New method for the extraction and study of microfossils from hard rocks from the eocene of Austria

Lise Meitner Position M 571 New method for the extraction and study of microfossils Kamil ZAYORSEK 06.03.2000 The main goals for one additional year of study would be finishing a monograph about Eocene Bryozoa from Austria and make revision resp. redescription of important Bryozoa types from the Reuss collection at the Natural History Museum at Vienna. A publication about the Eocene Bryozoa from the Waschberg zone has been almost finished, altogether 129 species have been determined and described. Some additional comparisons with type material and descriptions of new species and genera, which have also to be discussed with other specialists is still needed. The final paper will be published in an Austrian scientific journal. In respect to the Bryozoans from the borehole Helmberg-1 (Salzburg) a precise study with additional field work and application of new extraction method would be necessary to yield a more detailed picture of bryozoans from the Austrian Eocene. In a preliminary study made in 1999 109 species (from which 5 are new plus one new genus) have been determined from borehole Helmberg-1. The new extraction method to yield Bryozoans from hard rocks has to be tested also with other material (for example from the Helvetikum, near Salzburg, or from Krappfeld area in Carinthia). REUSS`s papers (mainly those published in 1848, 1869, and 1874) play a very important and irreplaceable role in classification and taxonomy of Eocene to Miocene Bryozoa from the Alpine -Carpathians region. REUSS described in his works from 1848 to 1874 all together more than 400 new species and several new genera. Most of his material is deposited in Natural History Museum in Vienna. The next year will be therefore also necessary to make a revision of the type material described by REUSS which is important for the taxonomy and systematic studies of Eocene Bryozoans from Austria. Without the detailed revision of his material, no progress in taxonomy of Tertiary Bryozoa from this region is possible. On the basis of these studies we could complete and further develop the comparisons in respect to the palaeogeographical situation in middle Europe during the Eocene (similar studied have been published by BRAGA, ZAGORSEK & KAZMPR, 1995). Each new detailed information about the palaeogeography of Eocene which we can yield in this way, will also be of general interest for different geological questions connected with Austrian Eocene localities.