The Upper Cretaceous belemnite Praeactinocamax plenus (Blainville, 1827) from Lower Saxony (Upper Cenomanian, northwest Germany) and its distribution pattern in Europe

Abstract

Occurrences of the Upper Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) belemnite Praeactinocamax plenus from the plenus Bed of northwest Germany (Sohlde-Loges working quarry near Salzgitter, Lower Saxony) are documented and described for the first time on the basis of two in situ finds. The find horizon and its surrounding beds are re-evaluated in a sequence stratigraphical context. In contrast to the interpretations of other authors, the plenus Bed is seen as a pelagization event in a parasequence of transgressively stacked beds, delimited by two significant erosion surfaces below and above. The exclusive occurrence of P. plenus in the top part of the plenus Bed and its absence from the post-plenus Bed succession, in the equivalent of which (higher part of the Plenus Marls Member) it is very common in southern England (Anglo-Paris Basin), is explained by ecological factors in stratigraphically complete sections (intra-shelf depressions) and by gaps in the stratigraphic records in swell settings. The distribution pattern of P. plenus suggests a preference for nearshore settings and a demersal mode of life.