Title Information

Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen
Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie

Volume 2

OSCHMANN, Wolfgang: Faziesentwicklung und Provinzialismus in Nordfrankreich und Südengland zur Zeit des obersten Jura (Oberkimmeridge – Portland) 1985. [in German] – 119 pp., 32 figures, 9 plates. 29.7 x 21.0 cm. Paperback ISBN 978-3-923871-03-2 Euro 30.00 series: MGA, Reihe A: Geologie und Paläontologie order now

Abstract

The uppermost Jurassic sediments (Upper Kimmeridgian and Portlandian) of northern France (Barrois: Departements Meuse and Haute Marne; Boulonnais: Departement Pas de Calais) and southern England (Dorset) exhibit a complicated facies pattern. Various carbonate and clastic facies types are distinguished representing environments ranging from offshore shelfs to nearshore, shoreface, foreshore and even backshore areas. On the basis of detailed sections the facies development is discussed and environmental models are given.

For a better understanding of facies development and interfingering the large-scale palaeogeographic evolution of Western Europe was considered. During Late Kimmeridgian times huge areas of Western Europe had been shelf areas. This resulted in marine connections between the Tethyan Ocean, the Central Atlantic, the North Atlantic shelf sea and the Arctic Ocean. A new Kimmeridge Clay model assuming a seasonal wind and water current pattern is proposed. These currents regulated the exchange of cold water from the Arctic Ocean with warm water from the Tethyan Ocean. Based on this new Kimmeridge Clay model it is possible to explain the facies development in Western Europe which partly depended on cyclic events. During Portlandian times a regression closed the marine connections between the Arctic and the Tethyan Oceans. As a result local factors predominantly influenced the facies pattern.