Ostracod Biostratigraphy of the Kimmeridgian in Northern and Western Europe

Abstract

The chronostratigraphical type profile of the Kimmeridgian of Dorset is subdivided biostratigraphically into five ostracod zones. Six other areas in Northern and Western Europe with Kimmeridgian ostracods are examined. The species are listed, counted, and examined in relation to the zones of the type Kimmeridgian.

In the Lower Kimmeridgian the ostracod faunas bear the impression of a relatively uniform composition between the examined areas. In the Upper Kimmeridgian two different faunal regions are developed. In the North Sea Basin in the North Western Danish Embayment and in Dorset relatively uniform faunas occur, separated from other, again rather uniform faunas occuring in the Mid-European Region, from Northwestern Poland and Scania to the Paris Basin.

Stratigraphically important are species of the genera Galliaecytheridea, Mandelstamia, and Macrodentina. 19 species are given diagnoses. Two new subgenera and seven new species are established.