An international team under the direction the NHM Wien palaeontologist Dr. Alexander Lukeneder investigates in the next 2
years one of the most severe environmental disasters in Earth History. A worldwide climate change resulted 233 million years
ago to a gigantic mass ectiction in the Mesozoic oceans of the entire world. Known as the Carnian Pluvial Episode this phase
and ist deposits can be observed in the vicinity of Lunz am See in Lower Austria.
Project leader: Priv. Doz. Dr. Alexander Lukeneder
Duration: 3/2021 – 12/2022
Funding: Austrian Acedemy of Science (ÖAW; Geo/Hydro Science Nationalkomitee) and Government of Lower Austria (Land NÖ)
Publications:
Lukeneder, P. and Lukeneder, A. 2022. Comment on “Triassic coleoid beaks and other structures from the Calcareous Alps revisited” by Doguzhaeva et al. (2022). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 67, online 28. November 2022. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.01016.2022
Lukeneder, A. and Lukeneder, P. 2022. Taphonomic history and trophic interactions of an ammonoid fauna from the Upper Triassic Polzberg palaeobiota. Scientific Reports, 12, 7455 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11496-y
Lukeneder, P. and Lukeneder, A. 2022. Mineralized belemnoid cephalic cartilage from the Late Triassic Polzberg Konservat-Lagerstätte
(Austria). PLOS ONE, PLOS ONE, 17(4): e0264595. https//doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264595
Data associated with research paper in PLOS ONE – data repository:
Lukeneder, A. and Lukeneder P. 2021. The Upper Triassic Polzberg palaeobiota from a marine Konservat-Lagerstätte deposited
during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in Austria.
Data associated with research paper in PLOS ONE – data repository:
Nature Research, Scientific Reports, 11, 16644 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96052-w
Lukeneder, A., Surmik, D., Gorzelak, P., Niedzwiedzki, R., Brachaniec, T. and Salamon, M.A. 2020. Bromalites from the Upper Triassic Polzberg section (Austria); insights into trophic interactions and food chains of the Polzberg palaeobiota. Scientific Reports 10, 20545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-77017-x
Two Projects – one target
The main target area of the diverse and modern investigations is located in the north of Lunz am See. In this area of the Northern Calcareous Alps mostly deposits with sandstones of the Lunz Formation appear. This Formation is worldwide known due to the rich and diverse Lunz flora. Below this coal bearing deposits the fine laminated Reingraben Formation crops out. The black and argillaceous marlstones to clays comprise a Konservat-Lagerstätte of worldwide reputation. Konservat-Lagerstätten ara charecterised by entirely and well preserved fossil content. In the project finacialley supported by the Government of Lower Austria (Science and Research) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Geo/Hydro Sciences) the unique fossil site will be investigated in details. Since more than 140 years the area around Lunz am See is known for the fossil abundance by scientists and citizen scientists too.
During the search for cole the fossiliferous layers were detected in the late 19th century. Excavation campaigns to obtain
the fossils were organized by the Geological Survey of Austria (GBA) in 1885 and the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHMW)
in 1909. Under supervision of the mine inspector Josef Haberfelner, two adits for fossil mining were driven into the middle
and basal part of the Reingraben Shales. The historical, abandoned and collapsed mines were located in small ravine slopes
in the mountainous area. Around 1885 and 1909, thousands of fossils were collected from the Polzberg locality during the excavation
campaigns of the GBA and the NHMW. The Upper Triassic Fossil-“Konservat-Lagerstätte” Polzberg, with deposits of black, finely
laminated Reingraben Shales, is poorly described and even less well understood. Stur and Teller were pioneers for the Polzberg
area and its fauna by publishing preliminary data on the Polzberg outcrops.
Members of the diverse invertebrate assemblage appear sporadically throughout the section with ammonites (Austrotrachyceras,
Carnites, Sageceras, Simonyceras), coleoids (Phragmoteuthis, Lunzoteuthis), bivalves (Halobia), gastropods (indet sp.), thylacocephalan
arthropods (Austriocaris), crustaceans (Platychela), eustheriids (Eustheria); isopods (Obtusotelson, Discosalaputium), and
polychaetes (Palaeoaphrodite, Eunicidae indet). Vertebrate taxa are represented by frequent and dispersed acytinopterygid
fishes (not accumulated in single layers) throughout the section (Saurichthys, Polzbergia, Peltopleurus, Habroichthys). Other
taxa include remnants of cartilaginous fishes (Acrodus), several coelocanthid fishes (“Coelacanthus”), the lungfish Tellerodus,
and a conodont cluster (Mosherella).
The diversity, the abundance of fossil groups and the excellent preservation are the prerquisite of such Konservat-Lagerstätten
for a better understanding of the palaeoecological and climatic conditions in the Late Traissic. Special conditions are required
for the formation of such conservational deposits with fragile and well-preserved fossil remains. Stagnation of water masses
along with terrigenous influx by enhanced runoff resulting in accumulations of organic material led to dark-laminated, pyrite-rich
deposits that promoted the soft tissue preservation of fishes and other fossil taxa. The Polzberg palaeobiota was deposited
in an intraplatform basin, which intensified these conditions, as the Reifling Basin was surrounded by the Wetterstein platform.
The demise of platforms with a co-occurring carbonate breakdown was a worldwide phenomenon at that time. The entirety of the
fossil taxa found so far provides new insights into the Upper Triassic (lower Carnian) trophic web and food chains of the
Polzberg palaeobiota.
The Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) – the breakdown
The biostratigraphic data hint to a Julian 2 Ib (Austrotrachyceras austriacum Zone, A. minor biohorizon) age of the main fossiliferous
part of the Polzberg section. These important palaeontological findings highlight the importance and special position within
the Upper Triassic Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) and the food web with its food chains of the Polzberg “Konservat-Lagerstätte”.
The environmental conditions in the mediterranean Reifling Basin changed, along with the composition of the seawater, and
subsequently the inhabitants of the Triassic ocean in the Austrian Alps adapted to the special conditions during the humidification
of the Carnian climate in the CPE. Previous studies dealing with that transitional Julian/Tuvalian humid episode exist from
numerous localities in the Northern Calcareous Alps of Austria. The CPE appears to be a worldwide phase characterized by warming
and humidification (enhanced rainfall) triggered by enormous and isochronous volcanic activity at that time.
Ammonites from the Reingraben Shales.
Fossil fish from the Reingraben Shales.
Fossil fern from the Lunz Formation.
