Distribution of late Maastrichtian pachydiscid and scaphitid ammonites in the Maastricht and Kunrade formations of the southeast Netherlands

Abstract

The pachydiscid Pachydiscus (Pachydiscus) gollevillensis (d'Orbigny, 1850), long held to be confined to the ‘Kunrade Limestone’ (nowadays Kunrade Formation) in the eastern part of southern Limburg (Kunrade–Benzenrade area, the Netherlands), is now recorded from the basal Nekum Member (Maastricht Formation) at the ENCI-HeidelbergCement Group quarry, Sint-Pietersberg (Maastricht). Here we review the stratigraphic distribution of pachydiscid and scaphitid ammonites in outcrops west of the River Maas (Maastricht Formation) and in the Kunrade–Benzenrade area (Kunrade Formation). The latter unit has been correlated with part of the Lanaye Member (Gulpen Formation) up to the basal Emael Member (Maastricht Formation). However, pachydiscids such as P. (P.) gollevillensis, P. (P.) noetlingi Kennedy, in Fatmi and Kennedy, 1999 and Menuites fresvillensis (Seunes, 1890), as well as two scaphitid taxa (Hoploscaphites pungens pungens (Binkhorst van den Binkhorst, 1862) and H. felderi Kennedy, 1987) and a single diplomoceratid, Diplomoceras cylindraceum (Defrance, 1816), suggest that also equivalents of the Nekum Member (Maastricht Formation) are represented in the Kunrade–Benzenrade area.