Foraminiferal biozones and their relationship to the lithostratigraphy of the Chalk Group of southern England

Foraminiferal biostratigraphy has been used extensively in the re-survey of the Chalk Group of southern England since the 1990s and a biozonation based on 21 zones and numerous subzones has been developed. The scheme is closely related to, and extensively tested against, the new lithostratigraphy for the Chalk Group based on examination of well described key chalk exposures, from significant borehole cores, many additional short sequences in chalk exposures and a large number of field samples taken throughout southern England, including the Isle of Wight. The BGS zonal scheme is defined in its entirety for the first time herein and correlated with the existing United Kingdom benthonic foraminiferal scheme.