Magnetostratigraphy of the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary interval in the Western Tethys and its correlations with other regions: a review

Magnetostratigraphy is an important method in regional and worldwide correlations across the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. The M-sequence of magnetic anomalies, embracing this boundary, provides an easily recognizable pattern which might be identified in bio­stratigraphically calibrated land sections. The polarity chrons between M21r and M16n are well correlated to calpionellid and calcareous nannofossil stratigraphy in the Tethyan Realm. This results in a very high precision of stratigraphic schemes of pelagic carbonates (ammonitico rosso and maiolica limestones), integrating the two groups of fossils with magnetostratigraphy. The main clusters of the reference sections are located in the Southern Alps and Apennines, but the database was recently enriched by sections from the Western Carpathians and Eastern Alps. Quite a few Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary sections with magnetostratigraphy are known in the Iberian Peninsula and south-eastern France but their importance relies on the integration of magnetostratigraphy also with the Tethyan ammonite zonation. Correlation of Boreal and Tethyan regions still remains a major problem. Just two sections with reliable correlation to the global polarity time scale are documented outside Tethys: a shallow marine to non-marine Tithonian–Berriasian–Valanginian sequence in southern England (Portland–Purbeck beds) and the marine clastic Upper Tithonian–Middle Berriasian (= Middle Volgian–lowermost Ryazanian) sequence at Nordvik Peninsula (Siberia). The Volgian/Ryazanian boundary at Nordvik seems to be located in the lower part of magnetochron M18n, while the most commonly accepted definitions of the Tethyan Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary are situated either within magnetochron M19n (A/B calpionellid zonal boundary, Durangites/Jacobi ammonite zonal boundary), or at the boundary of M19n/M18r (Jacobi/Grandis ammonite subzonal boundary).