Planktic foraminifera from the proposed GSSP for the Oxfordian Stage: Redcliff Point, near Weymouth

In the course of the stratigraphical and palaeontological investigations for the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Oxfordian Stage at Recicliff (near Weymouth) an assemblage of planktic foraminifera has been described. Planktic foraminifera are exceptionally rare in the Jurassic of the United Kingdom and only a few records have been reported in the last few years. At Redcliff, the assemblage is preserved as pyrite steinkerns, but the fauna contains a number of morphotypes which match onto known species from this interval (Globuligerina oxfordiana, Compactogerina stellapolaris) while others have no described species to which they can be ascribed. The samples in which the planktic taxa are most abundant were collected from just above the boundary horizon (defined by the ammonite assemblages) and appear to represent proximity to a maximum flooding surface. The same horizon in Normandy has also yielded Globuligerina oxfordiana while a coeval level in the Mariae Chronozone on the banks of the Fleet has also yielded this assemblage. The occurrence of this Redcliff assemblage, close to the Callovian/Oxforclian boundary, is important in both the evolution of the planktic foraminifera and our understanding of the palaeobiogeography of the time.