The Greater Caucasus evolved in the Jurassic as a large elongated back-arc basin on the northern periphery of the Neo-Tethys Ocean. The semi-quantitative analysis of proportions between marine and continental facies for each of 67 time slices produced a detailed curve depicting transgressive and regressive episodes. Five remarkable peaks on this curve are interpreted as the maximum flooding surfaces (MFSs). They are established at the Sinemurian/Pliensbachian boundary (MFS1), in the upper Pliensbachian (MFS2), the lower Aalenian (MFS3), the upper Bajocian (MFS4) and the lower Tithonian (MFS5). All surfaces except for MFS4 occur within typical MFS-marking layers. The Jurassic MFSs of the Greater Caucasus Basin do not match transgression peaks of the 1st-order cycles of Western Europe and the MFSs of Arabia. Their correspondence to the global eustatic peaks also remains uncertain. The most unexpected event is found in MFS3, which occurs at a time of prominent global sea-level fall. Errors in constraints and interpretations as well as influences of regional tectonic activity explain a specificity of the regional MFSs. The use of the regional Jurassic MFSs from the Greater Caucasus Basin for correlation purposes, therefore, appears doubtful.
M. Al-Husseini 2007 Revised ages (Ma) and accuracy of Arabian Plate maximum flooding surfaces GeoArabia 12 167 170.
M. Al-Husseini R.K. Matthews 2008 Jurassic-Cretaceous Arabian Orbital Stratigraphy: The AROSJK Chart GeoArabia 13 89 94.
Bhattacharya, J.P. 1993: The expression and interpretation of marine flooding surfaces and erosional surfaces in cores; examples from the upper Cretaceous Dunvegan Formation, Alberta Foreland basin, Canada. — In: Posamentier, H.W., C.P. Summerhayes, B.U. Haq, G.P. Allen (eds): Sequence Stratigraphy and Facies Associations. International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication, 18, pp. 125–160.
S. Boggs Jr. 2006 Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy 4th Edition Pearson Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River.
O. Catuneanu 2006 Principles of Sequence Stratigraphy Elsevier Amsterdam.
W.E. Galloway 1989 Genetic stratigraphic sequences in basin analysis, I. Architecture and genesis of flooding-surface bounded depositional units American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 73 125 142.
J. Golonka 2004 Plate tectonic evolution of the southern margin of Eurasia in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Tectonophysics 381 235 273.
Hallam, A. 1988: A re-evaluation of Jurassic eustasy in the light of new data and the revised Exxon curve. — In: Wilgus, C.K., B.S. Hastings, C.G.St.C. Kendall, H.W. Posamentier, C.A. Ross, J.C. Van Wagoner (eds): Sea-Level Changes — An Integrated Approach. Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 42, pp. 261–273.
A. Hallam 2001 A review of the broad pattern of Jurassic sea-level changes and their possible causes in the light of current knowledge Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 167 23 37.
Hallam, A. 2006: Facies and carbon isotope studies in southern Tibet suggest that the Toarcian extinction was diachronous. — 7th International Congress on the Jurassic System, September 6–18, 2006. Krakow, Poland. Volumina Jurassica, 4, p. 168.
B.U. Haq A.M. Al-Qahtani 2005 Phanerozoic cycles of sea-level change on the Arabian Platform GeoArabia 10 127 160.
B.U. Haq J. Hardenbol P.R. Vail 1987 Chronology of Fluctuating Sea Levels Since the Triassic Science 235 1156 1167.
Haq, B.U., J. Hardenbol, P.R. Vail 1988: Mesozoic and Cenozoic chronostratigraphy and cycles of sealevel change. — In: Wilgus, C.K., B.S. Hastings, C.G.St.C. Kendall, H.W. Posamentier, C.A. Ross, J.C. Van Wagoner (eds): Sea-Level Changes — An Integrated Approach. Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 42, pp. 71–108.
Jacquin, T., P.-C. de Graciansky 1998: Major transgressive/regressive cycles: the stratigraphic signature of European basin development. — In: de Graciansky, P.-Ch., J. Hardenbol, Th. Jacquin, P.R. Vail (eds): Mesozoic and Cenozoic Sequence Stratigraphy of European Basins. Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 60, pp. 15–29.
N.A. Jasamanov 1978 Landshaftno-klimatitcheskie uslovija jury, mela i paleogena Juga SSSR Nedra Moskva [Landscape and climatic conditions of the Jurassic, the Cretaceous and the Paleogene of the South of the USSR].
H.W. Posamentier G.P. Allen 1999 Siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy: concepts and applications Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralalogists Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology 7 1 210.
K.O. Rostovtsev V.B. Agaev N.R. Azarjan R.G. Babaev N.V. Beznosov T.A. Gasanov V.I. Zesashvili M.G. Lomize T.A. Paitchadze D.I. Panov E.L. Prosorovskaya A.S. Sakharov V.A. Todria M.V. Toptchishvili M.R. Abdulkasumzade A.S. Avanesjan V.S. Belenkova N.S. Bendukidze V. Vuks M.P. Doludenko A.I. Kiritchkova V.G. Klikushin G. Krymgol'ts G.M. Romanov T.V. Shevtchenko 1992 Jura Kavkaza Nauka Sankt-Peterburg [Jurassic of the Caucasus].
D.A. Ruban 2006 Taxonomic diversity dynamics of the Jurassic bivalves in the Caucasus: regional trends and recognition of global patterns Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239 63 74.
D.A. Ruban 2006 The palaeogeographic outlines of the Caucasus in the Jurassic: The Caucasian Sea and the Neotethys Ocean Geološki anali Balkanskoga poluostrva 67 1 11.
D.A. Ruban 2006 Diversity changes of the Brachiopods in the Northern Caucasus: a brief overview Acta Geologica Hungarica 49 57 71.
D.A. Ruban 2007 Jurassic transgressions and regressions in the Caucasus (northern Neotethys Ocean) and their influences on the marine biodiversity Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251 422 436.
D.A. Ruban 2007 Major Paleozoic-Mesozoic unconformities in the Greater Caucasus and their tectonic re-interpretation: A synthesis GeoActa 6 91 102.
Ruban, D.A. in press: The Jurassic events in the Greater Caucasus basin (central Northern Neotethys) and the Neuquén basin (West Gondwana): A comparison. — Revista de Asociación Geológica Argentina.
D.A. Ruban J. Tyszka 2005 Diversity dynamics and mass extinctions of the Early-Middle Jurassic foraminifers: A record from the Northwestern Caucasus Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 222 329 343.
C.R. Scotese 2004 A continental drift flipbook Journal of Geology 112 729 741.
P.R. Sharland R. Archer D.M. Casey R.B. Davies S.H. Hall A.P. Heward A.D. Horbury M.D. Simmons 2001 Arabian Plate sequence stratigraphy GeoArabia Special Publication 2 1 371.
K.W. Shanley P.J. McCabe R.D. Hettinger 1992 Significance of tidal influence in fluvial deposits for interpreting sequence stratigraphy Sedimentology 39 905 930.
M.D. Simmons P.R. Sharland D.M. Casey R.B. Davies O.E. Sutcliffe 2007 Arabian Plate sequence stratigraphy: Potential implications for global chronostratigraphy GeoArabia 12 101 130.
G.M. Stampfli G.D. Borel 2002 A plate tectonic model for the Paleozoic and Mesozoic constrained by dynamics plate boundaries and restored synthetic oceanic isochrons Earth and Plantary Science Letters 196 17 33.
Van Wagoner, J.C., H.W. Posamentier, R.M. Mitchum, P.R. Vail, J.F. Sarg, T.S. Loutit, J. Hardenbol 1988: An overview of sequence stratigraphy and key definitions. — In: Wilgus, C.K., B.S. Hastings, C.G.St.C. Kendall, H.W. Posamentier, C.A. Ross, J.C. Van Wagoner (eds): Sea-Level Changes — An Integrated Approach. Society for Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 42, pp. 39–45.
P.C.H. Veeken 2007 Seismic Stratigraphy, Basins Analysis and Reservoir Characterisation Elsevier Amsterdam.
Wignall, P., T. Hallam, R. Newton, J. Sha 2006: Trouble in t'Toarcian of Tibet. — The Palaeontological Association. 50th, Annual Meeting, 18th–21st December, 2006, University of Sheffield, Abstracts, p. 39.