Ostracod contribution to the palaeoenvironmental study of Kyparissia 4 (Megalopolis basin, Greece)

Abstract

The Megalopolis Basin, situated on the central part of Peloponnese in southern Greece, is an intramontane half-graben basin, which was formed during the Pliocene and is nowadays one of the largest coal mining districts in Greece. During the Pleistocene, lacustrine and fluvial sediments were deposited, including the lignite-bearing Marathousa Member of the Choremi Formation (Vinken, 1965). The sedimentary sequence of the Marathousa member has a total thickness of ~150 m at the center of the basin, and includes alternations between clastic sediments (clay, silt and sand) and 5–30 m thick dark brown lignite seams, intercalated with thin clastic layers (van Vugt et al., 2000 and references therein).