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Some of the stage names proposed for the Upper Jurassic and lowermost Cretaceous and the various understandings according to various authors. Data concerning England from Cope (2008), South-East France, Southern Germany and Russian Platform from Hantzpergue et al. (1998), Rogov (2014), and Rogov et al. (2015). Gorodishchian and Kashpurian stages, which were proposed by Sasonov and Sasonova in 1979 and 1983 respectively as equivalents to the lower-middle and upper Volgian, are missing.
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The lack of an absolute and persistent opinion regarding definition of the base of the Berriasian Stage, i.e., its instability over the past 50 years, casts grave doubts on its suitability to be the Jurassic/Cretaceous System boundary. The question "when does the Jurassic ends?" is addressed in a discussion on the highest Jurassic stage, the Tithon...
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Citations
... Over the last two decades some geochemists have unsuccessfully looked for a marker at or near the Tithonian/Berriasian boundary, a still undefined stage boundary which is today regarded "by default" as the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary (Granier, 2019(Granier, , 2020Enay, 2020;Granier et al., 2020a). Most of them concluded that no signal of significance was to be found on their curves (e.g., Weissert & Erba, 2004;Price et al., 2016). ...
... In addition to quantitative statistical approaches, such as the ratio of Calpionella alpina to Crassicullaria spp. (e.g., Kowal-Kasprzyk & Reh akov a, 2019), other proxies can be used to identify the base of zone B. For instance, the last occurrences of most Crassicolaria species (except for C. brevis) occur at the top of the preceding calpionellid zone, i.e., at the top of zone A. Today, partly due to inconsistencies highlighted by the first two authors (B.G., S.F.) regarding the use of an "acme zone" based on Calpionellids (Granier et al., 2020b;2023a;2023b), the new Berriasian Working Group (Grabowski et al., 2023) is looking for a new primary proxy deeper into upper Tithonian strata, which is further evidence that the Berriasian is genetically linked to the Jurassic, not to the Cretaceous (Granier, 2019(Granier, , 2020Enay, 2020;Granier et al., 2020a). However, until a new proxy is formally identified, one should continue using the base of the Calpionella alpina acme Subzone (base of the Calpionella Zone, base of B zone) as the primary marker. ...
Košťák et al. (Cretaceous Research, Volume 151, November 2023, 105,617) reported a negative shift of δ13C values in several sections near the Tithonian/Berriasian boundary, and emphasized its correlation potential. Although there is no agreement on the biostratigraphic location of this stage boundary at Tré Maroua, i.e., at the dismissed candidate for the Berriasian GSSP, it does not really affect our negative conclusion on the authors' potential proxy. Besides the biostratigraphic context, not much consideration was given to the structural and sedimentologic contexts, which undermines their line of argument. In conclusion, on the basis of published information as well as new observations, it is shown that their coeval “perturbation” on the δ13C curve is uncertain and questionable.
... It is impossible to identify precisely the Tithonian-Berriasian boundary in the studied area. This is in agreement with the views of Granier (2019) and Enay (2020). The authors plead for the upwards shift of the Jurassic-Cretaceous system boundary, at the base of the Valanginian. ...
... Globally, the base of the Tithonian is placed at the base of the H. hybonotum ammonite zone in Chron M22A (Fig. 3). The global Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is poorly defined (e.g., Granier, 2019;É nay, 2020). It was placed at the base of Chron M18 (145 Ma) by Ogg and Lowrie (1986). ...
A continuing debate surrounds the relative dominance of random vs. Milankovitch (astronomical) forcing of the stratigraphic record, particularly in the genesis of shallow-water carbonate platform successions. Using time series analysis, we examined a ∼ 7 myr duration, 700 m thick, internally conformable Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) section from the Adriatic Platform, southern Croatia. The Tithonian succession has a lower interval of dominantly subtidal parasequences and an upper interval of oolitic, laminite-capped peritidal parasequences. We combined this investigation with an analysis of synthetic data sets of water depth derived from numerical models of carbonate sedimentation containing differing amounts of random variance with superimposed Milankovitch forcing. Average Spectral Misfit (ASM) was calculated for each synthetic time series of preserved water depth and our Tithonian data to determine the most likely sedimentation rates and significance levels for rejection of the null hypothesis of no astronomical forcing. The ASM-determined sedimentation rates could then be compared to known long-term rates to again reject or accept the null hypothesis of no astronomical forcing. Using this approach, random synthetic data series showed considerable difference from astronomically-forced synthetic data sets. Multitaper method (MTM) spectral analysis of the Tithonian Dunham rank series tuned to the 100 kyr eccentricity cycle shows variable forcing by short (100 kyr) eccentricity, obliquity, and precession. The Tithonian parasequence thickness series was examined using wavelet analysis for bundling of parasequences and showed that long- (405 kyr), short-eccentricity and obliquity, plus obliquity modulation (∼200 kyr) influenced parasequence bundling. The results indicate that the ASM analysis can differentiate between successions dominated by random processes and those strongly influenced by Milankovitch processes.
... The Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary is the only system boundary lacking a GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point). The reason is that there are two competing options regarding the first stage of the Cretaceous System (see Énay, 2020;Granier, 2020;Granier et al., 2020a). Both options, i.e., the Berriasian (lower option) and the Valanginian (upper option), still lack a GSSP definition. ...
... Historically, stages are packages of biozones (Arkell, 1956;Teichert, 1958;Monty, 1968;Murphy, 1977;Birkelund et al., 1984;Calloman, 1995Calloman, , 2001Remane, 2003;Miall, 2004;Page, 2017). Despite of this early start and long history of study, Upper Jurassic and, in conjunction with the age-old question "where the Jurassic ends?", also the Lower Cretaceous chronostratigraphy is still not standardized, and includes the only system boundary without a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) (e.g., Birkelund et al., 1984;Remane, 1991;Wimbledon, 1997;É nay, 2020;Wimbledon et al., 2020a;Granier et al., 2020aGranier et al., , 2020bHesselbo et al., 2020). In accordance with the widely accepted catastrophist view of the 19th century, without being aware, stage (and zonal) boundaries were placed at unconformities within shallow marine, generally condensed successions where stratigraphical breaks create apparent faunal turnovers and "natural" boundaries (e.g., Remane, 2003;Cope, 2008). ...
... The past (2008-2020) Berriasian Working Group supports the position of this last unstandardized Mesozoic stage boundary to be defined at the T/B boundary (Wimbledon, 2017;Wimbledon et al., 2020a), generally known as the Kilian's (or Mazenot's) view (see É nay, 2020 for a review). The second, known as the Oppel's (or d'Orbigyn's) view, suggests shifting of the J/K system boundary to the B/V stage boundary (Granier, 2019a;É nay, 2020;Granier et al., 2020a). They defend that the base Valanginian, corresponding a crisis that affected ammonites, vertebrates, larger foraminifers and calcareous algae is a better choice for a system boundary. ...
The Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous is an interval of unstandardized stages and includes the only Mesozoic system boundary without a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point – the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) boundary. Recent researches have been mainly focused on deep marine continuous successions from the Tethyan region and provided important progress in calibration of pelagic bioevents. Correlation of these pelagic zonations with the schemes from shallow marine deposits is still obscure. Biostratigraphical data from marginal carbonates containing fossils both from the platform and basinal facies can provide the required links between these two distinct depositional environments. This kind of Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous carbonates widely crop out in the Pontides (northern Turkey) in close association with related shallow and deep marine successions. A biostratigraphical dataset including 17 stratigraphical sections from this Pontides Carbonate Platform is synthesized. The fossil data include organisms from various depositional environments (i.e., benthic and planktonic foraminifers, calpionellids, algae, microencrusters and crinoids) and provides 139 bioevent datums (stratigraphic levels). This fossil dataset is analyzed through the methods of Graphic Correlation (GC) and Unitary Associations (UA) in order to overcome facies (past depositional conditions) controlled local biohorizons and calibrate fossil datums from unrelated phylogenies. Calibration of the Pontides Composite Reference Section (CSRS) with the Geological Time Scale (2020) reveals relative positions of both shallow and deep marine bioevents with respect to the Oxfordian–Hauterivian stage boundaries. The Tithonian/Berriasian and the Berriasian/Valanginian boundaries can be easily delineated by calpionellid bioevents in pelagic successions. However, no synchronous shallow marine first/last occurrence bioevents are available for both of these levels. Increased rates of originations toward Berriasian provide clustering of bioevents around the Tithonian/Berriasian boundary and brackets for both pelagic and shallow marine deposits. Several last occurrences provide unreliable approximations for the Berriasian/Valanginian boundary in neritic deposits. The species richness declines mid-Berriasian onward in accordance with the general trend toward lower sea levels through the late Tithonian into the Valanginian that diminished shallow marine factories and paved the way for a general Valanginian–Hauterivian drowning phase for the Tethyan carbonate platforms. This also adds difficulties in finding reliable origination events in the shallow marine environments for this extinction dominated interval.
... A marked change in the taxonomic composition of ichthyosaurs is observed only in the Hauterivian Stage with the disappearance of all Late Jurassic genera and origin of several new genera (Table 1). Probably this can be considered as an additional argument in favour of the opinions of some researchers that the boundary between the Jurassic and Cretaceous systems (given the ongoing discussion about its possible position) should not be placed at the base of the Berriassian stage, but possibly, higher, e.g., at the base of the Valanginian stage (e.g., Enay, 2020;Granier et al., 2020). Interestingly, the similarity of the late Valanginian tooth HNS P-00435 to that of the TithonianeBerriasian genus Nannopterygius, may imply that the lineage of Nannopterygius was present in the Valanginian as well. ...
Here we report the first ichthyosaurian finds from the Valanginian and Hauterivian of Austria. Based on their tooth morphology, they represent two distinct taxa with probably different feeding ecologies. The Valanginian specimen is a small tooth with a small crown and bulbous root, similar to teeth of Nannopterygius and Sisteronia - it likely was a soft-prey specialist or generalist. Hauterivian specimen has markedly larger teeth with more robust crowns indicating that it most likely occupied an ecological niche of a generalist. Although these specimens are not possible to determine at genus and species level, they demonstrate that two ichthyosaurian taxa inhabited the seas covering what is nowadays Austria in the Valanginian and Hauterivian. The present-day data on stratigraphic distribution of ichthyosaurian taxa at the Jurassic-Cretaceous transitional interval do not support the presence of marked events in the ichthyosaurian evolutionary history during the Tithonian–Berriasian times. Globally, Hauterivian ichthyosaurian taxa are quite different from Tithonian–Berriasian taxa. Therefore, an appreciable event in the evolutionary history of ichthyosaurians likely took place during the Valanginian, which is still extremely poorly characterized by ichthyosaurian fossils, hampering the assessment of the exact timing and severity of this event.
... Subsequent works contributed to clarify the geological structure, sedimentological features and facies (Busnardo and Durand-Delga, 1960;Polvêche, 1963;Leret and Lendínez, 1972;Lillo, 1973a, b;Colodr on et al., 1980;Granier and Fourcade, 1984;Granier 1986Granier , 1987Granier , 1989Granier , 2019. Further research improved mainly stratigraphic questions on Cretaceous deposits even performing different correlation studies with several localities in the Western Tethys domain (Az ema et al., 1975;Az ema, 1977, Rodríguez-Estrella, 1977aEst evez et al., 1984;Andreu, 1997;Granier, 2007). ...
... Specifically, the deposits referred to the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition in this area were analysed by Est evez et al. (1984), who identified several lithostratigraphical units. These were interpreted as shallow-water platform facies up to an intra-Valanginian disconformity, subordinately pointing out the reefal origin for some units. ...
... Granier (1986Granier ( , 1987Granier ( , 1989 defined several lithostratigraphical units for the sediments covering the latest Jurassic-Early Cretaceous interval (Fig. 1), suggesting a tectono-sedimentary model and correlation for these deposits in the eastern part of the Betic Ranges. Later contributions from the same author (Granier et al., 1995;Granier and Perthuisot, 2009;Granier, 2019) identify 2 discontinuities: 1) an intra-Valanginian tectonic unconformity (the disconformity of Est evez et al., 1984) overlain by condensed sections (ferruginous oolitic and glauconitic limestones) of the Valanginian to lower Aptian, and 2) the disconformity at the boundary of Limestones with Trocholina (below) and the Upper sandstones with Pseudocyclammina (above) that corresponds to the Berriasian/Valanginian boundary. Finally, De Ruig et al. (1987) proposed the activity of a E-W compressive stage previously to the main NNW-SSE compression phase, thus explaining the anomalous N-S orientation of the Cabeç o d'Or mountain. ...
The Berriasian carbonate successions cropping out in the shallow-water platform of the easternmost Prebetic Domain (SE Spain) involve reef-associated environments including a diverse epibiota with diceratid representatives unreported so far. Interpretation of different sub-environments suggests a proximal-distal shallow platform transect. In the shallowest nearshore environment, high energy conditions are recorded, with fine-grained bioclasts interbedded with episodes with black pebbles. Subsequently, a more restricted intra-platform environment is represented by oncoidal rudstones with benthic foraminifera, photophilic microencrusters, microbial-type coatings, mud mounds and a rich record of epibenthic biota preserved in life position (diceratid patches, stromatoporoids, and a diverse coral assemblage). This association points to relatively stable and restrictive low-energy conditions in a proximal shallow-water subtidal environment below the fair-weather wave base. Distally, a deeper, opener setting is established. Here, phaceloid and thin-laminated corals are preserved in life position in a calpionellid-rich matrix typifying a mesophotic reefal complex with clear open marine influence. Biostratigraphical analysis performed mainly on benthic foraminifera, algae, diceratids, and coral representatives allows to specify a Berriasian age for these facies. New occurrence data are also reported, such as the oldest record of the coral genus Floriastrea worldwide. The highly diverse coral assemblages reveal a species-level taxonomic divergence in relation with taxa from the same biochore and palaeogeographical domain, supporting the endemic condition for this fauna. The first report of diceratids in the Eastern Prebetic around the J/C transition evokes Heterodiceras as possible precursor of the Cretaceous rudist build-ups developed in the Urgonian platforms in the Prebetic Domain.
... In fact, this boundary has been the subject of hot discussion for more than 50 years and has not yet found an international consensus (e.g. Wimbledon 2008, Wimbledon et al., 2020, É nay 2020, Granier 2020, Granier et al., 2020a. ...
This paper presents a multidisciplinary study of a new basinal section of Tithonian-Berriasian the Vaca Muerta Formation at Las Tapaderas area, including detailed, biostratigraphic, sedimentologic, sequence stratigraphic and cyclostratigraphic analysis. Biostratigraphy based on ammonite, calpionellids and calcareous dinoflagellate cysts indicate that Las Tapaderas section spans through the Lower Tithonian - lowermost Upper Berriasian, however, its upper part is covered through an erosive unconformity by Pleistocene volcaniclastic deposits, and therefore Las Tapaderas section could reach the Lower Valanginian. Two facies associations were identified, corresponding to basinal and distal outer ramp subenvironments. Recognition of flooding surfaces allowed the identification of three composite depositional sequences and eight high-frequency depositional sequences, which can be correlated with other sections throughout the basin. Cyclostratigraphic analysis based on the recognition of marlstone/limestone couples (elementary cycles) allowed to build a time series based on bed thickness. Fourier analysis indicates the characteristic mid latitude precession-eccentricity syndrome, with 220 precessional cycles (∼20.4 and ∼23 kyr), 53 low frequency eccentricity cycles (∼79, ∼90 and ∼140 kyr) and 11 high frequency eccentricity cycles (∼400 kyr). Spectral analysis also allowed to recognize the presence of the obliquity cycle (38.5 kyr), which has been erratically recorded in the Vaca Muerta Formation. Our data allowed the construction of an orbital scale, calibrated by cosmopolitan markers (calpionellids and calcareous dinoflagellate cysts), for this section. The precise bio- and cyclostratigraphic location of the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary was established for this section. The sedimentation rate was studied at the scale of the precession cycle, showing values between 0.6 and 3 cm/kyr, while at the low-frequency eccentricity scale it shows values between 1 and 2 cm/kyr.
... The Jurassic/Cretaceous transition was marked by a mass extinction that, surprisingly, has been studied significantly less than many other Mesozoic biotic perturbations [60,61]. This scant attention can be explained partly by the still problematic stratigraphy of this transition interval (some improvements have been made very recently [105][106][107]); a sensible and well-argued suggestion (although requiring broad discussion before final approval) of the replacement of the period boundary has been made recently [108], but even this solution will not allow us to correlate better the biodiversity losses and turnovers at the planetary scale. According to the reconstruction by Haq [32,33], this mass extinction corresponds to several eustatic fluctuations, the magnitude of which was comparable to that of many other eustatic events of the latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous ( Figure S1). ...
Recent eustatic reconstructions allow for reconsidering the relationships between the fifteen Paleozoic–Mesozoic mass extinctions (mid-Cambrian, end-Ordovician, Llandovery/Wenlock, Late Devonian, Devonian/Carboniferous, mid-Carboniferous, end-Guadalupian, end-Permian, two mid-Triassic, end-Triassic, Early Jurassic, Jurassic/Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, and end-Cretaceous extinctions) and global sea-level changes. The relationships between eustatic rises/falls and period-long eustatic trends are examined. Many eustatic events at the mass extinction intervals were not anomalous. Nonetheless, the majority of the considered mass extinctions coincided with either interruptions or changes in the ongoing eustatic trends. It cannot be excluded that such interruptions and changes could have facilitated or even triggered biodiversity losses in the marine realm.
... When the accompanying ammonites are rare, they are the most primary markers that provided the first parallel biozonation charts (Le Hégarat and Remane, 1968;Allemann et al., 1971;Enay and Geyssant, 1975;Remane et al., 1986). For several decades, the JKB interval has been the subject of lively debates (Wimbledon, 2008;Wimbledon et al., 2011;Enay, 2019). Aiming to fix a GSSP for the base of the Berriasian stage (and the JKB), the Berriasian Working Group of the ICS's International Subcommission on the Cretaceous Stratigraphy (ISCS) agreed on considering calpionellid bioevents as primary markers (Wimbledon et al., 2011). ...
