The post-Urgonian-Early Aptian along the northern Tethyan margin

Following the demise of the Urgonian carbonate platform along the northern Tethyan margin, the remainder of the early Aptian witnessed an increase in detrital influx, the change towards predominantly heterozoan carbonate-producing ecosystems, periods of phosphogenesis and glauconite formation and the corresponding formation of hardgrounds, a presumable increase in tectonic activity, and increased volcanic activity in the Pacific realm, which may have triggered a major oceanic anoxic episode – the Selli episode. The goal is to improve our understanding of the evolution and timing of environmental change during this period and its imprint in the shallow-water sedimentary systems along the northern Tethyan margin, and specifically the interactions between deeper-water anoxia and shallow-water platform evolution. The tools that are used are ammonite and microfossil biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy (stable-carbon isotopes, phosphorus, redox-sensitive trace metals), sequence stratigraphy and clay mineralogy.


Karl Föllmi

PhD student
Antoine Pictet

Pascal Linder


Géopolis - CH-1015 Lausanne
Tel. +41 21 692 43 06
Fax +41 21 692 43 05