The Devonian/Carboniferous boundary interval in Poland: multidisciplinary studies in pelagic (Holy Cross Mountains and Sudetes) and ramp (Western Pomerania) successions

A multidisciplinary study of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary interval in pelagic successions of the Holy Cross Mountains and Sudetes and the ramp successions in the Western Pomerania region (Poland) is presented herein. The analysis applies the results of new palaeontological and biostratigraphic studies based mainly on conodonts, ammonoids and palynomorphs, biostratigraphic results interpreted earlier by different authors that have been re-examined, and geochemical and mineralogical characteristics, as well as magnetic susceptibility measurements across the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary interval. The study is focused on the interval from the Famennian ultimus conodont Zone to the Tournaisian duplicata conodont Zone, and from the Famennian lepidophyta – explanatus (LE) miospore Zone to the Tournaisian verrucosus – incohatus (VI) miospore Zone, respectively. The paper highlights sections, which are the most representative for the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary in each region, illustrates and summarises current knowledge on the uppermost Famennian to lowermost Tournaisian in these regions, gives data and correlation of the important stratigraphic markers for each region, and briefly correlates them outside the region. The sedimentary successions and specific phenomena, together with microscale environmental perturbations, recognised close to the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary in Poland, display a pattern similar to that observed in many areas in Europe during the Hangenberg Event.