Abstract
In this paper we report that marine sediment locations spread over a wide area contain evidence of an anoxic interval during the mid-Cretaceous, here called the Cenomanian–Turonian Black Shale Horizon (CTBSH). The occurrence of laminated carbonaceous shales with marine organic matter in an unoxidized state implies deposition and early diagenesis in anaerobic environments. The stratigraphic record above and below the CTBSH in environments as different as the deep North Atlantic Ocean and marginal and epicontinental seas over enormous areas in North America, North Africa and northwestern Europe is characterized by a stratigraphic gap, a disconformity or a continuous but strongly condensed stratigraphic section. The anoxic layer coincides in time with the maximum extension of a worldwide marine transgression of eustatic origin recorded on continental margins1 as well as on various cratons2. No simple model has yet been found to explain the occurrence of the CTBSH in such a wide range of depth and palaeoenvironmental conditions.
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de Graciansky, P., Deroo, G., Herbin, J. et al. Ocean-wide stagnation episode in the late Cretaceous. Nature 308, 346–349 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308346a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308346a0
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