The potential of vertebrate microfossils for marine to non-marine correlation in the Late Jurassic

摘要

Fish (cartilaginous: elasmobranch and bony; osteichthyan actinopterygian) and reptile (crocodile) microfossils comprising scales and teeth have been examined from a series of limestone samples in the Upper Jurassic of France and Germany to gauge the possibilities of using them for correlation between fully marine and hypo- or hyper-saline (non-marine) deposits. The most frequent remains of fossil vertebrates in aquatic sediments are the scales, teeth, and o-toliths of chondrichthyans and actinopterygians. Most : of these remains are very small and are therefore called microvertebrate remains. Such fish remains have long been considered as useful tools for the stratigraphical and palaeoecological interpretation of Paleozoic sediments.