Maastrichtian brachiopods from the chalk of Denmark

A rich brachiopod fauna from the Maastrichtian chalk of Denmark is obtained from washed bulk samples from 42 localities. Two of these may, however, show uppermost Campanian chalk. A total of 44 species are recognized, represented by more than 35,000 specimens, most of them being micromorphic, millimetre-sized forms. The species are described with emphasis on their ontogenetic evolution. Their stratigraphic distribution allows recognition of 12 zones in the uppermost Campanian – Maastrichtian of the North European chalk, based on lowest and/or highest occurrence of selected species. The zonation has been applied in contemporaneous chalks of Denmark, southern Sweden, Poland, northern Germany, Belgium and eastern England.