Integrated biostratigraphy of the Santonian through Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of extra-Carpathian Poland

Abstract

The biostratigraphic importance, current zonations, and potential for the recognition of the standard chronostratigraphic boundaries of five palaeontological groups (benthic foraminifers, ammonites, belemnites, inoceramid bivalves and echinoids), critical for the stratigraphy of the Santonian through Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) of extra-Carpathian Poland, are presented and discussed. The summary is based on recent studies in selected sections of southern Poland (Nida Synclinorium; Puławy Trough including the Middle Vistula River composite section; and Mielnik and Kornica sections of south-eastern Mazury-Podlasie Homocline) and of western Ukraine (Dubivtsi). The new zonation based on benthic forams is presented for the entire interval studied. Zonations for ammonites, belemnites and inoceramid bivalves are compiled. All stage boundaries, as currently defined or understood, may easily be constrained or precisely located with the groups discussed: the base of the Santonian with the First Occurrence (FO) of the inoceramid Cladoceramus undulatoplicatus; the base of the Campanian with the Last Occurrence (LO) of the crinoid Marsupites testudinarius and approximated by the range of the foraminifer Stensioeina pommerana; and the base of the Maastrichtian approximated by the FO of the inoceramid bivalve Endocostea typica and the FO of the belemnite Belemnella vistulensis. The positions of substage boundaries, as currently understood, are constrained in terms of the groups discussed.