Re-assessment of ammonoid specimens from the Early Carboniferous Protocanites Beds of the Badenweiler–Lenzkirch Zone (Schwarzwald, Central Variscan Belt): age constraints for a lithostratigraphic key bed

Abstract

The Protocanites Beds of the Black Forest Massif (Germany) form an important lithostratigraphic key bed, as the index fossils contained in this formation enable correlation within large areas of the internal zone of the central Variscan Belt of Europe. Furthermore, the formation provides significant information on the geodynamic evolution of the Moldanubian Zone. The stratigraphic age of the formation has been a subject of controversy in the past; a Devonian to Viséan age has been proposed. To determine the age of the Protocanites Beds, two ammonoid specimens from the Protocanites Beds of Schönau are re-described here. They belong to Becanites abnobensis and Pericylcus princeps and fix the stratigraphic position of the Protocanites Beds to the early Late Tournaisian.