Magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the continental Paleocene of the Red Deer Valley, Alberta, Canada

Magnetostratigraphic analysis was integrated with palynologic studies and mammal data to determine the stratigraphic range of the 350m of continental Paleocene Scollard and Paskapoo Formations in the Red Deer Valley east of Red Deer in central Alberta. Five palynological zones, corresponding closely to zones P1 to P5 in Wyoming, are recognized from the K-T boundary upward through the upper Scollard and overlying Paskapoo Formations. The Paskapoo Formation here contains 13 mammal sites belonging to the Tiffanian Ti3 and Ti4 North American Land Mammal Ages. The Paleocene upper portion of the Scollard Formation contains part of magnetozone 29r, 29, 28r and 28. The Paskapoo Formation embodies a normal magnetozone between two partial reversed magnetozones, which are interpreted to be 26r, 26, and 25r, on the basis of the mammal and palynofloral assemblages. -from Author

Definition and global correlation of the Santonian-Campanian boundary

Review of biostratigraphical evidence from different regions shows that criteria used by workers on various marine fossil groups to define the Santonian-Campanian boundary differ considerably in relative age and position. Probably the most widely recognizable of these criteria is the extinction of the distinctive crinoid Marsupites testudinarius (North America, Europe, Asia, North Africa, Australia), which, coincides exactly with two separate definitions of the boundary. A comparison of evidence from upper Santonian and lower Campanian successions in widely separated regions allows a series of important biostratigraphical markers to be placed in correct order. -from Author