Campanian–Maastrichtian marine red beds in Romania: biostratigraphic and genetic significance

The litho- and biostratigraphy of red beds of the uppermost Cretaceous Gura Beliei Formation in the south-west part of the East Carpathians of Romania were investigated. Two lithological sequences were observed in the succession: a lower unit mainly composed of cherry-red thin-bedded marls and marlstones, and an upper unit of alternating marls and sandstones. The age range of the red beds investigated, based on calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, is latest Campanian–earliest Paleocene. The strata are similar to Upper Cretaceous red beds in other Tethyan areas of Europe (Italy, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia).