Upper Tithonian-Valanginian (Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous) dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy of the western Mediterranean (dedikált példány) [antikvár]

> f-e-j' I - T^UO^Cretaceous Research (19^7) 18. 385-420Upper Tithonian-Valanginian (Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous) dinoflageUate cyst"nesBostratigraphy of the western Mediterranean'Han LeereveldLaboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Budapestlaan i, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands Revised manuscript accepted 20 December 1996This study focuses on the qualitative dinoflageUate cyst distribution in the Upper Tithonian-Valanginian rocks of the western Mediterranean. Results are presented of research on the ammonite controlled pelagic Rio Argos succession near Caravaca (SE Spain) which are integrated with information from calibrated sections in southeast France and Switzerland. The ammonite framework permitted determination of contemporaneous first and last occurrences of dinoflageUate cyst taxa in the three areas. Mainly based on these biostratigraphic events, four successive dinoflageUate cyst zones are defined and identified in the Upper Tithonian-Valanginian succession of the western Mediterranean. The established zonation has potential for world-wide application. In addition, a high-resolution zonation, described as a suite of subzones, is established based on seven successive shifts in the dinoflageUate cyst development of the Upper Berriasian-Valanginian in the Rio Argos succession exclusively. These local palaeoecological changes are considered to reflect palaeoenviron-mental and/or climatic changes of a regional, interregional or global nature. 1997 Academic Press LimitedKey Words: uppermost Jurassic; lowermost Cretaceous; Upper Tithonian; Berriasian; Valanginian; biozonation; dinoflageUate cysts; western Mediterranean region; Spain1. IntroductionOne of the main objectives of International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project No. 262 (Tethyan Cretaceous Correlation) and of its successor project No. 362 (Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous) has been to establish a multizonal biostratigraphic correlation scheme for the Tethyan Cretaceous, calibrated against the standard ammonite zones. Within this framework Hoede-maeker & Company (1993) provided the standard ammonite zonation for the Tethyan Lower Cretaceous. Moreover Coccioni & Premoli Silva (1994) and Hoedemaeker & Leereveld (1995) contributed with biostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic studies on the southern Spanish Rio Argos succession, the reference for the pelagic Lower Cretaceous development within the IGCP 262/362 projects. The present study further contributes to the implementation of the IGCP 262/362 objective by its aim to present an ammonite and calpionellid calibrated dinocyst (dinoflageUate cyst) zonation for the Upper Tithonian-Valanginian rocks of the western Mediterranean.Although various regional dinocyst zonations for the lowermost Cretaceous in the Alpine-Mediterranean region exist (e.g., Habib & Drugg, 1983, Jardiné et al., 1984 and Monteil, 1992, 1993, in France/Switzeriand; Gübeli et al, 1984, in Morocco; Thusu et al., 1988, in Libya; Antonescu & Avram, 1980, in Romania; Leereveld, 1989, in southeast Spain) their value for interregional correlation is limited. This is because in these schemes (1) emphasis is put on' Contribution to IGCP Project 362: Tethyan and Boreal Cretaceous.0195-6671/97/030385 + 36 25.00/0/cr970070 1997 Academic Press Limited, .1 : 'I' ' , IÍ I .1i; . '-i.-'' ' IV ' ' ,1 ^^ I ^ ;.,,!r. , 1 ' ' : ! 'iMl.ii v'i 'ánr.7 ' Ml' .i