The Maastricht Formation is a mostly calcarenitic unit that belongs to the Chalk Group but is unlike the typical North Sea chalk in that it is much coarser and at times contains a significant terrigenous component. The formation was deposited between the late Maastrichtian and the early Danian in a proximal zone of the Chalk Sea immediately north of the Anglo-Brabant and Rhenish massifs. The formation crops out in South Limburg, the Netherlands, in the German state of North Rhine–Westphalia, near Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), and in the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg, and it is present in the subsurface in the Campine Basin and in the Roer Valley Graben, in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The often spectacular fossil content of the Maastricht Formation has been extensively studied but its sedimentological aspects remain understudied. Indeed, the lithostratigraphy of the formation is largely informal and based on the abundance and morphology of flint and on the quantification of fossil content. The paucity of facies studies and the lack of a lithostratigraphic framework based on modern facies studies hampers stratigraphic correlation between outcrops and, more importantly, boreholes. A facies characterisation and facies-based lithostratigraphic framework of the Maastricht Formation in South Limburg is particularly urgent because groundwater is abstracted from aquifers in the formation and geological models currently in place fail to predict facies heterogeneity and, consequently, aquifer properties.

We studied eight outcrops of the Maastricht Formation across South Limburg and carried out a (micro)facies analysis of the outcrops. We show that the Maastricht Formation can be subdivided into three lithofacies and five microfacies. The lithofacies reflect the traditional subdivision of the formation into Maastricht and Kunrade limestones. Our results suggest that the current subdivision of the Maastricht Formation into six members is untenable. The formation is best subdivided into lower and upper members. The Kunrade limestone should be afforded the status of formation.

We interpret the Maastricht Formation as having been deposited in an epeiric ramp, in which facies distribution was controlled by water temperature, nutrient levels and storminess. The (micro)facies of the Maastricht Formation can be organised into two depositional stages: stage 1, representing the lower part of the formation, is characterised by heterozoan carbonates deposited under cooler, mesotrophic conditions in a nutrient-rich, more proximal region of the epeiric sea; stage 2 is characterised by heterozoan-photozoan carbonates deposited in a warmer and stormier environment with slightly lower nutrient levels.

The Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan has yielded many isolated bones and teeth representing a variety of non-avian theropod dinosaurs. A pedal phalanx II-2 indicates the presence of a dromaeosaurid theropod that attained a larger body size than any previously known member of that clade. The same formation also yielded a large maxillary fragment that has recently been described as a neovenatorid carcharodontosaurian (Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis). However, this specimen lacks unambiguously diagnostic features of that clade, and its purported carcharodontosaurian characters are either taphonomic artefacts or also shared by dromaeosaurids. Thus, the phylogenetic relationships of Uleghbegsaurus uzbekistanensis remain uncertain. A giant dromaeosaurid occurred together with the medium-sized tyrannosauroid Timurlengia euotica in the Bissekty assemblage.

The idea is tested that the evolution of the Chalk’s clay mineral assemblage during diagenesis can be deduced by examining the relationships between its clay mineralogy, particle size distribution pattern, and the timing and trace element chemistry of the calcite cement. The preliminary results from five different examples of cementation developed at different stages of diagenesis in chalks with smectite-dominated clay assemblages suggest that this is a promising line of investigation. Soft chalks with minor amount of anoxic series calcite cement poor in Mg, Fe and Mn are associated with neoformed trioctahedral smectite and/or dioctahedral nontronite and talc. Hard ground chalk with extensive anoxic series calcite cement enriched in Mg and relatively high Fe, Mn and Sr are associated with neoformed glauconite sensu lato, berthierine and dioctahedral smectite, possibly enriched in Fe. The chalk associated with large ammonites shows extensive suboxic series calcite cement enriched in Mg, Mn and Fe that show no obvious correlation with its clay mineralogy. Nodular chalks with patchy suboxic series calcite cement enriched in Fe are associated with neoformed dioctahedral smectite, possibly enriched in Al, and berthierine. Regionally hardened chalk with extensive suboxic calcite cement and relatively high trace element contents contain pressure dissolution seams enriched in kaolin and berthierine. Laser-based particle-size distribution patterns suggest that each type of lithification has a typical complex clay mineral population, indicating that subtleties in mineralogy are not being identified and that there could be some control on the size and shape of the clay crystals by the different types of cementation.

Detrital, volcanic and diagenetic origins have been used to explain the smectite clay assemblage that characterizes the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of Europe. To further the understanding of how clays of different origins may have converged to this characteristic clay mineral assemblage a new approach is put forward for their investigation. This is based upon (1) the correlation that exists between the trace element and stable isotope geochemistry of the calcite cements preserved within Chalk brachiopods and the various diagenetic phases of early lithification and cementation recognized in the Chalk, and (2) an understanding of the process of late diagenetic cementation that has caused regional differences in the hardness of the Chalk. It is suggested that each phase of lithification and associated calcite cementation may preserve the different clay assemblages at various stages in their convergence to the characteristic Chalk smectite assemblage.

A new locality with silicified permineralised plant megafossils is reported from the upper Turonian of Colombiers, Vienne, western France. The plant fossil assemblage consists of Geinitzia reichenbachii (Geinitz) Hollick et Jeffrey and ‘Lomatopteris' superstes Saporta. Whilst G. reichenbachii is a worldwide widespread Cretaceous conifer, ‘L.' superstes is reported in western France for the first time. The latter fossil shows bipinnately compound leaf, marginal teeth, one thick primary vein, pinnate secondary veins and faint, reticulate, narrower veins. Besides its fern-like gross morphology, these characters indicate that it most likely belongs to angiosperms and eudicots. The formation of silicified nodules bearing such fossils from the Cenomanian to the Coniacian of western France was previously attributed to the secondary silicification of limestones during Cenozoic climatic weathering episodes. However, based on both petrography and preservation evidence, we demonstrate that it was an endogenic process contemporaneous to the earliest stages of fossil diagenesis created by palaeoenvironmental and climatic conditions.

Perinatal specimens give valuable information about the first stages of vertebrate ontogeny. Here, the morphology and palaeohistology of an aristonectine perinatal specimen from Seymour Island (Isla Marambio), López de Bertodano Formation are analysed. The palaeohistological analysis shows incomplete endochondral ossification (retention of a calcified cartilaginous core in the medullary region), predominance of primary bone tissue without secondary remodelling, lack of primary or secondary osteons and of growth marks in the cortical bone, and open vascular spaces not surrounded by a thin coat of lamellar bone tissue. General lines of morphological changes were inferred from comparing the fossil with an adult aristonectine specimen indicating i) a tendency of relatively high and broad posterior cervicals to decrease during ontogeny, ii) a decrease of relative size of the dorsolateral process and an increase of the glenoid ramus and iii) the existence of two separate stages in propodial growth divided into an initial elongation followed by a distal expansion. The presence of a perinatal specimen in the James Ross Archipelago indicates that the region was used as a breeding area by the aristonectines during the last part of the Cretaceous.

Until recently, mosasaur remains from the Izumi Group (Upper Cretaceous) in southwest Japan comprised only scattered finds; now a richer material is available. From the upper Campanian Hiketa Formation in Kagawa Prefecture, Kourisodon sp. has just been recorded, on the basis of portions of skull and mandible which has small and laterally compressed teeth. A few teeth of the same or similar type have previously been described from the Maastrichtian Mutsuo Formation in Osaka Prefecture. A report of Mosasaurus sp. A, which resembles M. missouriensis and M. dekayi, is based on some cranial and mandible remains, inclusive of numerous teeth and a few well-preserved cervical and two incomplete dorsal vertebrae, from the Maastrichtian Mutsuo Formation in Osaka Prefecture. A slender tooth of Mosasaurus sp. from the Mutsuo Formation has since been reassigned to Platecarpus (Plioplatecarpinae); yet, this may indeed by a species of Mosasaurus, here listed as Mosasaurus sp. B. To date, smaller specimens of mosasaurids have been shown to be abundant in the Izumi Group, which suggests two possible explanations. Either most of these represent juveniles, or smaller-sized, Kourisodon-like animals flourished here. Finds of Kourisodon sp. from the upper Campanian Hiketa Formation and the Maastrichtian Mutsuo Formation suggests the second explanation is the more likely one.

Recent work in the Upper Cretaceous of northeastern Mexico has produced a diversity of vertebrate remains. For specimens referable to Squamata, both old and new, an annotated catalogue is here provided, wherein are summarised the geological context and morphological features of each specimen. All specimens appear to represent marine squamates, including an aigialosaur-like reptile preserving integumentary structures, several vertebrae possibly representing mosasauroids, the first Mexican mosasaur known from significant cranial material, an isolated mosasaur mandibular fragment, and the holotype of Amphekepubis johnsoni (considered to belong to Mosasaurus). These discoveries are auspicious and should deepen our understanding of palaeobiogeographic and evolutionary patterns

We report the discovery of a new species of marine reptile, a mosasaur, from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of The Netherlands. Prognathodon saturator sp. nov. is represented by an almost complete skull and much of the postcranial skeleton, and is one of the largest mosasaurs discovered to date. The stout skull and extremely massive jaws are more powerfully built than in any other known mosasaur. Bite marks, the partial disarticulation and scattering of the skeleton, and the presence of associated teeth of Squalicorax and Plicatoscyllium suggest extensive scavenging by sharks.

Turtle remains ascribed to the family Cheloniidae (Testudines, Cryptodira, Chelonioidea), collected from the lamarcki zone (Middle Turonian) at Wüllen (NW Germany) are described. The material consists of a right humerus, a scapula, a complete costalia, and costalia fragments of a single individual with the humerus indicating a primitive cheloniid of the ‘toxochelyid grade’. The present material, as well as previously recorded chelonioid humeri from the Cenomanian and Turonian of Germany illustrate a progressive diversification of chelonioids during the early Late Cretaceous.

In Germany, mosasaur remains are very rare and only incompletely known. However, the earliest records date back to the 1830s, when tooth crowns were found in the chalk of the Isle of Rügen. A number of prominent figures in German palaeontology and geosciences of the 19th and 20th centuries focused on these remains, including, among others, Friedrich von Hagenow, Hermann von Meyer, Andreas Wagner, Hanns Bruno Geinitz and Josef Pompeckj. Most of these works were only short notes, given the scant material. However, the discovery of fragmentary cranial remains in Westphalia in 1908 led to a more comprehensive discussion, which is also of historical importance, as it illustrates the discussions on the highly controversial and radical universal phylogenetic theory proposed by Gustav Steinmann in 1908. This theory saw the existence of continuous lines of descent, evolving in parallel, and did not regard higher taxonomic units as monophyletic groups but as intermediate paraphyletic stages of evolution. In this idea, nearly all fossil taxa form part of these lineages, which extend into the present time, and natural extinction occurs very rarely, if ever. In Steinmann's concept, mosasaurs were not closely related to squamates but formed an intermediate member in a anagenetic chain from Triassic thalattosaurs to extant baleen whales. The newly found specimen led Josef Pompeckj to write a vehement rebuttal to Steinmann's theory, published in 1910, showing that his conclusions were conjectural and speculative, being based on convergence and not supported by scientific evidence. This particular specimen, housed in Göttingen, later also inspired a piece of palaeoart by Franz Roubal under the instructions of Othenio Abel.

With the exception of a vertebra from the Campanian of former East Prussia (now Russian Federation), and a possible vertebra from the Cenomanian of Dresden, Saxony, all datable material – today partly lost – originated from the northern part of present-day Germany and stratigraphically from the Campanian–Maastrichtian. The purported record from the Cenomanian of Bavaria (southeastern Germany) was most probably an error, based on Upper Jurassic crocodilian material.

An overview is presented of belemnitellid faunas of Santonian to Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) age in the Mons Basin and in the Brabant-Méhaigne and Maastricht-Aachen-Liège areas (Belgium, southeast Netherlands). As many as twenty-two species of the genera Actinocamax Miller, 1823, Gonioteuthis Bayle, 1878, Belemnitella d'Orbigny, 1840 and Belemnella Nowak, 1913 have been recorded to date. On the basis of these, thirteen zones can be distinguished: three in the Santonian (G. w. westfalica, G. westfalicagranulata and G. granulata), six in the Campanian (G. granulataquadrata, G. quadrata, Blt. mucronata, Blt. woodi, Blt. minor I and Blt. minor II) and four in the Maastrichtian (Bln. obtusa, Bln. ex gr. sumensis/cimbrica, Blt. junior and Bln. kazimiroviensis). Correlative schemes between these zones and those proposed for Norfolk (southeast England) and for the combined Lägerdorf-Kronsmoor-Hemmoor section (northern Germany) are presented. The belemnitellid assemblage of the study area closely resembles that of Norfolk, but differs from the late Campanian faunas of northwest Germany.

A palynological study of the Chalk Group (Campanian-Danian) in the Meer borehole (northern Belgium), which penetrated the thickest succession known in the Campine Basin, has revealed diverse, well-preserved organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst assemblages. The succession contains numerous chronostratigraphically significant dinocyst events, which are based mainly on the highest consistent occurrences of index species. At least 35 bio-events have enabled a subdivision into nine intervals, at stage or substage level, within the Campanian to Danian interval, as based on comparison with coeval assemblages elsewhere in northwest Europe, inclusive of stratotypes of stages and stage boundaries. Bio-events allow correlation of the section studied with the Campanian Exochosphaeridium? masureae, Areoligera coronata and Samlandia mayi zones, the Maastrichtian Pervosphaeridium tubuloaculeatum, Deflandrea galeata and Hystrichostrogylon coninckii zones, and the Danian Damassadinium californicum Zone. In addition, a correlation with other zonal schemes for the southern North Sea Basin and with conventional northwest European belemnite zones is presented. Comparisons with Boreal and Tethyan realms confirm that most bio-events may also be useful for interregional and global correlation. The Campanian-Danian dinocyst biostratigraphy of the Meer borehole is put alongside geophysical well logs and an ecozonation, in order to check the validity of lithostratigraphical correlations across the Campine Basin. This first, detailed correlation attempt shows that sensitivities to facies change associated with differences in accommodation space and sediment supply appear to be at the base of slight, yet consistent, shifts between the local lithological succession and the standard lithostratigraphical scheme of the Maastricht type area.

Stratigraphic fluctuations of carbon isotope values of terrestrial organic matter within the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Santonian) sequence in the Obira area of Hokkaido, Japan, record distinctive δ13C fluctuations for the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary, the Middle Turonian, the upper Turonian–lower Coniacian, and the Santonian. A biostratigraphic framework of the age-diagnostic taxa (ammonoids, bivalves and planktic foraminifers) indicates that these δ13C fluctuation events are comparable with those recorded in δ13C data of terrestrial organic matter in Japan and marine carbonates in Europe. These correlations reinforce the utility of these δ13C events in terms of global chemostratigraphy. In particular, the δ13C patterns within the overall positive interval of the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary event are highly conformable between marine and terrestrial records. The consistent nature of these different records of δ13C fluctuation patterns demonstrates that the terrestrial organic δ13C data mirror the global-scale δ13C patterns in the carbon reservoir of ocean–atmosphere–terrestrial biosphere during the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary event. In addition, global correlation of short-term marine and terrestrial organic δ13C fluctuations of the Upper Cretaceous sequence indicate that the magnitude of several terrestrial organic δ13C events appears more amplified than that of coeval marine carbonate δ13C events. This correlation is interpreted to mean that the effects of local CO2 emission into the atmosphere by release of terrestrial methane hydrate or biomass burning of terrestrial vegetation in the hinterland of the NE Asian region have been superimposed on the global δ13C trend and resulted in the terrestrial organic δ13C records of the Yezo Group.

Numerous footprints of dinosaurs, pterosaurs and birds, together with arthropod tracks, have been discovered in the upper Cretaceous Uhangri Formation which crops out along the south-western coastline of South Korea. This ichnofauna contains the first pterosaur tracks reported from Asia. The digitigrade tridactyl manus impressions exhibit features of a typical pterosaur hand print. The pes impressions, however, show features that are different from pterosaur footprints reported previously: there is no visible trace of impressions of individual digits, and the toes are triangular or rounded in shape distally without distinct claw impressions. As these features clearly distinguish the Uhangri tracks from Pteraichnus and Purbeckopus, we assign them to a new genus, Haenamichnus which accommodates the new ichnospecies, Haenamichnus uhangriensis. The prints are five to six times larger than those of Pteraichnus, and are currently the largest pterosaur ichnites known. They show virtually no trace of the 5th phalange of the pes, indicating that they were made by pterodactyloids; moreover, features of the tracks suggest that they can be attributed to azhdarchids, the commonest pterosaur of the Late Cretaceous. The longest pterosaur trackway yet known from any track site (length 7.3 m) and consisting of 14 pairs of foot impressions, was also found in the Uhangri Formation and suggests that azhdarchids, at least, were competent terrestrial locomotors. The fossil track site at Uhangri represents the first occurrence of the tracks of pterosaurs, dinosaurs and web-footed birds all on the same level. This demonstrates that pterosaurs and birds visited the same habitat, but the large size disparity suggests that they occupied different ecological niches.