THE CRETACEOUS-TERTIARY BOUNDARY IN MANGYSHLAK, U.S.S.R

Abstract

Upper Cretaceous carbonate sequences contain omission surfaces, hardgrounds and intercalations of ‘clays’. These ‘clays’ are largely associated with submarine biogeochemical carbonate dissolution that was caused by high biological productivity in the pelagic zone. The Maastrichtian-Danian ‘boundary clays’ probably accumulated during a maximum productivity that led to the exhaustion of nutrients, development of phenomena comparable to present-day red tides, and mass mortality of marine biota. There was a type of ecological break in the seas and oceans at the time of the Maastrichtian-Danian boundary.