Cenozoic foraminiferal and dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy of the central North Sea

Presents a detailed Cenozoic biostratigraphy for Paleogene bathyal and Neogene neritic strata, north of 55° in the central North Sea, and offshore mid-Norway, using both foraminifera and dinoflagellate cysts. Eight Paleogene and four Neogene interval zones of benthic and some planktonic foraminifera are defined. These zones involve the average last occurrence of 64 taxa present in a mininum of seven of 33 wells studied. The Paleocene-Eocene boundary is assigned at the top of dinoflagellate cyst zone T2c (Apectodinium augustum LO), immediately above the upper limit of the Reticulophragmium paupera Zone. The Coscinodiscus Zone and dinoflagellate cyst zone T3A (acme of Deflandea oebisfeldensis) are earliest Eocene in age. Uppermost Eocene strata may be largely missing in the central North Sea, as is part or all of the Upper Miocene. -from Authors