Integration of Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) δ13Corg chemostratigraphy with graptolite biostratigraphy in the classical Röstånga area in northwestern Scania (southern Sweden)

Abstract

The largely covered Middle Ordovician succession in the classic geological Röstånga area in northwestern Scania has not been studied for some 80 years. A new drill core through a succession ranging from the lower–middle Darriwilian to the lower Sandbian has provided a unique opportunity to investigate the graptolite biostratigraphy and the δ13Corg chemostratigraphy, and clarify their stratigraphic relations, through this ~90 m thick interval, which is developed within a black shale facies. The lithology, biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy are closely similar to those of the coeval strata in the Fågelsång area, south-central Scania, including the presence of the Fågelsång Phosphorite, which was previously unrecorded in the Röstånga area. The new data are particularly important in providing evidence of the relations between graptolite biostratigraphy and δ13Corg chemostratigraphy. The Fågelsång-3 and Röstånga-2 drill core successions are currently the only Darriwilian sequences in the world where these relations have been well established.

Keywords

• outer shelf
• black shale
• ordovician
• regional correlation
• chemostratigraphy
• phosphorite
• baltoscandia.