Cenomanian–Turonian (Early Late Cretaceous) Facies Development and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Danubian Cretaceous Group (Bavaria, Southern Germany)

Abstract

The Cretaceous sediments of the Danubian Cretaceous Group document deposition in a pericontinental setting at the northern margin of the Neo-Tethys, to the southwest of the emergent Bohemian Massif. The Cenomanian–Turonian second-order sea-level rise resulted in a considerable onlap of marine sediments onto formerly emergent Variscan basement and older Mesozoic strata, and in the establishment of a dynamic depositional setting including terrestrial and various neritic environments. Sequence-stratigraphic studies document the presence of five sequence boundaries in the Cenomanian (SB Ce 1–5) and five sequence boundaries in the Turonian (SB Tu 1–5) parts of the Danubian Cretaceous Group. The stratigraphic positions of the sequence-bounding unconformities correspond to correlative surfaces in other Cretaceous basins, arguing for a predominant eustatic control of deposition in the Danubian Cretaceous Group. However, increasing tectonic instability related to the onset of inversion at the southwestern margin of the Bohemian Massif can be recognized from the middle Turonian onwards.