Early Paleozoic (Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician) acritarchs from the metasedimentary Baden-Baden-Gaggenau zone (Schwarzwald, SW Germany)

The metasediments of the low-grade metamorphosed Baden-Baden-Gaggenau zone of the northern Schwarzwald (southwestern Germany) have been analyzed palyn ologically. From 133 samples representing different metasedimentary units, only three samples of the upper part of the Traischbach Serie provide extre mely poorly-preserved palynomorphs. The assemblage consists of the galeate acritarch genera Caldariola, Cymatiogalea and Stelliferidium, as well as sp ecimens of diacromorph and polygonomorph acritarchs. Although determination s are difficult at the generic level and essentially impossible at the spec ific lever, the assemblage can be attributed to an interval between the Lat e Cambrian and Early Ordovician. This is the first biostratigraphical age a ssignment for the metasediments of the Baden-Baden-Gaggenau zone, which can possibly be correlated with the Ville Unit of the northern Vosges Mountain s (eastern France). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.