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).