Miocene Charophyta of Maoče, Pljevlja (Northern Montenegro)

The siliciclastic sediments of Maoče, with its sand beds and sand lenses of fluvial origin, as the clearly featured former shoreline, characterize this remote gulf of DS Lake. Its shallow water is corroborated by the frequent appearance of desiccation cracks. The lacustrine influence is mirrored in rare marly interbeds. Gyrogonites with mostly smooth spiral cells also indicate a low water mineralisation. An age is determined by Rhabdochara langeri, the key fossil for Burdigalian equivalents of W Europe, found both in Maoče and close laying Pljevlja. Nitellopsis merianii is an Euroasian Miocene species. A large mammal, from Pljevlja - Chalicotherium grande, a small morph – indicates the Lower Miocene. An entire herd of Chalicotherium was killed by a catastrophic earthquake catting forest they inhabit. The tuff of Maoče was destroyed by fluvial and vawe actions; in mineralized lakes, as Pljevlja is, tuff was transformed into siderite. Basaltic flows cannot support age because of the melting of the lower crust part. So, the biostratigraphic age is the upper part of Lower Miocene.