A synthetic chronostratigraphy for the upper Campanian–Maastrichtian of the Boreal Realm based on the Danish and German basins

Abstract

Abstract New carbon isotope results obtained from cores from the Fehmarn Belt (German Basin), along with hitherto unpublished detailed results obtained from brachiopods collected in the 1970s from the Hemmoor section, NW Germany, present the opportunity to revise the holostratigraphy of the Danish Basin and erect a complete chronostratigraphical scheme for the upper Campanian–Maastrichtian of the Boreal Realm based on records from the Danish and North German basins. The correlation of all studied sections is ensured by previously erected high-resolution bulk carbonate carbon isotope records. A number of issues arising from the standard Upper Cretaceous (UC) calcareous nannofossil biozonation scheme for the Boreal Realm are discussed and lead us to propose a new subzonation for the Danish Basin. Carbon isotope records allow correlation to Gubbio, Italy, the Tethyan bio-magnetostratigraphic reference, and to the astronomically calibrated ODP site 762C, Indian Ocean. Revised correlations ensure the application of magnetostratigraphy, a numeric timescale and stacking of 405 kyr cycles to the new scheme, thus erecting a detailed chronostratigraphy for the upper Campanian–Maaatrichtian of the Boreal Realm.