Upper Cenomanian-Lower Turonian ammonoids from the Saxonian Cretaceous (lower Elbtal Group, Saxony, Germany)

Abstract

The Upper Cenomanian to Lower Turonian ammonoid fauna of the Saxonian Cretaceous (Elbtal Group, Saxony, Germany) has been revised based on the study of 270 specimens hosted in the Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie (MMG) of the Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden. In total, 12 species have been identified and, based on this revision, a number of ammonoids are now reported and/or illustrated for the first time from the Elbtal Group of Saxony: Euomphaloceras septemseriatum, Neocardioceras juddii barroisi, Watinoceras coloradoense, Spathites (Jeanrogericeras) reveliereanus, Sciponoceras gracile and Scaphites equalis. The study demonstrated the presence of all Upper Cenomanian and Lower Turonian standard ammonite biozones in the lithostratigraphic succession of the lower Elbtal Group: the lower Upper Cenomanian Calycoceras naviculare Zone (represented by the Oberhäslich Formation), the mid-and upper Upper Cenomanian Metoicoceras geslinianum and Neocardioceras juddii zones (represented by the Dölzschen Formation), and the Lower Turonian Watinoceras coloradoense and Mammites nodosoides zones (represented by the Brießnitz Formation). The ammonoid fauna from the Saxonian Cretaceous is dominated by strongly ornamented and widely distributed Acanthoceratidae.