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Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany)

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Abstract

A detailed integrated stratigraphic study was carried out on middle Miocene fluvial successions of the Upper Freshwater Molasse (OSM) from the North Alpine Foreland Basin, in eastern Bavaria, Germany. The biostratigraphic investigations yielded six new localities thereby refining the OSM biostratigraphy for units C to E (sensu; Heissig, Actes du Congres BiochroM’97. Mem Trav EPHE, Inst Montpellier 21, 1997) and further improving biostratigraphic correlations between the different sections throughout eastern Bavaria. Radioisotopic ages of 14.55 ± 0.19 and 14.88 ± 0.11 Ma have been obtained for glass shards from the main bentonite horizon and the Ries impactite: two important stratigraphic marker beds used for confirming our magnetostratigraphic calibration to the Astronomical Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). Paleomagnetic analysis was performed using alternating field (AF) and thermal (TH) demagnetization methods. The AF method revealed both normal and reverse polarities but proofs to yield unreliable ChRM directions for the Puttenhausen section. Using the biostratigraphic information and radioisotopic ages, the magnetostratigraphic records of the different sections are tentatively correlated to the Astronomical Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). This correlation implies that the main bentonite horizon coincides to chron C5ADn, which is corroborated by its radioisotopic age of 14.55 Ma, whereas the new fossil locality Furth 460, belonging to OSM unit E, probably correlates to chron C5Bn.1r. The latter correlation agrees well with the Swiss Molasse locality Frohberg. Correlations of the older sections are not straightforward. The Brock horizon, which comprises limestone ejecta from the Ries impact, possibly correlates to C5ADr (14.581–14.784 Ma), implying that, although within error, the radioisotopic age of 14.88 ± 0.11 Ma is somewhat too old. The fossil localities in Puttenhausen, belonging to the older part of OSM unit C, probably coincide with chron C5Cn.2n or older, which is older than the correlations established for the Swiss Molasse.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Daniel Kälin and Johann Hohenegger for critically reviewing the manuscript. Georg Bauer (Ziegelwerke Leipfinger-Bader, Puttenhausen), Franz Luderfinger (Isarkies GmBH, Unterwattenbach) and Helmut Eichstetter (Eichstetter GmBH, Furth) are thanked for working permissions and technical help in the gravel and clay pits. Albert Ulbig is thanked for providing the glass samples from Hachelstuhl. This project was supported by DFG grant BO 1550/7–1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Section Geophysics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Theresienstrasse 41, 80333, Munich, Germany

    H. Abdul Aziz & V. Bachtadse

  2. Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Section Palaeontology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333, Munich, Germany

    M. Böhme & J. Prieto

  3. Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Section Mineralogy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstrasse 41, 80333, Munich, Germany

    A. Rocholl

  4. Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology Munich, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333, Munich, Germany

    K. Heissig

  5. Department of Isotope Geochemistry, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J. R. Wijbrans

  6. Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Leopoldstrasse 3, 80802, Munich, Germany

    A. Zwing

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Abdul Aziz, H., Böhme, M., Rocholl, A. et al. Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the Early to Middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in eastern Bavaria (Germany). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 97, 115–134 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-006-0166-7

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