Spectral gamma-ray and palynological characterization of Kinderscoutian marine bands in the Namurian of the Pennine Basin

SUMMARY Detailed sedimentological, spectral gamma-ray and palynological sampling of three sections through the Kinderscoutian R 1c Ammonoid Biozone in a north–south transect across the Pennine Basin allows the recognition of features which are diagnostic of maximum flooding surfaces in diverse depositional settings. Data from ammonoid-bearing marine horizons provide a set of criteria which are applicable to the recognition of maximum flooding surfaces in depositional situations in which marine macrofauna are not necessarily preserved. Spectral gamma-ray data for marine bands include high U (>6ppm), low Th/U (<3.8) and commonly low Th/K (<6). Palynological characteristics reflect basin-wide changes in vegetation related to sea-level fluctuations and are diagnostic regardless of depositional setting. Marine bands are characterized by a peak in ‘hinterland’ microflora associated with coniferalean ‘super-hinterland’ elements and a coincident decline in the lowland ‘forest mire’ and ‘coloniser’ microfloral abundances. These criteria are used to identify candidate correlatives of marine bands in sections representative of a deep basinal setting (Blake Brook, North Staffordshire) and an unstable, turbidite-dominated delta-slope setting (Blackden Brook, North Derbyshire).