Correlation of Northwest European Miocene Stages with the international stages - preliminary results

The biostratigraphy of the Miocene sediments of the Lille Tønde borehole, southern Jutland (Denmark), was studied by means of dinoflagellate cysts, foraminifers and molluscs. Based on this study, it is shown that the boundaries of the Northwest European stages are not isochronous with the global stratotypes, but overall they are slightly older. The investigated strata spans most of the Miocene from the Northwest European Hemmoorian to Syltian Stages (Lower Miocene to Upper Miocene-lowermost Pliocene?). Based on the results from the Lille Tønde borehole, the Hemmoorian-Reinbekian boundary (the north-western European boundary between the Lower and Middle Miocene) correlates with the intraupper Burdigalian (Lower Miocene). The Reinbekian Stage (north-western European "Middle Miocene") correlates with the Langhian?-lower Serravallian Stage (Middle Miocene), making the "Middle Miocene" of north-western Europe older than the globally defined Middle Miocene. The Langenfeldian Stage (north-western European "Middle formerly-Upper Miocene") correlates with the mid-Serravallian Stage (Middle Miocene). The succeeding Gramian and Syltian Stages (north-western European Upper Miocene) correlate with the upper Serravallian-Tortonian (upper Middle-Upper Miocene) and Messinian Stages (uppermost Miocene), respectively.