Het Vroeg Paleoceen (Danien) van zuidelijk Limburg en aangrenzend gebied – nieuwe fauna’s en nieuwe inzichten

The Early Paleocene (Danian) of southern Limburg and neighbouring areas – new faunas and new insights Collecting between 1988 and 2012 from various (temporary) outcrops of the highest part of the Meerssen Member (Maastricht Formation, subunit IVf-7) and the entire Geulhem Member (Houthem Formation, subunits Va-1 to Va-4) of Early to Middle Danian (Early Paleocene) age at the former Curfs quarry (Geulhem), temporary sections along the Albertkanaal near Vroenhoven-Riemst (Limburg, Belgium) and the Geulhemmerberg subterranean galleries has resulted in quite a number of new macrofossil assemblages. These comprise ammonoid, coleoid and nautiloid cephalopods, bivalves, gastropods, teleost fish, neoselachians, chimaeroids and thoracosaurine crocodiles. Special attention was paid to assemblages from subunit IVf-7, between the Berg en Terblijt and Vroenhoven horizons, the former being equated (since 1996) with the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary. Ammonite survivor species, amongst which scaphitids and baculitids, as well as other typically late Maastrichtian molluscs such as trigoniids, neithinine pectinids, the tegulated inoceramid Tenuipteria argentea and echinoids (Leymeriaster maestrichtensis, Hemipneustes striatoradiatus) are known from lower Paleocene (lower Danian) levels. Work underway concentrates on taxonomic, taphonomic and palaeoecological assessments of bivalve and gastropod faunas both from the indurated levels of subunit IVf-7 and from the overlying Geulhem Member. In addition, shark and ray assemblages, as well as chimaeroid faunules, are being written up. Not surprisingly, in view of the palaeogeography of the area, in all biotic groups a clear admixture of elements of Tethyan (southern European/north African) and Boreal (northern European) affinities has been noted.