Lenticular-bedding-like bioturbation and the onshore recognition of carbonate drifts (Oligocene, Cyprus) Reolid Pérez, Jesús Betzler, Christian Bialik, Or M. Waldman, Nicolas Zoophycos Bottom currents Bioturbation JR research was supported by the Juan de la Cierva Program (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades) and research group RNM-190. We thank German Israel Foundation for Scientific Research and Development for funding this research in the frame of grant no. 1336 “MioEast” to CB and NW. We would further like to thank COST action CA15103 MEDSALT Uncovering the Mediterranean salt giant (MEDSALT) for financing the Short-Term Scientific Mission of JR to the University of Haifa for analytical analyses. Eva Vinx is thanked for thin section preparation. We want to thank Prof. Juan Carlos Braga for his valuable comments on an early version of the manuscript. We also want to thank associate editor Dr. James A. MacEachern, as well as Olev Vinn and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments. The fine-grained carbonate deposits of the Oligocene to early Miocene of Cyprus are the most characteristic example of onshore outcropping carbonate drifts. These deposits were analyzed from a sedimentological and ichnological perspective, in order to determine the origin of the lenticular bedding characteristic of such deposits. The facies at the two study sections, Tsada and Petra Tou Romiou, consist of an alternation of thin, poorly cemented, intensely bioturbated marly limestone intervals and thick cemented wackestone intervals with abundant bioturbation and “lenticular bedding.” The ichnoassemblage, comprising Zoophycos, Thalassinoides, and Planolites is attributable to the Zoophycos Ichnofacies. The alternation of intervals with medium to well-preserved traces with completely biogenically homogenized facies reflects changes in substrate consistency related to changes in bottom-current velocity or to sedimentation. The presence of lenticular-bedding-like structures in the study deposits, traditionally considered diagnostic of bottom-current action in carbonate-drift outcrops, is shown to be exclusively the result of bioturbation. In the study sections, the “lenticular bedding” is the result of the coalescence of successive Zoophycos structures, which are readily preserved because they are constructed in the historical layer. It is proposed that the overlap of abundant isolated cone-shaped burrows of Zoophycos is the origin of the putative lenticular bedding recorded in the Oligocene fine-grained carbonate deposits of Cyprus, traditionally identified as drifts. Since this bedding is not related to currents in the study sections, the consideration of these carbonate deposits of Cyprus as drifts should be reevaluated. This has crucial implications for the recognition of carbonate drift outcrops elsewhere. Onshore carbonate drift outcrops wherein lenticular bedding is the main diagnostic criterion should be revisited and evaluated ichnologically. 2026-01-29T12:08:53Z 2026-01-29T12:08:53Z 2020 journal article Publisher version: Reolid, J., Betzler, C., Bialik, O. M., & Waldman, N. (2020). Lenticular-bedding-like bioturbation and the onshore recognition of carbonate drifts (Oligocene, Cyprus). Journal of Sedimentary Research, 90(12), 1667-1677. https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2020.70 1938-3681 1527-1404 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110488 10.2110/JSR.2020.70 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional GeoscienceWorld