Earth:Valanginian

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Short description: Second age of the early Cretaceous
Valanginian
139.8 ± 3.0 – 132.6 ± 2.0 Ma
Chronology
Cretaceous graphical timeline
Subdivision of the Cretaceous according to the ICS, as of 2021.[1]
Vertical axis scale: millions of years ago.
Etymology
Name formalityFormal
Usage information
Celestial bodyEarth
Regional usageGlobal (ICS)
Time scale(s) usedICS Time Scale
Definition
Chronological unitAge
Stratigraphic unitStage
Time span formalityFormal
Lower boundary definitionNot formally defined
Lower boundary definition candidatesFAD of the Calpionellid Calpionellites darderi
Lower boundary GSSP candidate section(s)
  • Montbrun-les-Bains, Drôme, France
  • Cañada Luenga, Betic Cordillera, Spain
Upper boundary definitionFAD of the Ammonite genus Acanthodiscus
Upper boundary GSSPLa Charce, Drôme, France
Template:Coor
GSSP ratifiedDecember 2019[2]

In the geologic timescale, the Valanginian is an age or stage of the Early or Lower Cretaceous. It spans between 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma and 132.6 ± 2.0 Ma (million years ago). The Valanginian Stage succeeds the Berriasian Stage of the Lower Cretaceous and precedes the Hauterivian Stage of the Lower Cretaceous.[3]

Stratigraphic definitions

The Valanginian was first described and named by Édouard Desor in 1853. It is named after Valangin, a small town north of Neuchâtel in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland .

The base of the Valanginian is at the first appearance of calpionellid species Calpionellites darderi in the stratigraphic column. A global reference section (a GSSP) had in 2009 not yet been appointed.

The top of the Valanginian (the base of the Hauterivian) is at the first appearance of the ammonite genus Acanthodiscus.

Subdivision

The Valanginian is often subdivided in Lower and Upper substages. The Upper substage begins at the first appearance of ammonite species Saynoceras verrucosum and the major marine transgression Va3.

In the Tethys domain, the Valanginian stage contains five ammonite biozones:

  • zone of Criosarasinella furcillata
  • zone of Neocomites peregrinus
  • zone of Saynoceras verrucosum
  • zone of Busnardoites campylotoxus
  • zone of Tirnovella pertransiens

Flora

The oldest fossils that can definitely be attributed to the clade Angiospermae (flowering plants) are dated to the Late Valanginian.[4]

References

Notes

  1. Super User. "ICS - Chart/Time Scale". http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale. 
  2. Mutterlose, Jörg; Rawson, Peter; Reboulet, Stéphane; Baudin, François; Bulot, Luc; Emmanuel, Laurent; Gardin, Silvia; Martinez, Mathieu et al. (September 2020). "The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Hauterivian Stage (Lower Cretaceous), La Charce, southeast France". Episodes 44 (2): 129–150. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2020/020072. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344031297. Retrieved 24 December 2020. 
  3. See Gradstein et al. (2004) for a detailed geologic timescale
  4. "How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?". The New Phytologist 223 (1): 83–99. July 2019. doi:10.1111/nph.15708. PMID 30681148. 

Literature

  • Gradstein, F.M.; Ogg, J.G. & Smith, A.G.; (2004): A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press .

External links