Graptolite biostratigraphy of the Ordovician Almelund and Sularp Shale formations of the Fågelsång-3 drill core, Scania, Sweden

The upper Middle to basal Upper Ordovician succession (Darriwilian to Sandbian) of the Fågelsång-3 drill core provides new important information on the graptolite biostratigraphy of Scania, southern Sweden. The Scanian succession is known largely from drill cores and a few scattered outcrops exposing only parts of the interval. The Darriwilian Almelund Shale Formation overlies the Komstad Limestone Formation and has a thickness of more than 42 m in the Fågelsång-3 drill core. A seemingly complete succession through the Holmograptus lentus, Nicholsonograptus fasciculatus, Pterograptus elegans, Pseudamplexograptus distichus and Jiangxigraptus vagus biozones can be recognized. Some intervals are poorly documented by their respective graptolite faunas or show extensive post-depositional tectonic deformation. The Nemagraptus gracilis Biozone of earliest Sandbian age cannot be positively identified, even though fragments of Nemagraptus have been discovered in the uppermost part of the Almelund Shale below the Fågelsång Phosphorite Bed.