The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower CretaceousEpoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Albian is preceded by the Aptian and followed by the Cenomanian.[4]
The top of the Albian Stage (the base of the Cenomanian Stage and Upper Cretaceous Series) is defined as the place where the foram species Rotalipora globotruncanoides first appears in the stratigraphic column.[6]
The Albian is sometimes subdivided in Early/Lower, Middle and Late/Upper subages or substages. In western Europe, especially in the United Kingdom , a subdivision in two substages (Vraconian and Gaultian) is more often used.
Examples
Examples of Albian sedimentary rock are: the phosphorite beds of the Argonne and Bray areas in France; the Flammenmergel of northern Germany ; the lignites of Utrillas in Spain ; the Upper Nubian Sandstones, and the Fredericksburg beds of North America.[7]
↑See Kennedy et al. (2004) for a description of the GSSP for the Cenomanian
↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Howe, John Allen (1911). "Albian". in Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 505.
Literature
Gradstein, F.M.; Ogg, J.G. & Smith, A.G.; 2004: A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press .
Kennedy, W.J.; Gale, A.S.; Lees, J.A. & Caron, M.; 2004: The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Cenomanian Stage, Mont Risou, Hautes-Alpes, France, Episodes 27, pp. 21–32.
d'Orbigny, A.C.V.M.; 1842: Paléontologie française: Terrains crétacés, vol. ii. (in French)