Reworked acritarchs as provenance indicators in the Lower Palaeozoic of Denmark

Profuse and well-preserved acritarchs were recovered from subsurface Lower Palaeozoic successions cored by the boreholes Slagelse-1 and Pernille-1 (Danish-North German Basin). Together with Llandovery in situ microphytoplankton, reworked Cambrian and Ordovician species occur. The reworked Ordovician acritarchs show a clear Perigondwanan palaeobiogeographic affinity and indicate elastic sedimentary input from a Perigondwanan-related terrane located south of the East European Platform. Microfloral similarity enables identification of the detrital source area with the Avalonia Terrane. The present data also suggest that development of a foreland basin marginal to the Caledonian Deformation Front in the Danish-North German Basin started in Early Silurian times. (C) 2001 Academie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS