Widespread, apparently rapid nearshore glaucony authigenesis was a conspicuous process during the (Late) Cretaceous green−/hothouse that has no analogue today. Based on detailed case studies from different depositional domains around the Mid-European Island, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of the stratigraphic, environmental and geochemical constraints on the formation of Upper Cretaceous greensand giants. SEM-EDX and XRD analyses demonstrate that the rock-forming green grains from all studied basins consist of glauconitic minerals with high-order, 1M-type layer stacking. Inorganic geochemical patterns, using palaeoenvironmentally significant major and trace elements normalized to Al, show that numerous element/aluminum (E/Al) ratios of greensand deposits, including the modified chemical index of alteration (CIX), are considerably higher than average shale values. In contrast, contemporaneous continental deposits exhibit low E/Al ratios and extremely high CIX values. Furthermore, abundant plant remains indicate substantial influx of terrestrial organic matter. These findings indicate strong chemical weathering of densely vegetated hinterlands under warm-humid conditions, causing a continuous supply of essential elements required for nearshore glaucony authigenesis. The decay of terrestrial organic matter favored this process in two independent ways, i.e., ensuring slightly reducing conditions of porewaters and providing plant-decay-related potassium for rapid glaucony maturation. Reworking of swampy coastal lowlands during major Late Cretaceous shoreline retrogradation was another crucial process for trace metal mobilization. In short, our integrated data provide insight into the anactualistic process of glaucony neoformation during hothouse phases of Earth history that, as part of the reverse weathering reaction, could be a significant factor in future global change scenarios.

Abstract Evaluating the history of human impacts on marine ecosystems based on sediment cores is challenging on shelves characterized by very slow sedimentation. To assess the stratigraphic expression of such impacts in the condensed deposits of an epicontinental sea, we analysed a 3 m-long core collected at 31 m water depth off the Po prodelta in the Northern Adriatic Sea by integrating geochronological ( 14 C and 210 Pb), sedimentological, geochemical and palaeontological proxies. A depositional history of the last 10 000 years is expressed in four different facies: (1) alluvial floodplain, (2) transitional, shell-poor silts, (3) a condensed 30 cm-thick shell lag, and (4) a 10 cm-thick layer of distal prodelta silts comprising the last c. 500 years. 10 000-year-old shells of Lentidium mediterraneum spread over the shell lag and prodelta sediments document onshore transport during the early Holocene sea-level rise. Varicorbula gibba shells are age-homogeneous within the subsurface shell lag, documenting decimetre-scale mixing by bioturbation in the past. However, in spite of low sedimentation rates, the organic and heavy metal enrichment, the increase in proportional abundance of benthic foraminifers preferring organic-rich sediments ( Nonionella sp.), and the increase in size of molluscs ( V. gibba ) in the upper 10 cm formed by prodelta silts still detect the eutrophication in this region during the twentieth century. These eutrophication proxies are preserved in the stratigraphic record owing to temporarily increasing sedimentation rate and decreasing mixing depth.

Bulk geochemistry data with p-values, person correlation values and PCA loadings

The Northern Adriatic Sea is one of the most impacted ecosystems worldwide with a long history of anthropogenic impacts, ranging from overfishing and bottom trawling to eutrophication, deoxygenation and pollution. The impact of these multiple pressures on populations of economically important species is often difficult to evaluate due to paucity of long-term monitoring data. The edible bivalve Noah’s Ark shell (Arca noae L.) was intensively harvested in the eastern Adriatic Sea until 1949-1950 when it suffered a catastrophic population collapse due to unknown agents. The assessment of its subsequent recovery is hindered by the lack of data on the population size structure prior to that event. To reconstruct the natural baseline state of populations of A. noae before the onset of extensive harvesting, we studied fossil assemblages from two 1.5-m-long sediment cores collected in the southern Gulf of Trieste (off Piran, Slovenia), both recording the last ~9,500 years. The abundance and shell length of A. noae remained low in the lower part of the cores but increased strongly within the oyster-Arca shell bed corresponding to maximum flooding and early highstand sea-level phases (6,500-1,000 years ago). In contrasts, the top 8 cm of the core (the late highstand phase), marked by high concentration of pollutants and organic enrichment, contained only few and small (< 10 mm) A. noae shells. Moreover, no living individuals were found in grab samples taken from the two stations suggesting that the dense populations of A. noae, persisting there for several thousand years, were locally extirpated in the 20th century. To evaluate population recovery in other parts of the NE Adriatic, we compared the size distribution of fossil A. noae from the shell bed interval to the previously published data on living populations of this species sampled along Istrian peninsula between 1966 and 1978. Both fossil and extant populations were characterized by similar median size, modal size class and proportion of specimens > 50 mm (minimal legal landing size). These results suggest that within few decades after the 1949-1950 mass mortality event the size structure of populations of A. noae have largely returned to their earlier, natural state. The recovery was spatially variable, however, as attested by the decline of A. noae populations due to loss of suitable shell-bed habitats in the two studied stations off Piran.

Benthic communities in the Northern Adriatic Sea experienced major environmental and ecological changes during the late Holocene, particularly in the late 20th century due to anthropogenic induced stressors such as hypoxic events. These events lead to mass mortalities and changes in benthic communities. Here, we assess stratigraphic changes in bulk sediment geochemistry and sedimentological attributes to quantify the magnitude and timing of environmental changes and to correlate them to ecological changes. We focus on the reconstruction of the micro- to macrobenthic community composition (foraminifera, ostracods, bivalves and gastropods) prior and after major anthropogenic impacts. We investigate the differences in responses of these taxonomic groups to environmental changes and account for the impact of time-averaging.The 3-m-long gravity core was collected at 31 m water depth, off the Po prodelta in the western part of the northern Adriatic Sea. The upper 60 cm of the core represent a condensed record determined by sediment bypassing and winnowing during the early and late sea level highstand. In total, 50 shells of the common bivalve Corbula gibba were dated by 14C-calibrated amino acid racemization (AAR) from the upper 30 cm and plant remains were dated by 14C from deeper parts. These analyses show that median shell ages of Corbula decline downcore, from ~50 years in the top 2.5 cm to 1,400 years in the 5-7.5 cm increment, 2,900 years in the 10-12.5 cm increment, and 4,500 years in the 17.5-20 cm increment. Median age in the 28-33 cm increment is again 3,600 years, indicating effects of mixing. The youngest shell corresponds to 24 years BP in the top 2.5 cm and the oldest shell to to 7800 years BP at the base at 30 cm. The 60 cm-long highstand record can be divided in 4 major intervals:(1) Early-highstand sediments cover the development of a baseline community. Total abundances of micro-and macrobenthic species increase upwards (2) In the late-highstand sediments (around 12.5-15 cm), micro-and macrobenthic absolute species abundance are highest. Increase in eutrophication and heavy metal pollution is indicated by rising N levels and Pb content in bulk sediments. (3) At 5 cm depth, a major anthropogenic environmental shift indicated by strong pollution (Pb and Hg) and eutrophication (TOC) coincides with a strong decline in micro-and macrobenthic abundance and diversity (4) The surface-mixed layer yields a slight increase in micro-to macrobenthic abundances, next to a slight decrease of heavy metal pollution and eutrophication.14C-calibrated AAR shell ages indicate a relatively limited, centennial time averaging (measured by interquartile age ranges) of Corbula in the uppermost increment but then show a millennial-scale time-averaging below the uppermost surface-mixed layer. This can be linked to a decrease in bioturbation in the 20th century and to a slight increase in sedimentation rate. Although the record is affected by time-averaging, the micro-and macrobenthic community abundances show a distinct pattern that can be related to environmental changes from geochemical sediment proxies. Benthic foraminifers, ostracods and mollusks abundance show similar responses to sedimentological and geochemical tracers in these condensed sediments.

Although the depth of bioturbation can be estimated on the basis of ichnofabric, the timescale of sediment mixing (reworking) and irrigation (ventilation) by burrowers that affects carbonate preservation and biogeochemical cycles is difficult to estimate in the stratigraphic record. However, pyrite linings on the interior of shells can be a signature of slow and shallow irrigation. They indicate that shells of molluscs initially inhabiting oxic sediment pockets were immediately and permanently sequestered in reduced, iron-rich microenvironments within the mixed layer. Molluscan biomass-stimulated sulfate reduction and pyrite precipitation was confined to the location of decay under such conditions. A high abundance of pyrite-lined shells in the stratigraphic record can thus be diagnostic of limited exposure of organic tissues to O2 even when the seafloor is inhabited by abundant infauna disrupting and age-homogenizing sedimentary fabric as in the present-day northern Adriatic Sea. Here, we reconstruct this sequestration pathway characterized by slow irrigation (1) by assessing preservation and postmortem ages of pyrite-lined shells of the shallow-infaunal and hypoxia-tolerant bivalve Varicorbula gibba in sediment cores and (2) by evaluating whether an independently documented decline in the depth of mixing, driven by high frequency of seasonal hypoxia during the 20th century, affected the frequency of pyrite-lined shells in the stratigraphic record of the northern Adriatic Sea. First, at prodelta sites with a high sedimentation rate, linings of pyrite framboids form rapidly in the upper 5–10 cm as they already appear in the interiors of shells younger than 10 years and occur preferentially in well-preserved and articulated shells with periostracum. Second, increments deposited in the early 20th century contain < 20 % of shells lined with pyrite at the Po prodelta and 30 %–40 % at the Isonzo prodelta, whereas the late 20th century increments possess 50 %–80 % of shells lined with pyrite at both locations. At sites with slow sedimentation rate, the frequency of pyrite linings is low (< 10 %–20 %). Surface sediments remained well mixed by deposit and detritus feeders even in the late 20th century, thus maintaining the suboxic zone with dissolved iron. The upcore increase in the frequency of pyrite-lined shells thus indicates that the oxycline depth was reduced and bioirrigation rates declined during the 20th century. We hypothesize that the permanent preservation of pyrite linings within the shells of V. gibba in the subsurface stratigraphic record was enabled by slow recovery of infaunal communities from seasonal hypoxic events, leading to the dominance of surficial sediment modifiers with low irrigation potential. The presence of very young and well-preserved pyrite-lined valves in the uppermost zones of the mixed layer indicates that rapid obrution by episodic sediment deposition is not needed for preservation of pyrite linings when sediment irrigation is transient and background sedimentation rates are not low (here, exceeding ∼ 0.1 cm yr−1) and infaunal organisms die at their living position within the sediment. Abundance of well-preserved shells lined by pyrite exceeding ∼ 10 % per assemblage in apparently well-mixed sediments in the deep-time stratigraphic record can be an indicator of inefficient bioirrigation. Fine-grained prodelta sediments in the northern Adriatic Sea deposited since the mid-20th century, with high preservation potential of reduced microenvironments formed within a mixed layer, can represent taphonomic and early diagenetic analogues of deep-time skeletal assemblages with pyrite linings.

Over the last century, the northern Adriatic Sea has faced multiple ecological threats such as hypoxic events, eutrophication, pollution by heavy metals and plastics, and bottom trawling. These impacts were associated with major changes in the composition of benthic communities, particularly a decline in the abundance of Turritellinella tricarinata (= Turritella communis), the dominant gastropod species in the previously widespread Turritella-biocenosis of the northern Adriatic muddy bottoms. In this study, we reconstruct changes in abundance and size structure of T. tricarinata populations over the last 6000 years to better understand the drivers responsible for its recent decline and to provide a historical baseline for assessing potential recovery.We studied sediment cores from two locations in the western Northern Adriatic Sea: (1) distal zones of Po prodelta based on a 3-meter-long gravity core collected at 31 m water depth comprising a condensed record of the last ~9,100 years, (2) proximal zones of Po prodelta based on five 1.5-meter-long piston cores taken at 21 m water depth in the Po prodelta, which capture the last 100-150 years. Core chronologies are based on radiocarbon-calibrated amino-acid racemization analyses of bivalve shells.We analysed changes in the abundance and shell height of T. tricarinata in each increment of the cores. In total, 600 specimens have been measured. All stations show a similar pattern in shell abundance: a climax in the early 20th century and a strong decrease in the late 20th century.The proximal records of Po prodelta show a negative correlation between abundance and median shell size, with larger size and lower abundance in the late the 20th century, a period characterized by recurrent severe hypoxic events. The 3-meter-long offshore core contains on average smaller specimens, but reflects a similar pattern: the number of larger specimens (>10 mm) and median shell sizes increase slightly towards the core top while total abundance declines. This trend towards larger shell size and lower abundance may reflect the complex effect of nutrient enrichment in a highly disturbed environment. During the last century Turritella communis might experience higher growth rates and lower predation but simultaneously reduced recruitment due to hypoxia and pollution.

Although the depth of bioturbation can be estimated on the basis of ichnofabric, the time scale of sediment mixing and irrigation by burrowers that affects carbonate preservation and biogeochemical cycles is difficult to estimate in the stratigraphic record. However, pyrite linings on interior of shells can be a signature of slow mixing and irrigation rate 10 because they indicate that shells of molluscs initially inhabiting oxic sediment zones were immediately and permanently sequestered in reduced microenvironments where molluscan biomass and associated microbial coatings stimulated sulfate reduction and pyrite precipitation. A high abundance of pyrite-lined shells in the stratigraphic record can thus be diagnostic of limited net exposure of labile tissues to O2 even when the seafloor is inhabited by abundant burrowing infauna as in the present-day northern Adriatic Sea. Here, we reconstruct this sequestration pathway (1) by assessing preservation and 15 postmortem ages of pyrite-lined shells of the hypoxia-tolerant bivalve Varicorbula gibba in sediment cores and (2) by evaluating whether an independently-documented decline in bioturbation, driven by eutrophication and seasonal hypoxia during the 20 th century, affected the frequency of pyrite-lined shells in the stratigraphic record of the northern Adriatic Sea. First, at prodelta sites with high sedimentation rate, linings of pyrite framboids form rapidly in near-surface sediment zones as they appear already in interiors of shells and in intra-shell conchiolin layers younger than 10 years and occur 20 preferentially in well-preserved and articulated shells with periostracum and relatively high concentrations of amino acids. Second, increments deposited in the early 20 th century contain <20% of shells with pyrite at the Po prodelta and 30-40% at the Isonzo prodelta, whereas the late 20 th century increments possess 50-80% of shells with pyrite at both locations. At sites with slow sedimentation rate, the frequency of pyrite linings is low (<10-20%). Third, the upcore increase in the frequency of pyrite-lined shells positively correlates with an abrupt increase in maximum shell size and biomass of V. gibba. Therefore, 25 the upcore increase in the frequency of pyrite-lined shells indicates that sediment mixing and bioirrigation rates declined during the 20 th century, leading to higher sequestration of pyrite-lined shells during the late 20 th century. We hypothesize that the permanent preservation of pyrite linings within the shells of V. gibba in the subsurface stratigraphic record was allowed by slow recovery of infaunal communities frequently interrupted by seasonal hypoxic events, leading to the dominance of surficial sediment modifiers with low irrigation potential. Abundance of well-preserved shells lined by pyrite exceeding 30 ~10% per assemblage in apparently well-mixed sediments in the deep-time stratigraphic record can be an indicator of short net exposure of shells to O2 and inefficient bioirrigation. Fine-grained prodelta sediments in the northern Adriatic Sea deposited since the mid-20 th century, with high preservation potential of reduced microniches, can represent taphonomic and early-diagenetic analogues of deep-time skeletal assemblages with pyrite linings.

Biostratigraphy of ammonite, inoceramid and orbitolinid foraminifer faunas from the mid-Cretaceous (Aptian–Turonian) succession at the eastern border of the Anarak Metamorphic Complex, a basement uplift in the north-western part of Central Iran, helped to understand complex lithostratigraphic patterns, to trace tectonic unconformities and to reconstruct the geodynamic significance of the succession. The basal continental Noqreh Formation can only be dated by stratigraphic superposition as pre-late early Aptian. An orbitolinid assemblage in the overlying shallow-marine Shah-Kuh Formation indicates a latest early Aptian age. The lower member of the overlying Bazyab Formation documents a considerable deepening in the early late Aptian (Epicheloniceras subnodosocostatum Zone). The boundary to the middle member of the Bazyab Formation is a conspicuous sedimentary unconformity, separating marly offshore strata below from shallow-marine, bioclastic sandstone above. The upper part of the middle member yielded ammonites of the upper lower Albian Douvilleiceras mammillatum Zone. In the upper member of the Bazyab Formation, ammonites of the upper Albian Mortoniceras rostratum Zone have been found. The base of the overlying Debarsu Formation is of earliest Cenomanian age (Mantelliceras mantelli Zone, Neostlingoceras carcitanense Subzone) and lower Cenomanian shallow-marine limestones range up to an intra-formational unconformity below the upper marl member of the formation, yielding early Turonian inoceramid bivalves and ammonites in the lower part. The Debarsu Formation is truncated along a major regional unconformity at the base of the Haftoman Formation. The erosional episode is correlated to a Coniacian tectonic event but further studies are needed to fully understand its geodynamic significance.

Sediments of the NW Adriatic Sea preserve important information about environmental changes during the Holocene and due to recent anthropogenic impact. This study is based on new data of a 3-m-long gravity core taken from 31 m water depth. Large environmental and ecological shifts are indicated by changes in geochemistry (XRF core scanning data, geochemical bulk analyses) and molluscan composition, particularly in the uppermost decimeters.Sedimentologically, the record can be divided into 4 facies types: (1) laminated silty sediments with some sands, terrestrial plant remains, and scarce mollusc shells (at 175-300 cm sediment depth), (2) bioturbated silty, fine-sandy sediments with terrestrial plant remains, scarce mollusc shells, and calcirhizomes (70-175 cm), (3) strongly bioturbated, clayey silt with increasing abundance in mollusc shells (20-70 cm), and (4) clayey silt with a peak in molluscan shell abundances and diversity, with abundant bivalves (Corbula gibba) and gastropods (Turritellinella tricarinata, 0-20 cm).Corbula gibba valves were used for C14-calibrated amino acid racemization (AAR) analyses of valves. The resulting shell ages show a bisection in the record: (1) an uppermost, surface-mixed layer with very young shells (median age = 50 years) and (2) an age-homogeneous composition down to 30 cm sediment depth (median age = 3000 years). This downcore shift in age distributions probably indicates that the 20th century shells of Corbula gibba are not mixed beyond 10 cm. This pattern implies decreasing bioturbation and increasing sedimentation in the study area in the 20th century.

The stratigraphy of the northwestern Saxonian Cretaceous Basin (Meissen-Niederau area) is revised based on integrated stratigraphic dating and facies analyses. The fauna of the Meissen Formation suggests that it is of early Middle Cenomanian age, rather than late Early Cenomanian as assumed hitherto. At Niederau, the basal Oberau Conglomerate of the Mobschatz Formation forms a contemporaneous equivalent of the Meissen Formation. The age, macro-/nannofossil content and transgressive nature link the bed to the early Middle Cenomanian Praeactinocamax primus Event. Up-section, the 70-m-thick Oberau-Grobern composite section covers the Middle Cenomanian to Lower Turonian shown by nanno- and macrofossil data, substantiated by new carbon isotope analyses from the lower part of the section. The Middle to lower Upper Cenomanian isotope curve has been correlated to the Anglo-Paris and northern German basins, suggesting a stratigraphic gap in the Middle-Upper Cenomanian boundary interval that corresponds to a phase of sea-level fall (sequence boundary Cenomanian 4). The transgression history continued in the early Late Cenomanian with the upper Mobschatz Formation at Oberau-Grobern, corresponding to the first onlap of the formation onto the Meissen Formation and basement rocks at Meissen-Zscheila. Another sea-level fall is recorded by the contact of the Mobschatz and Dolzschen formations in the mid-Upper Cenomanian (SB Ce 5), followed by a major deepening and siliciclastic starvation of the Meissen-Niederau area during the latest Cenomanian-earliest Turonian. The introduction of the Meissen-Dresden Subgroup is suggested for the lithologically uniform distal strata in order to compensate limitations of the current lithostratigraphic framework of the Elbtal Group.

The stratigraphic calibration of proximal shallow-water deposits is often challenging, particularly the correlation of condensed and patchy records to expanded offshore successions. In the present case study, based on three fully-cored boreholes, Cenomanian-Coniacian strata from the southwestern margin of the Munsterland Cretaceous Basin (MCB, Northwest Germany) are stratigraphically classified and correlated. The integrated approach applies bio- (mainly calcareous nannofossils), chemo- (carbon-stable isotopes) and sequence stratigraphical analyses as well as geophysical borehole data (natural gamma radiation). The core sections are predominantly characterised by glauconitic lime- and sandstones (greensands) as well as clayey-silty marls and spiculitic marly limestones deposited in a shallow marine, epicontinental shelf setting. The lithostratigraphical units are assigned to: Essen Grunsand Formation, Buren Formation, the Bochum, Soest and Mulheim Grunsand members of the Duisburg Formation as well as the Emscher Formation including its greensand member. Biozones UC1-3 and UC6-10 are proved by calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy including a potential gap in the latest Cenomanian (absence of biozones UC4 and UC5). Sequence stratigraphical investigations revealed eight 3rd-order sequence-bounding unconformities (SB): Cenomanian (Ce) SB Ce 2-5 and SB Turonian (Tu) 1-4, dividing the strata into depositional sequences (DS) DS Ce 2-5, DS Ce-Tu 1 and DS Tu 2-4. The depositional sequences are stacked into two 2nd-order cycles separated by SB Tu 1 (Lower/Middle Turonian boundary interval). The carbon-stable isotope data of the Gelsen-kirchen core are correlated to the Cretaceous standard section for northwest Europe (Dover) and the regional standard of the southern MCB (Anrochte/Werl). The major positive isotope excursion of the oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE 2) is recognised, along with other Cenomanian-Turonian isotope events. Sea-level changes reconstructed from the sequence stratigraphical analysis of the strata point to eustatic changes as main driver of facies and stratigraphical architectures, supported by the correlative nature of the depositional sequences and their bounding unconformities. The integrated stratigraphical analyses presented herein led to a better understanding of spatio-temporal depositional patterns and sea-level dynamics at the margin of a Late Cretaceous epicontinental sea.

An integrated study of the litho-, bio-, and microfacies of several sections has greatly improved the knowledge on the stratigraphy and depositional setting of the Coniacian to Campanian Haftoman Formation in the Khur area of the northern Yazd Block, Central Iran. Generally, the Haftoman Formation rests on a major tectonic unconformity and commences with a basal conglomerate followed by up to 900 m of shallow-water carbonates with local red sandstone intercalations. Five different depositional environments (from distal to proximal) characterize the facies associations (FA) of the Haftoman Formation: silty, spiculitic wackestone (proximal basin, FA I), bio-/intraclastic wacke-, pack-, and grainstone (marginal shoals, FA II), bioclastic rud-/float-/boundstone (outer platform, FA III), silty mud-/wackestone (lagoonal inner platform, FA IV), and sandstone/sandy limestone (areas close to the mouth of ephemeral streams, FA V). The litho-, micro-, and biofacies of the Haftoman Formation are typical for an epeiric carbonate platform characterized by an arid climate and lagoonal circulation, resulting in nutrient-poor waters, warm temperatures, and high salinities. The Haftoman Platform was attached to an emergent arid hinterland formed by the Anarak Metamorphic Complex to the west and southwest of the study area. Unconformity-bounded depositional units indicate sea-level changes that may correspond to 400-kyr high-frequency sequences but further studies are needed to fully exploit the potential of sequence stratigraphy for regional and inter-regional correlation of the Haftoman Formation.

The so-called "Glauconitic Limestone of Esfahan" is a thin (<4 m) but very conspicuous lithological unit that is well known for its late Albian to middle Cenomanian ammonite faunas. However, it consists of two genetically unrelated stratigraphical units: the lower part commonly comprises fine-grained bioclastic limestones that are poor in macrofossils and rest with a sharp basal surface on mid-upper Albian strata of the deep-marine Bazyab Formation: the microbiostratigraphy shows this part to be mid-late Albian in age (Pseudothalmanninella ticinensis Zone), thus constituting a lithostratigraphical equivalent of the lower Debarsu Formation. The upper part of the "Glauconitic Limestone" consists of a fossiliferous glauconitic conglomerate with large rounded limestone pebbles to boulders and phosphatized bio-/lithoclasts, yielding the famous ammonite faunas of the unit. It has a major erosional unconformity at its base that may cut out the Debarsu Formation over short distances and it shows a fining-upward trend grading into an overlying marl and argillaceous limestone unit. These observations demonstrate that the glauconitic conglomerate initiated a new depositional cycle and is thus genetically related to the overlying fine-grained strata. Consequently, the glauconitic conglomerate is regarded as the basal TakhteSheitan Member (new) of the Kolah-Qazi Formation (new), formalized herein. The matrix of the upper part of the Takhte-Sheitan Member could be dated as mid-late Cenomanian (upper Rotalipora cushmani Zone) and the overlying fine-grained offshore deposits of the Kolah Qazi Formation as latest Cenomanian to early Turonian by means of foraminifera, ammonites, inoceramid bivalves and carbon stable isotopes. Thus, the late Albian to middle Cenomanian phosphatized ammonites from the Takhte-Sheitan Member are derived, i.e., represent classic remanie faunas. The Takhte-Sheitan Member is regarded as a complex, condensed transgressive lag onlapping a considerable palaeotopography after a late mid- to early late Cenomanian tectonic event. The overlying marl and argillaceous limestones of the Kolah-Qazi Formation indicate a considerable deepening in response to a major eustatic sea-level rise and highstand across the Cenomanian Turonian boundary associated by increased organic carbon burial related to the oceanic anoxic event (OAE) 2. The carbon stable isotope curve from the base of the Kolah-Qazi Formation (Takhte-Sheitan Member) up-section into the marls and argillaceous limestones shows the conspicuous structure of the major positive excursion of the OAE 2 and serves as precise tool for the high-resolution chemostratigraphic calibration of the Iranian sections. It provides a new reference curve for the OAE 2 in the Middle East. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

During the Late Cretaceous global sea level rise, marine nearshore sedimentary rocks were deposited in the Munsterland (northwest Germany). Thirteen borehole cores recently drilled in the southwestern part of the Munsterland have supplied new data on the lithostratigraphy and facies patterns of these deposits. By combining biostratigraphy (planktonic/benthic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils), gamma ray data and lithological observations from the drill cores and form auxilliary chipped drillings a detailed correlation scheme of the Cenomanian-Campanian succession has been established. The successions studied show considerable variations in thickness and lithology over an area of 850 square kilometres. The western part of the study area is dominated by a homogeneous sequence of glauconitic sandstones and marlstones (greensands). Eastwards, the lithology becomes more variable and marls predominate, particularly in Coniacian and lower-middle Santonian strata. The new findings allow for a revision of the current lithological scheme used for Upper Cretaceous deposits in the western part of northern Germany. A major result is the evidence for synsedimentary tectonics as a driving force for the formation of an intrabasinal structural high which has been derived from spatial facies and thickness patterns of lower Turonian deposits. The Late Cretaceous synsedimentary inversion tectonics is examined in two examples, yielding a maximum movement rate of 0.1 mm/year for the early Santonian. Local geological mapping activities within the study area have provided a stripped map of the Cretaceous cover and a base Cretaceous subsurface contour map. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three new Cenomanian–Coniacian cores from the Ruhrgebiet (northwestern Germany) provide the opportunity to study the otherwise poorly exposed proximal zone of the southwestern Münsterland Cretaceous Basin. The strata formed in an epicontinental shallow-marine environment and are assigned to four lithostratigraphical units, i.e., the Essen Grünsand Formation, Büren Formation, Duisburg Formation and Emscher Formation. The cores have been logged and described in detail with respect to litho- and biofacies, dated using an integrated approach and sampled for microfacies analysis. The litho- and biofacies analyses as well as the microscopic study of thin sections resulted in the differentiation of three principle facies associations (FA): transgression conglomerates (FA I), sandstones rich in glauconies (FA II) and spiculitic, silty-sandy marls (FA III). These can be associated with the depositional environment of an inner shelf (FA I–II) and a proximal middle shelf (FA III). The facies associations contain characteristic components and fabrics, resulting in the differentiation of nine facies types (FT). Five principal sediment sources are evident: (1) siliciclastics shed from the south (Rhenish Massif), (2) skeletal grains of calcareous macrobenthic organisms, (3) planktic carbonate (c-dinocysts, planktic foraminifera, nannofossils), (4) biogenic silica (mainly from siliceous sponges), and (5) authigenic glaucony grains. The integrated facies analysis leads to a much better understanding of depositional environments and sedimentary dynamics at the southern margin of the Late Cretaceous epicontinental sea in northwest Germany.