Chitinozoan faunas from the Rugen Ordovician (Rugen 5/66 and Binz 1/73 wells), NE Germany

The island of Rugen (NE Germany), situated close to the Trans-European Sutu re Zone (TESZ). in the southern Baltic Sea is underlain by sedimentary rock s of an Early Palaeozoic age, known only from boreholes. The wells, Rugen 5 /66 and Binz 1/73, were investigated for their chitinozoan assemblages to i mprove the earlier biostratigraphic dating (graptolites and acritarchs) and to facilitate comparisons with other chitinozoan assemblages on both sides of the TESZ. In the lower part of the Rugen 5/66 core (3794.7-3615.8 m), L agenochitina destombesi Elaouad-Debbaj is indicative of an early late Trema doc age. In the upper part of the same well (3287.3-1709.7 m), the observed chitinozoan taxa suggest an age spanning the early Llanvirn to the Caradoc . The entire sampled interval of the Binz 1/73 core (5217.6-5041.8 m) is in terpreted as belonging to the Siphonochitina formosa Biozone (early-early l ate Abereiddian, corresponding to the early Llanvirn). The chitinozoan data corroborate the earlier suggested biostratigraphic ages, based on acritarc hs and graptolites. The chitinozoans from the Binz 1/73 well point to a hig h latitude provenance of the investigated host sediments at time of deposit ion. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.