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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Lower Jurassic), Wine Haven, Yorkshire, UK

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14 pages; International audience; Following votes by the Pliensbachian Working Group, the Jurassic Subcommission and the International Commission on Stratigraphy, IUGS ratified the proposed Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Lower Jurassic) at the base of bed 73b in the Wine Haven section, Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire Coast, UK. This level contains the characteristic ammonite association Bifericeras donovani Dommergues and Meister and Apoderoceras sp. Complementary data include: a) Strontium-isotope stratigraphy, based on analysis of belemnites which yield a calcite 87Sr/86Sr ratio for the boundary level of 0.707425 and data supporting interpretation of continuous sedimentation; b) Belemnite oxygen-isotope data indicate a significant temperature drop (~5 ºC) across the boundary at this locality; c) A Transgressive Systems Tract (TST) initiated in the Aplanatum Subzone (uppermost Sinemurian) continues into the Lowermost Pliensbachian (Taylori Subzone); it forms part of a transgressive facies cycle sensu Graciansky et al. (1998); d) The Upper Sinemurian to lowermost Pliensbachian at Wine Haven section has a predominantly normal magnetic polarity, but two discrete reversed polarity magnetozones are present. The first spans much of the latest Sinemurian Aplanatum Subzone. It terminates <0.5m below the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian boundary and may prove a valuable chronostratigraphic marker. The second extends from the latest Oxynotum Subzone probably through to the lower part of the Raricostatum Subzone.