] The differences can be so great that different stratigraphic schemes have long been in use (Tithonian vs. Volgian stages). The scientific importance of the Owadów–Brzezinki site is first of all in its location between the Boreal and Tethyan areas, which allows stratigraphic correlations.[6][4]

A particularly important find is that of a Jurassic species of Limulus, which considerably extends the stratigraphic range of this genus.[7]

Educational

An educational site, called “Owadów–Brzezinki Geopark” has been organised near the quarry. It includes a small museum, exhibiting fossils found at the site and reconstructions of extinct animals, as well as trails allowing panoramic views of the quarry.[2]

References
  1. Kin, Adrian; Gruszczyński, Michał; Martill, David; Marshall, Jim D.; Błażejowski, Błażej (January 2013). "Palaeoenvironment and taphonomy of a Late Jurassic (Late Tithonian) Lagerstätte from central Poland". Lethaia. 46 (1): 71–81. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2012.00322.x. ISSN 0024-1164.
  2. Błażejowski, Błażej; Wierzbowski, Andrzej (2020). "The Owadów-Brzezinki geoeducation area at Sławno". Geotourism/Geoturystyka (1-2(60-61)): 39–45. doi:10.7494/geotour.2020.1-2(60-61).39-45. ISSN 2353-3641.
  3. Bechly, Günter; Kin, Adrian (March 2013). "First Record of the Fossil Dragonfly Family Eumorbaeschnidae from the Upper Jurassic of Poland". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 58 (1): 121–124. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0194. ISSN 0567-7920.
  4. Błażejowski, Błażej; Pszczółkowski, Andrzej; Grabowski, Jacek; Wierzbowski, Hubert; Deconinck, Jean-Francois; Olempska, Ewa; Teodorski, Artur; Nawrocki, Jerzy (2023-03-03). "Integrated stratigraphy and clay mineralogy of the Owadów–Brzezinki section (Lower–Upper Tithonian transition, central Poland): implications for correlations between the Boreal and the Tethyan domains and palaeoclimate". Journal of the Geological Society. 180 (2). doi:10.1144/jgs2022-073. ISSN 0016-7649.
  5. Hallam, A. (1969). "Faunal realms and facies in the Jurassic" (PDF). Palaeontology. 12 (1): 1–18.
  6. Matyja, Bronisław; Wierzbowski, Andrzej (2016). "Ammonites and ammonite stratigraphy of the uppermost Jurassic (Tithonian) of the Owadów–Brzezinki quarry (central Poland)". Volumina Jurassica. 14 (1): 65–122. ISSN 1731-3708.
  7. Kin, Adrian; Błażejowski, Błażej (2014-10-02). "The Horseshoe Crab of the Genus Limulus: Living Fossil or Stabilomorph?". PLOS ONE. 9 (10): e108036. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108036. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4183490. PMID 25275563.
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