New nannofossil biostratigraphy for Upper Cretaceous organic-rich carbonates in Israel

Biozones of calcareous nannofossils in Santonian-Maastrichtian organic-rich carbonate sequences that were deposited in a strong upwelling system along the southeastern Tethys can be correlated with the standard zonation of foraminifera and organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts in the same sequences. The recognized zones are described. This study suggests that the NC21 Zone of Monechi and Thierstein (1985) is subdivided into two subzones, NC21a and NC21b. The proposed zonal scheme indicates the occurrence of unconformity at the Santonian-Campanian boundary and within the upper part of the Middle Maastrichtian. -from Authors