The Turonian stage and substage boundaries

Bengtson P, Cobban WA, Dodsworth P, Gale AS, Kennedy WJ, Lamolda MA, Matsumoto T, Reyment RA, Seibertz E, Tröger KA

Formal definitions of the Cenomanian-Turonian and lower-middle Turonian boundaries are proposed, following discussions at the Second International Symposium on Cretaceous Stage Boundaries, held in Brussels, 8-16 September 1995. The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP, "golden spike") for the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary should be placed at the base of Bed 86 in a section at Rock Canyon Anticline, west of Pueblo, Colorado, USA, coincident with the first occurrence of the ammonite Watinoceras devonense WRIGHT & KENNEDY, 1981. A GSSP for the lower-middle Turonian boundary is proposed at the level of first occurrence of the ammonite Collignoniceras woollgari (MANTELL, 1822) in the same section (Bed 120). For the middle-upper Turonian boundary no GSSP can be proposed at present.