Chronostratigraphic significance of an early Valanginian (Cretaceous) calpionellid association (Hochkogel section, Upper Austria, Northern Calcareous Alps)

Early Cretaceous calpionellid samples were collected at the ammonoid-bearing Hochkogellocality in the southern most part of the Reichraming Nappe (Ebenforst Syncline, Northern Calcareous Alps). The microfossil fauna sampled from limestone parts of the Rossfeld Formation indicates an early Valanginian age. The standard Calpionellites Zone (with darderi and major subzones) coincides with the early Valanginian ammonoid zones of Busnardoites campylotoxus and Tirnovella pertransiens. The deposition of the limestones in this area occurred in an unstable environment disturbed by gravitational transport which accounts for the different sedimen tary components and accompanying fossils in the accumulated layers, transported from a source area situated to the south.