BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CENOMANIAN-TURONIAN BOUNDARY EXTINCTION EVENT IN THE CARBONATE PLATFORM FACIES OF THE SOUTHERN APENNINES (ITALY)

After the two-step extinction event that eliminated all the complex larger benthic foraminifera in the latest Cenomanian, the early Turonian benthic foraminiferal assemblages consisted of small, morphologically simple taxa; these were found in the few carbonate platforms that survived drowning during the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary interval. In this paper, we provide detailed morphologic descriptions of the most typical species of the Turonian benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the Apennine carbonate platform of southern Italy, along with some remarks on their suprageneric systematic position. Their chronostratigraphic range is firmly constrained by integrating carbon- and strontium-isotope stratigraphy.