Campanian to Palaeocene biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in the Foula Sub-basin, west of the Shetland Islands, UK

Abstract

Abstract. For a detailed biostratigraphic framework of the Foula Sub-basin, located west of the Shetland Islands (UK continental shelf), well 205/10-2B is chosen as a reference section. Based on the succession of last occurrence events of nominate taxa, ten stratigraphically distinct Campanian to Palaeocene assemblages are described. The regional applicability of these events is tested by correlation between three wells in the Foula Sub-basin (wells 205/10-2B, 206/3-1 and 206/5-1). Despite some local differences, the biostratigraphy of the Foula Sub-basin compares well with the biostratigraphy of the Western Tethys and the northern North Sea, and is therefore an important link between the southern and northern areas of the Northeast Atlantic margin. A morphogroup analysis of agglutinating foraminifera in well 205/10-2B indicates deposition of Campanian and Maastrichtian mudstones in a well oxygenated, lower bathyal environment, whereas Palaeocene sediments are deposited in a middle to upper bathyal environment.