The Lower Jurassic Sub-system comprises four stages, in chronological order, the Hettangian, Sinemurian, Pliensbachian and Toarcian. Each stage is subdivided into a sequence of ‘standard zones’ (= chronozones) and subzones ‐ each correlated primarily on the basis of its ammonite fauna. A further increase in stratigraphical resolution is available by the use of intra-subzonal units known collectively as ‘horizons’. The close link between ammonites and chronostratigraphy means that faunal provincialism may determine which zonal framework, and therefore which subdivision of the Lower Jurassic, applies in different regions of Europe. Such provincialism is of minor importance in the early Jurassic (Hettangian ‐ Lower Pliensbachian) but increases significantly in the Upper Pliensbachian and into the Toarcian where at least three ammonoid faunal provinces are distinguishable. The standard zonal schemes for each relevant faunal area are discussed here, with greatest emphasis being placed on the Northwest European Province, which is characteristic of much of northern Europe throughout most of the Early Jurassic. Intra-subzonal units have only been described in certain regions for parts of the Lower Jurassic but where recognisable these are introduced.

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The Lower Jurassic of Europe: its subdivision and correlation

Cretaceous stratigraphy of northeast China: non-marine and marine correlation

Abstract The late Palaeozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary basins of East Greenland record a complex series of events which eventually led to the successful opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea in the late Palaeocene. Major tectonic events and regional sea-level changes caused by plate movements and reorganizations, overprinted by the effects of local tectonics and associated sea-level changes are reflected in thick, unconformity bounded sequences. Caledonian crustal shortening and thickening culminated in the Silurian, and was succeeded by extensional collapse, vulcanism and intrusion of post-tectonic granites in the Devonian. Large, transtensional pull-apart basins were formed and became filled with continental red beds. Basin margins underwent repeated episodes of thrusting. A change to rifting took place in the latest Devonian. Rapid subsidence and continental deposition punctuated by episodes of igneous activity and contractional deformation continued from the Devonian until early Permian times for about 120 Ma leaving a record of alluvial fan and flood plain siliciclastics alternating with rhyolitic and alkaline basaltic intrusions and extrusions. Later basin subsidence reflected thermal cooling and contraction following the prolonged late Palaeozoic period of crustal thinning. Important phases of block faulting occurred at several intervals during Mesozoic times climaxing in the Volgian-Valanginian interval. Cenozoic basin inversions resulted in dramatic decoupled uplift and tilting of large blocks. The degree of Devonian extensional collapse, the position and orientation of Caledonian thrust planes, and the localization of mid- and late Palaeozoic transtensional strike-slip basins exerted a profound control on localization and style of the compartmentalized Mesozoic rift. The importance of pre-Mesozoic history, timing of Mesozoic tectonic events and the interplay of tectonism, and rates of subsidence, sea-level change and sediment influx have close parallels in the North Sea area. Examples from the exposed Mesozoic succession of East Greenland may thus serve as excellent predictive guides for subsurface geology around the British Isles.

Timing, style and sedimentary evolution of Late Palaeozoic-Mesozoic extensional basins of East Greenland

Ammonites underwent an evolutionary diversification after the mass extinction of the end Triassic induced by the formation of a Large Igneous province (LIP), and this group provides the most useful marine biostratigraphy. Only two levels within the Jurassic are relatively well determined using U–Pb dating from single zircons in ash beds, at the base Hettangian and the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary. Otherwise the Lower Jurassic is scaled using astrochronology and the Middle and Upper Jurassic scaled from Pacific seafloor spreading rates correlated to magnetic reversals. LIP activity during the Early Jurassic (Triassic–Jurassic boundary and Toarcian) perturbed global environments to extents not evidenced since the end Permian, and age relationships allow for a strong causal connection between these LIP eruptions and mass extinctions caused by major paleoenvironmental change, including ocean anoxia. Breakup of the supercontinent Pangea dominated paleogeography and paleoceanography and created shallow seaways that form sources and traps for hydrocarbons. Calcareous planktonic algae diversified and migrated from shallow seaways to open oceans to set the stage for the beginning of modern oceanic biogeochemical cycling; calcareous nannofossils provide additional widely used correlation tools.

V A Zakharov

Papers

Buchiid bivalves from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of East Greenland