FACIES AND BIOTA OF ANISIAN TO CARNIAN CARBONATE PLATFORMS IN THE NORTHERN CALCAREOUS ALPS (TYROL AND BAVARIA)

During the Middle and early Late Triassic carbonate ramps and rimmed p latforms developed at the northwestern margin of the Tethys ocean. In the Northern Calcareous Alps, Anisian stacked homoclinal ramps evolved through a transitional stage with distally steepened ramps to huge ri mmed platforms of Late Ladinian to Early Carnian age. Middle Triassic to early Late Triassic facies and biota of basin, slope and platform d epositional systems are described. Special emphasis is given to forami nifers, sponges, microproblematic organisms and algae. The Ladinian to early Carnian reef associations are characterized by the abundance of segmented sponges, microproblematica, biogenic crusts and synsediment ary cements. Among the foraminifers, recifal forms like Hydrania dullo i and Cucurbita infundibuliformis (Carnian in age) are reported from t he Northern Calcareous Alps for the first time. Some sphinctozoid spon ges like Paravesicocaulis concentricus were known until now only from the Hungarian and Russian Triassic.