Terminal maastrichtian ammonites from Turkmenistan, central Asia

Abstract

A complete uppermost Maastrichtian-Danian succession in the Sumbar River section, western Kopet Dagh (southwest Turkmenistan, Central Asia), constitutes one of the few instances in the world where the fossil record of the last ammonites can be directly positioned with respect to the iridium-rich, impact-related clay layer, which defines the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary. Two ammonite taxa, Baculites cf. vertebralis and Hoploscaphites constrictus johnjagti, range up to a level directly beneath the K-Pg boundary clay in the Sumbar River section. Thus, these two forms probably survived until the very end of the Maastrichtian in the western Kopet Dagh area. The terminal Maastrichtian ammonite records from the Sumbar River area represent the southeasternmost occurrences of these essentially Boreal taxa. Copyright © 2012.