13S MIDDLE ALBIAN STRATIGRAPHY 



Between the Gastroplites Zone marking the base of the Upper Albian and the 

 mcconnelli Subzone is a thick interval of shales which have not yet yielded ammonites. 

 Jeletzky has classified these sediments with a Zone F which he considers to include 

 part or all of the time span between the mammillatum ' Subzone ' and the cristatum 

 Subzone (1968 ; 17-18, Fig. 1). If there are any Middle Albian sediments in Canada 

 then they are contained in these shales of Zone F. At the moment, however, no 

 Middle Albian ammonites are known from Canada. It is worth noting that the 

 alleged Cleoniceras associated with a gastroplitinid ammonite fauna in Alaska (Imlay 

 1961) does not stand up after examination. Cleoniceras (Grycia) sublet Imlay which 

 is known from crushed material does not appear to possess umbilical bullae and is 

 here considered to be a member of Beudanticeratinae. The gastroplitinid Upper 

 Albian province included the area that is now the western cordillera of North 

 America stretching from Alaska to California. 



(ix) GREENLAND 



Our knowledge of the Albian sediments of the area between Traill 0. and the 

 Wollaston Foreland on the E. coast of Greenland N. of Scoresby Sound, is due to the 

 work of Spath (e.g. 1946 ; 8-10) and Donovan (1949 ; 6-7 : 1953, 35-37, 50-51). It 

 is tantalising in its incompleteness for it seems that in this area we have the boundary 

 between the European Albian province and that of the area of Canada and the western 

 cordillera of N. America. Both Spath and Donovan record Lower Albian ammonites 

 which occur in both provinces ; Middle Albian ammonites such as Hoplites and 

 Euhoplites which are characteristic of the European hoplitinid province ; and Upper 

 Albian ammonites which may also link the two provinces. 



(x) CONCLUSION 



The foregoing very brief review indicates that a considerable amount of work now 

 requires to be done on Middle Albian sequences outside the Anglo-Paris Basin along 

 the lines attempted here. The object of this review is to stimulate such research. 

 Superficially, it seems that there is in many parts of the Earth a major break in 

 sedimentation, particularly at the top of the Middle Albian. General sedimentation 

 occurred once again in early Upper Albian times. There is evidence of this even in 

 the area of Kent and Sussex, wherein the loricatus and lautus Zones are apparently 

 the most completely represented by sediments. Breaks of such an extensive nature 

 in the Cretaceous, must be due to major events in the Earth's crustal development, 

 for there is no evidence of unusual climatic conditions of sufficient magnitude to 

 reduce sea-level by a significant amount. 



There has always been a tendency to equate movements on a regional scale in 

 Europe with various periods of deformation in the Tethyan belt. Until recently the 

 development of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific ocean basins has been largely ignored 

 and yet with recent geophysical work we are now beginning to see the important 

 effect that initial faulting must have had even on Cretaceous sedimentation. The 



