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Thoracican barnacles of the Superorder Thoracicalcarea Gale, 2016 are sessile calcifiers which are ubiquitous in the intertidal zone and present from very shallow to the deepest marine environments; they also live as epiplankton on animals and detritus. The geochemical composition of their shell calcite has been shown to yield information about environmental conditions, but comprehensive analyses of barnacle shell geochemistry are so far lacking.\ud \ud Here, a dataset is reported for Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Mn/Ca, Fe/Ca, as well as carbon and oxygen isotope ratios for 42 species from the Balaniformes, Verruciformes, Scalpelliformes and Lepadiformes. Barnacles predominantly form low-Mg-calcite with very high Sr/Ca ratios averaging 4.2 mmol/mol. The Mn/Ca and Fe/Ca ratios in shell plates are variable and can exceed > 4mmol/mol in barnacles that are attached to manmade structures or live close to (anthropogenic) sources of Mn and Fe. No strong phylogenetic control on the average element/Ca ratios is observed in barnacles. The Balaniformes show a ca. 40 % enrichment of Mg in their scuta and terga as compared to other shell plates — a pattern which is not seen in other barnacles. The combination of low to medium Mg/Ca ratios and high Sr/Ca ratios is rare for marine biogenic calcite and Barnacles may thus become important for robustly reconstructing past seawater composition, if this signature is also present in fossil barnacle calcite and can be used alongside other fossil taxa with different Sr incorporation behaviour.\ud \ud Carbon and oxygen isotope data support the view that the oxygen isotope thermometer for barnacles is robust and that most barnacle species form their calcite in, or near, isotopic equilibrium with ambient water. The Lepadiformes, however, show a tendency for strong co-variation of δ13C with δ18O values and depletion in 13C and 18O which is attributed to isotopic disequilibrium during shell secretion.\ud \ud Strong systematic fluctuations in Mg/Ca ratios over length scales of ca. 5 to 15 µm are exhibited by the scalpelliform species Capitulum mitella, the only studied species which consistently forms high-Mg-calcite, and are tentatively linked to tidal control on the shell secretion pattern. Cathodoluminescence images for this species suggest that additionally a seasonal pattern of Mn distribution in its shell plates is recorded, pointing to a potential use for reconstruction of seasonal changes in terrestrial element supply.

Wine Haven, a coastal exposure at Robin Hood's Bay (North Yorkshire, UK), fulfils the criteria indicated in the Guidelines of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) (Remane et al. 1996) for definition as the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Pliensbachian Stage (Early Jurassic): 1) The succession of about 30m comprises pale grey and buff-coloured sandy mudstones which very gradually pass upward into silty dark grey shales. This marine sequence was deposited during an overall transgression and is relatively expanded stratigraphically. 2) There is absence of unconformities in the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian interval and the exposure is continuous. 3) Ammonites are abundant and well preserved, enabling detailed correlations to be made (see Dommergues and Meister 1992). The ammonite fauna below the boundary interval allows recognition of the Leptechioceras gr. meigeini, Paltechioceras aureolum and Paltechioceras tardecrescens horizons of latest Sinemurian age and, above the boundary, the Bifericeras donovani and Apoderoceras gr. aculeatum horizons of earliest Pliensbachian age. A suitable level for the boundary is defined with the association of the Bifericeras donovani DOMMERGUES and MEISTER and Apoderoceras sp. at the base of bed 73b. Other fossils (palynomorphs, foraminiferas, ostracods, etc) give no precise biostratigraphic information or have not been studied. 4) Complementary results are: a) Strontium-isotope stratigraphy, based on analysis of belemnites which yield a calcite 87Sr/86Sr ratio for the suggested boundary level of 0.707425 and supports an interpretation of continuous sedimentation. b) Belemnite oxygen-isotope data indicate a significant temperature drop (-5 °C) across the boundary at this locality. c) A Transgressive Systems Tract (TST) initiated in the Aplanatum Subzone (uppermost Sinemurian) continues into the Lowermost Pliensbachian (Taylori Subzone): it forms part of a transgressive facies cycle sensu Graciansky et al. 5) The section is well exposed in the cliff and on the foreshore and access is straight forward. 6) Structural complexity and metamorphism are negligible. 7) The locality is the part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and thereby under statutory protection.

The Lower Jurassic stratigraphy of seven contrasting areas in western Europe is compared in order to seek evidence for a pan-Western European stratigraphic forcing mechanism. Sequencestratigraphic models are discussed and emphasis is placed upon the differing response of sedimentary systems in "accommodation space-dominated" and "supply-dominated" settings. Spectral gamma-ray data from clastic successions in the Wessex and Cleveland basins (England) are used to elucidate vertical trends. A proximal-distal model for control of Th/K ratios is advanced. Stage-frequency regressive-transgressive cycles in the two areas are shown to be closely correlative. Sedimentolgical logs and spectral gamma-ray data are presented for the carbonate ramp into turbidite sequence of Peniche (Portugal) and for a new exposure of the Pliensbachian-Toarcian in southern Germany. Systematic variation in clay mineralogy across Europe is suggested. Cycles in the Lower Jurassic of the North Viking Graben (Norwegian North Sea) are examined using wireline log correlation and the stratigraphic evolution of the Tethyan Rift in the Western and Southern Alps is reviewed. X-ray diffraction studies of the Pliensbachian-Toarcian interval in the Southern Alps are presented in order to elucidate sediment supply to the pelagic realm. The cycles observed in the English sections appear to be manifest widely across western Europe in a variety of tectonic and sedimentary settings. Sharp basinward facies shifts (candidate sequence boundaries) do not appear to be synchronous between basins. 87SR/86SR analysis of belemnites from the Portuguese and German sections confirms the regional applicability of the results of Jones (1992) and the utility of this technique in long range correlation. Carbon and oxygen analysis of the same material supplements the data of other workers and a direct relationship is suggested between relative sea level and organic carbon burial in the Early Jurassic.

The collection and analysis of a large number of belemnites and oysters with excellent biostratigraphic and diagenetic control has resulted in a highly detailed determination of the seawater Sr-isotope curve through the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The new data confirm the broad trends established by previous work, but the much sharper resolution of the new data allows the application of Sr-isotope stratigraphy with an optimal stratigraphic resolution of ± 1 to 4 ammonite subzones (± 0.5 to 2 Ma). The data show a general decline from the Hettangian (Early Jurassic) to a minimum in the Callovian and Oxfordian (Middle/Late Jurassic). This is followed by an increase through the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) to a plateau reached in the Barremian (Early Cretaceous). In addition, there are major negative excursions in the Pliensbachian/Toarcian (Early Jurassic) and Aptian/Albian (Early Cretaceous). Stable isotope data collected from belemnites and oysters have resulted in the most extensive Jurassic δ13C and δ18O database to date. While both the carbon and oxygen data appear to give reasonable marine signals, the scatter in the data suggests that future research must document possible biological fractionation effects and develop better indicators for the diagenetic alteration of 613C and 6i 8O. The final chapter documents an unexpected correlation between sudden shifts in the Sr-isotope curve, the occurrence of positive 513C excursions, and the eruption of flood basalts. In the Jurassic and Cretaceous there is a correlation in time between sudden downward shifts in the Sr-isotope curve (Pliensbachian, Aptian, Cenomanian/Turonian), the occurance of positive 613C excursions, and the eruption of flood basalts. Each of these major downward shifts in the Sr-isotope curve is followed by a sudden upward shift, which although associated with a positive 613C excursion is not associated with an episode of flood basalt volcanism. In the Cenozoic the Sr-isotope curve no longer displays downward shifts, but the correlation continues between the occurrence of flood basalts and positive 513C excursions. Several lines of evidence suggest that the eruption of flood basalts is associated with pulses of hydrothermal activity, and that this hydrothermal activity brings about the conditions necessary for the genesis of carbon-burial events.