BENTHIC FORAMINFERAL PALEOECOLOGY OF THE KERTEMINDE MARL (PALEOCENE; SELANDIAN) AT SVEJSTRUP, DENMARK

The Kerteminde Marl is exposed in a marl pit near the town of Svejstrup, Denmark. At this site, 5.1 meters of the Kerteminde unconformably overlies the Danian Chalk. The Svejstrup locality is significant in that it represents the only permanently exposed section across the Danian-Selandian boundary in Denmark. Planktonic foraminifera obtained from the Kerteminde Marl in this study indicate assignment to biozone P3a. Using this criterion, the Kerteminde Marl at Svejstrup is correlative with the Mathews Landing Marl Member of the Porters Creek Clay of the Gulf Coastal Plain.

Benthic foraminifera have not been previously described from onshore sections of the Kertminde Marl. In general, the benthic foraminifera of the Kerteminde marl at Svejstrup contain taxa common to the cosmopolitan "Midway type" fauna. Among the most common species are Cibicidoides alleni, Eponides elevatus, Gyroidinoides octocameratus, Nonion graniferum, and Alabamina midwayensis. There are also species present which are found in benthic foraminiferal faunas collected from Sweden and Poland such as Cibicidoides simplex, Sigmomorphina sp., and Gavelinella danica. The benthic foraminifera occur through the Svejstrup section in distinct assemblages recognized by the quantitative dominance of specific taxa.

The Kerteminde Marl represents a transgressive depositional sequence. As in the Gulf Coastal Plain, the benthic foraminiferal assemblages change with rising sea level. The assemblage of benthic foraminifera collected above the transgressive surface is characterized by abundant Cibicidoides alleni, Eponides elevatus, and Nonion graniferum. Assemblages above this interval are characterized by an increasing abundance of Gyroidinoides octocameratus and Gavelinella danica. This differs somewhat from benthic foraminiferal assemblages seen in the Mathews Landing Marl of Alabama. Species of Anomalinoides and Pulsiphonina which characterize the assemblages of the Mathews Landing are numerically insignificant in the Kerteminde Marl. Additionally, Gavelinella danica has only been reported from Danian strata in the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. Both regions have Cibicidoides alleni and Gyroidinoides octocameratus as paleoecologically important species and this provides a way to compare the two faunas.