The extraordinary fossil sites of Vlădiceni (Iaşi, Romania) recently discovered, with lithostratigraphy of Middle Miocene age, have uncovered a rich fauna especially of fishes, molluscs, amphipods and insects. This includes also the first fossil specimen of family Cantharidae from both this geological formation and from Romania: Malthodes (Malthodes) vladiceniensis sp. nov., which is illustrated and described and compared with living and fossil species of the genus.

Tony-Cristian DUMITRIU, Sergiu LOGHIN, Mihai BRÂNZILĂ, Dorin Sorin BACIU, Simina Dumitrița DUMITRIU, Silvia MARE, Ana Maria DUMITRIU & Viorel IONESI - MICROSCOPIC “STRUCTURE-FROM-MOTION” PHOTOGRAMMETRY, A METHOD FOR MICROFOSSIL STUDY, Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, February 2021, Vol. 16, No. 1, p. 93 – 98; Doi:10.26471/cjees/2021/016/159

An exposed sedimentary succession, ca 115 m of 1000 m, from the Eastern Carpathian foredeep was for the first time analysed using facies analysis and scale and time inde-pendent sequence stratigraphy methods to reveal the depositional environment and its cyclic sedimentation. The outcropping deposits, dated on the basis of molluscs, forami-nifera, and ostracods are uppermost Volhynian (late Serravalian). The three recurrent facies associations we distinguished indicate a high energy shoreface – transition to offshore environment, episodically affected by storms. Five decametre thick high fre-quency sequences (HFS1–5), at most of 4th rank, bounded by maximum regressive sur-faces, were defined in the studied interval. The maximum thickness of Volhynian (12.65 – 12 Ma) deposits in the area, known both from well sites and outcrops, allowed to estimate the sedimentation rate at ca 1.5 mm/yr. The fossil content shows that entire sedimentary succession deposited in very shallow to shallow water during all Volhyn-ian. The time interval we studied was ca 75 kyr, so that average time of a HFS is ca 15 kyr. At this scale, considering that both high subsidence and Eastern Paratethys sea-level rise added to accommodation, the sediment supply must have been responsi-ble of cyclic nature of sedimentation, which, in turn, must have been controlled by precession climatic changes in the source area. The estimated time of a HFS is smaller than a precession cycle, but better dating might support or infirm this hypothesis.

An exposed sedimentary succession, ca 115 m of a total of 1000 m, from the Eastern Carpathian foredeep was, for the first time, analyzed using facies analysis and scale- and time-independent sequence stratigraphy methods to reveal the depositional environment and its cyclic sedimentation. The outcropping deposits, belonging to the Șomuz Formation, dated on the basis of molluscs, foraminifera, and ostracods, are uppermost Volhynian (upper Serravalian). The three recurrent facies associations we have distinguished indicate a storm-dominated shoreface–offshore transition environment. Five-decametre-thick high-frequency sequences (HFS1–5), at most of 4th order, bounded by maximum regressive surfaces, were defined in the studied interval. The maximum thickness of the Volhynian deposits in the area, known both from well sites and outcrops, allowed us to estimate the sedimentation rate at ca 1.5 m/kyr. The fossil content shows that the entire sedimentary succession was deposited in very shallow to shallow water during the whole Volhynian (12.65 - ca 12.01 Ma). The time interval we studied was estimated at ca 75 kyr, so the average time of one HFS is ca 15 kyr. At this scale, considering that both high subsidence and Eastern Paratethys sea-level rise added to accommodation, the sediment supply must have been the main control of cyclic sedimentation, which, in turn, must have been controlled by precession climatic changes in the source area. The estimated time of an HFS is shorter than a precession cycle, but better dating might support or refute this hypothesis. This paper may awaken the interest of the owners of better data, especially from subsurface (seismic, well logs), to complete the data from natural exposures.