Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:04:32.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stratigraphy of Maastrichtian Foraminiferida from the United Kingdom; the Maastrichtian of Norfolk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

M. Hart  and
T. Swiecicki
M. Hart
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, PLYMOUTH PL4 8AA, United Kingdom; e-mail:[email protected]
T. Swiecicki
Affiliation:
Cerebus Consultants, ‘Saroka’, Bailbrook Lane, BATH BA1 7AA, United Kingdom

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Onshore Maastrichtian strata in the United Kingdom are limited to a few small, isolated blocks of chalk floating within glacial sediments on the Norfolk coast. Isolated outcrops of Campanian and Maastrichtian chalks used to be available around Norwich but the majority of these exposures are now badly degraded. Offshore, in the North Sea Basin, there are complete chalk successions that range throughout the Upper Cretaceous and Lower Cenozoic. There is a limited succession of Maastrichtian chalks exposed on the north coast of Northern Ireland below the Cenozoic flood basalts. In the Western Approaches Basin, Maastrichtian and Danian chalks are known from exploration wells and core samples. West of the United Kingdom a number of DSDP/ODP boreholes have penetrated the Upper Cretaceous succession.

Beginning in the Cenomanian, in southeast England, the whole of the Upper Cretaceous is within the chalk facies, possibly one of the longest intervals of relatively stable environment in the geological record. The Foraminiferida of the chalk have been studied for more than a hundred years and therefore the fauna is exceptionally well known and fully documented. Fifty years ago, the benthonic Foraminiferida were identified as having the potential to provide a viable zonation of the chalk facies and we now have precise, cross-basinal correlation using these taxa.

The planktonic fauna is restricted by both palaeolatitude and water depth. The latter appears to be the most influential as the faunas from onshore are more limited than those recorded from the deeper waters of the North Sea Basin and the Atlantic Margin. Even with this restricted fauna, however, it is still possible to develop a general correlation with the standard Tethyan zonation based on planktonic taxa.

Keywords

ForaminiferidaNorfolkMaastrichtianbiostratigraphy
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 82 , Special Issue 3 , August 2003 , pp. 233 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2003

References

Ball, K.C., 1985. A foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous of the southern North Sea Basin (UK sector). Plymouth Polytechnic (Plymouth) (unpubl. PhD thesis).Google Scholar
Bellier, J.-P. & Villain, J.-M., 1975. Globotruncanidae de la série type du Maastrichtien (Limbourg méridional). Cahiers de Micropaléontologie 2: 3–14.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. & Heath, G.R., 1968. Vertical mixing in pelagic sediments. Journal of marine Research 26: 134–143.Google Scholar
Bonney, T.G. & Hill, E., 1905. The Chalk Bluffs at Trimingham. Geological Magazine 42: 397–403, 524, 525.Google Scholar
Brasier, M.D., 1980. Microfossils. George Allen & Unwin (London): 193 pp.Google Scholar
Bromley, R.G., Schulz, M.-G. & Peake, N.B., 1975. Paramoudras: giant flints, long burrows and the early diagenesis of chalks. Biologiske Skrifter fra Dansk Videnskabernes Selskab 20: 1–31.Google Scholar
Brydone, R.M., 1906. Further notes on the stratigraphy and fauna of the Trimingham Chalk. Geological Magazine 43: 13–22, 72–78, 124–131, 289–300.Google Scholar
Brydone, R.M., 1908. On the subdivisions of the Chalk of Trimingham (Norfolk). Quarterly Journal of the geological Society of London 64: 401–412.Google Scholar
Brydone, R.M., 1909. The Trimingham Chalk/South Bluff. Geological Magazine 46: 189, 190.Google Scholar
Brydone, R.M., 1930. The ‘Norwich Chalk’. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Natural History Society 13: 47–49.Google Scholar
Brydone, R.M., 1938. On correlation of some of the Norfolk exposures of Chalk with Belemnitella mucronata. Dulau & Co. (London): 15 pp.Google Scholar
Burnett, J.A., Hancock, J.M., Kennedy, W.J. & Lord, A.R., 1992. Macrofossil, planktonic foraminiferal and nannofossil zonation at the Campanian/Maastrichtian boundary. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 27: 157–172.Google Scholar
Christensen, W.K., 1995. Belemnitella from the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian of Norfolk, England. Special Papers in Palaeontology 51: 84 pp.Google Scholar
Deegan, C.E. & Scull, B.J. (comp.), 1977. A standard lithostratigraphic nomenclature for the Central and Northern North Sea. Report of the Institute of Geological Sciences 77/25: 1–36.Google Scholar
Edwards, P.G., 1981. The foraminiferal genus Gavelinella in the Senonian of north-west Europe. Palaeontology 24: 391–416.Google Scholar
Fletcher, T.P. & Wood, C.J., 1978. Cretaceous rocks. In: Wilson, H.E. & Manning, P.I. (eds): Geology of the Causeway Coast, Memoir for one-inch Geological Sheet 7(2): 84–115.Google Scholar
Håkansson, E., Bromley, R.G. & Perch-Nielsen, K., 1974. Maastrichtian of north-west Europe: a pelagic shelf sediment. Hsü, K. & Jenkins, H.C. (Eds): International Association of Sedimentologists, Special Publication 1: 211–233.Google Scholar
Hancock, J.M., 1961. The Cretaceous System in Northern Ireland. Quarterly Journal of the geological Society of London 117: 11–36.Google Scholar
Hart, M.B., Bailey, H.W., Crittenden, S., Fletcher, B.N., Price, R.J. & Swiecicki, A., 1989. Cretaceous. In: Jenkins, D.G. & Murray, J.W. (Eds): Stratigraphical atlas of fossil Foraminifera. British Micropalaeontological Society, Special Publication. Ellis Horwood Ltd. (Chichester): 273–371.Google Scholar
Hart, M.B. & Ball, K.C., 1986. Late Cretaceous anoxic events, sea level changes and the evolution of the planktonie foraminifera. In: Summerhayes, C.P. & Shackleton, N.J. (Eds): North Atlantic palaeoceanography. Geological Society Special Publication 21: 67–78.Google Scholar
Hart, M.B. & Duane, A.M., 1989. Late Cretaceous development of the Atlantic Continental Margin off south-west England. Proceedings of the Ussher Society 7: 165–167.Google Scholar
Hart, M.B. & Swiecicki, A., 1988. The Genus Gavelinella Brotzen, 1942, in the Cretaceous strata of the UK. Revue de Paléobiologie, Vol. spec. 2: 289–294.Google Scholar
Johansen, M.B. & Surlyk, F., 1990. Brachiopods and the stratigraphy of the upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian Chalk of Norfolk, England. Palaeontology 33: 823–872.Google Scholar
Kennedy, W.J. & Garrison, R.E., 1975. Morphology and genesis of nodular chalks and hardgrounds in the Upper Cretaceous of southern England. Sedimentology 22: 311–386.Google Scholar
King, C., Bailey, H.W., Burton, C.A. & King, A.D., 1989. Cretaceous of the North Sea. In: Jenkins, D.G. & Murray, J.W. (eds): Stratigraphical atlas of fossil Foraminifera. British Micropalaeontological Society, Special Publication. Ellis Horwood Ltd. (Chichester): 372–417.Google Scholar
Koch, W., 1977. Biostratigraphie in der Oberkreide und Taxonomie von Foraminiferen. Geologisches Jahrbuch A38: 11–123.Google Scholar
Lyell, C., 1840. On the Boulder Formation, or drift and associated freshwater deposits composing the mud cliffs of Eastern Norfolk. Philosophical Magazine 3: 345–380.Google Scholar
McGugan, A., 1957. Upper Cretaceous Foraminifera from Northern Ireland. Journal of Paleontology 31: 329–348.Google Scholar
Odin, G.S. (comp.), 1996. Definition of a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Campanian/Maastrichtian boundary. Bulletin de l’Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 66 (Suppl.): 111–117.Google Scholar
Peake, N.B. & Hancock, J.M., 1961. The Upper Cretaceous of Norfolk. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Natural History Society 19: 293–339.Google Scholar
Peake, N.B. & Hancock, J.M., 1970. The Upper Cretaceous of Norfolk. In: Larwood, G.P. & Funnell, B.M. (Eds): The Geology of Norfolk. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Natural History Society 19: 293–339 [269-375, reprinted with supplement].Google Scholar
Reid, C., 1882. The geology of the country around Cromer. Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Robaszynski, F. & Caron, M., 1995. Foraminifères planctoniques du Crétacé: commentaire de la zonation Europe-Méditerranée. Bulletin de la Société geologique de France 166: 681–692.Google Scholar
Robaszynski, F., Caron, M., Gonzalez Donoso, J.M. & Wonders, A.A.H., 1984. Atlas of Late Cretaceous globotruncanids. Revue de Micropaléontologie 26: 145–305.Google Scholar
Schönfeld, J., 1990. Foraminiferen aus der Schreibkreide. Geologisches Jahrbuch A117: 1–151.Google Scholar
Schönfeld, J. & Burnett, J., 1991. Biostratigraphical correlation of the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary: Lägerdorf-Hemmoor (northwestern Germany), DSDP Sites 548A, 549 and 551 (eastern North Atlantic) with palaeobiogeographical and palaeoceanographical implications. Geological Magazine 128: 479–503.Google Scholar
Schulz, M.-G., 1978. Zur Litho- und Biostratigraphie des Obercampan/Untermaastricht von Lägerdorf und Kronsmoor (SW/Holstein). Newsletters on Stratigraphy 7: 73–89.Google Scholar
Schulz, M.-G., 1979. Morphometrisch-variationsstatische Untersuchungen zur Phylogenie der Belemniten-Gattung Belemnella im Untermaastricht NW-Europas. Geologisches Jahrbuch A47: 3–157.Google Scholar
Sigal, J., 1985. Foraminifers. Cretaceous In: Site 551, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Program 80: 357–385.Google Scholar
Simmons, M.D., Williams, C.L. & Hancock, J.M., 1996. Planktonic foraminifera across the Campanian/Maastrichtian boundary at Tercis, south-west France. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 34: 65–80.Google Scholar
Svendsen, N., 1979. The Tertiary/Cretaceous chalk in the Dan Field of the Danish North Sea. In: Christensen, W.K. & Birkelund, T. (Eds): Symposium on Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary events. University of Copenhagen (Copenhagen): 112–119.Google Scholar
Swiecicki, A., 1980. A foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Campanian and Maastrichtian chalks of the United Kingdom. Plymouth Polytechnic (Plymouth): 358 + 155 pp. (unpubl. PhD thesis).Google Scholar
Trimmer, J., 1847. On the geology of Norfolk as illustrating the laws of the distribution of soils. Journal of the royal Agricultural Society London 7: 444–485.Google Scholar
Van den Akker, T.J.H.A., Kaminski, M.A., Gradstein, F.M. & Wood, J., 2000. Campanian to Palaeocene biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in the Foula Sub-basin, west of the Shetland Islands, UK. Journal of Micropalaeontology 19: 23–43.Google Scholar
Ward, P. & Orr, W., 1997. Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonite and planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy from Tercis, France; implications for defining the stage boundary. Journal of Paleontology 71: 407–418.Google Scholar
Wood, C.J., 1967. Some new observations on the Maastrichtian Stage in the British Isles Bulletin of the geological Survey of Great Britain 27: 271–288.Google Scholar
Wood, C.J., 1988. The stratigraphy of the chalk of Norfolk. The stratigraphy of the chalk of Norfolk 38: 3–120.Google Scholar
Wright, J., 1875. A list of the Cretaceous microzoa of the north of Ireland. Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club, n.s. 1 (1873–1880), Appendix 3: 73–99.Google Scholar
Wright, J., 1886. A list of the Cretaceous Foraminifera of Keady Hill, County Derry. Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club (2)2: 327–332.Google Scholar