Berriasian to Hauterivian (145 - 133 Ma):

Across NW Jordan and adjacent areas, the J-K transitional zone exposes a widespread unconformity regionally accompanied by an amalgamated paleosol [30] which comprises a time-span of ~12 Ma. At King Talal Dam, Mahis, N Jordan, it exhibits, in its upper part, a friable milky-white loamy zone consisting of unusual clay-mineralogic assemblage [3] ( Figure 5(A) , Figure 5(B) ): illite, chlorite, irregular mixed layer minerals sudoite/illite/chlorite/smectite/kaolinite, kaolinite and natroalunite [30] . This unit may be interpreted as a transformation product of tuff under tropical continental conditions originally sourced in the Tayasir volcanism of mafic-intermediate signature in Palestine (Wadi al Malid, Wadi Fari’a) relating to deep faults along the transitional zone of the Levant Block/Arabian Plate [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] .

However, coeval potential sources of global scale may be also concerned:

These geodynamic events meet other paleosol formations in the Near East and the origination of the Inner Hellenic Suture (ophiolite) Greece [41] [42] as well as two sequence boundaries on the Arabian Plate [10] (149.5 Ma - ~136.4 Ma) separated by the “amalgamated” MFS K 40 (~132 Ma) ( Figure 6 ).

Hauterivian to Lower Cenomanian, Kurnub Group (133 - 96 Ma)

The 220 m thick, predominantly siliclastic suit, is mainly composed of quartz arenite fining up cycles Flash Flood Deposits (FUCs) [40] ( Figure 4 ), however, exhibiting in N Jordan several ingressive trends documented by glaucony-bearing dolomite-siliciclastic shale cycles while the SE Platform completely exposes quartz arenite FUCs as river-dominated unconfined braid plain deposits shed from the southerly located hinterland.

As encountered in several other Phanerozoic quartz arenite sequences on the Jordanian Platform, such FUCs relate to cyclic acid sturz rain events initiated by magmatic degassing and volcanic eruptions during climate forcing [12] [13] [15] [18] . Grey-violet thin pelite/claystone beds are interpreted either as cycle tailings or as tuff/tuffite by an almost complete lack of clay mineralogic XRD-analysis.

A glauconite marker (GMU) mirrors the southward directed diachronous coastline shifting along 450 km within a time span of ~9 Ma (96 - 87 Ma) up to the Cenomanian Nodular Limestone Member [44] ( Figure 4 ).

Figure 4 and Figure 5 evidence a positive correlation of the short marine incursions on the Jordanian Platform with the MFSs (K40 - K130) on the Arabian Shelf [10] ; accordingly, the quartz arenite FUCs relate to the SBs on the latter. Thereby, the “amalgamated” MFSs K10 - K30 may be interpreted as affected by geodynamic events ( Table 1 ).

Figure 1(B) shows the setting of the NW German Basin during continuous subsidence that provided a high thickness (~2000 m) for deposition of basinal mudstone, black shale, chalk, marl/tuff and marginal sandstone between the Tethys and the boreal N Atlantic via Carpathian Sea Way [11] .

The Berriasian still represents a closed brackish environment with first marine ingressions from the NW Atlantic. The Valangian and Hauterivian verify a main transgression over Europe. Boreal fauna dominates during two Tethys incursions during the Late Valangian.

A regression occurred around the Hauterivian/Barramian b. by deposition of ~200 m thick black shale (6% - 8% TOC) as a widespread anoxic event exhibiting an endemic species evolution [45] .

During Aptian and Albian, several major transgressions via additional sea ways took place. Deposition of ~200 m clay, black shale intercalated with marly chalk and marl/tuff beds with cosmopolitan faunal elements, dominated NW Europe.

Sea level rise occurred, coinciding with the MFSs on the Arabian Plate [10] during the Valangian base (K30), the Hauterivian (K40), the Barremian base (K50, K60), Aptian (K70, K80), and the Albian (K90, K100, K110) ( Figure 4 ).

Faunal diversity (cephalopods, nannoplankton, forams, radiolaria) as well as physico-chemical conditions vary according to Boreal/Mediterranean influence up to cosmopolitan signature in the Albian [45] .

Concerning both study areas (Arabian Plate, NW Germany/Central Europe), a couple of geodynamic events meet the depositional time span of the Lower Cretaceous, representing potential driving forces comprising climate change variation ( Table 1 ).

According to the southward directed Tethys transgression, the coastline migrated, as verified by the glaucony marker unit GMU [44] , from ~96 Ma in the N (A’arda site) to ~82 Ma in the S (Karak) [44] ( Figure 4 , Figure 6 ). It implies that the lower parts of the Cenomanian are still represented by quartz arenite FUCs in the north with decreasing age of the siliciclastic/carbonate facies boundary to the south [32] [44] [46] - [51] .

Middle Cenomanian to Turonian (96 - 82 Ma)

With the Cenomanian transgression (Shallow marine mixed carbonate deposits of the Nodular Limestone M. (NLM)), tectonic activity arose along the later Dead Sea Rift [47] [48] , whereas, the lithofacies and thickness rapidly changed southward from 140 m (Baqa’a site) to tens of meters on the platform with siliciclastic input [47] .

However, the Wadi Mujib section, E Dead Sea exhibits regional uplifting, karstification through ~20 m deep relief with a subtidal/intertidal carbonate lithofacies assemblage, NW drainage, basal fluviatile conglomerate, and massive lacustrine early diagenetic dolomites [47] [48] ( Figure 8(A) , Figure 8(B) ). This verifies an abrupt environmental change (Island horst structure), which extends along the later Dead Sea Rift tailing out to N and S and allows an interpretation by transpressional strike slip tectonics ( Figure 3 ).

Around the Cenomanian/Turonian b. (~94 Ma), further transpressional tectonics is indicated by an unusual 10 - 30 m thick cyclic carbonate, gypsum, green greystone/pelite/marl sequence [49] ( Figure 8(A) ) along ~100 km N-S extension between Wadi Mujib/Wala and Wadi al Hasa.

The almost fossil-free, green-grey (rarely red) fines are intercalated through six cycles of early diagenetic dolomite and limestone (cross-bedded grainstone, oosparite, ripples, cracks, lamination) containing very rarely benthic forams and ostracods as well as gypsum beds (0.4 - 7.0 m thick); the latter reveal a nodular,

Figure 8. Lithostratigraphy of the Middle/Upper Cenomanian to Turonian (Wadi Mujib, E Dead Sea) under transpressional conditions [47] [48] [49] . (A) General lithostratigraphy. (B) Emersion and karstification of the Lower Cenomanian (E Dead Sea).

laminated or grained texture, and interfingerering with normal marine marl/limestone of the typical Shueib F. [49] [50] . Obviously, the deposition occurred in isolated uplifted blocks owning elongated shallow hollows, ponds, lakes under increasing salinity without direct connection to the sea and highly restricted life conditions.

Unfortunately, clay-mineralogic XRD analysis of tuff-suspicious pelite is not available in contrast to our former studies [13] [16] [19] , where subduction related explosive island arc volcanism provided glass bearing tuff for transformation to K-bentonite (smectite, montmorillonite) under pH > 7 conditions [19] [20] .

First chert nodules in the overlying 85 m thick Massive Limestone F. (Wadi Sir) indicate the beginning of sea-/pore water acidification [50] by decreasing pH.

Relevant magmatic drivers for the time span ~96 - 89 Ma were situated in the High Arctic [15] Okhotsk-Chukchi Volcanic Belt (OCVB, MORB) as well as dike and sill degassing in the Central/Eastern Arctic [6] . For explaining the uplifting during this time span along the E Dead Sea area, the deformation ellipsoid ( Figure 3 ) provides insight into the initial collision of the African and Anatolian and W European Plate along the Levant/Arabian Plate transitional zone accompanied by environmental/lithofacies consequences around the Cenomanian/Turonian b.: both shear planes S1/S2 represent by their dextral resp. sinistral character the effect of the main NNward directed African Plate motion; thus S2 followed the former Wadi Araba rift zone [19] [22] [23] [26] [35] as well as the later post-Cretaceous Jordan Valley Rift zone [29] [35] [36] [37] . The Syrian Fold Belt ( Figure 2 ) followed S1 and NW/SE striking faults, the direction of the main pressure.

Thus, the ellipsoid represents the mechanical forces on the Levant Block/W Arabian Plate, where an over-regional SSW/NNE directed shearing process developed as the driver of the African Plate collision with the W Eurasian Plate during the initial opening of the S Atlantic.

Coniacian, Mujib M. (89 - 86.5 Ma)

Overlying a hard ground/omission plane (Turonian-Coniacian b.), an abrupt change from common shallow marine platform deposits (shelly wackestone, detrital chert, phosphate grains, dolomite) of the Massive Limestone M. to a ~20 m thick detrital chalk sequence took place [50] . The latter interfingers and is tailing out to the S and E with common platform deposits of the Inner Shelf, where several additional hardgrounds indicate varying water depth and tectonic quietness. Silicified coccolith particles and radiolarian relics give hint on primary chalky ooze that early diagenetically-transformed to porcellanite, Tripoli under changing pCO₂, pH and SiO₂.xH₂O [32] .

The abrupt change of lithofacies, increasing water depth and environmental conditions are interpreted by regional transtensional tectonics (pull-apart type) ( Figure 3 ), coeval with plate velocity change in the NW Atlantic [5] [6] and the MFS K 150 (88 Ma) on the Arabian Shelf [10] . Coeval temperature fall [7] underlines negative climate forcing caused by aerosols and tuff eruption sourced in the High Arctic [5] (87 Ma) and in the Central/Eastern Arctic [6] .

Increasing assimilation/carbonate production by nannoplankton relates to increasing pCO₂ degassing, while chert breccias are of early diagenetic origin during sea water acidification.

Santonian, Tafilah M. (86.5 - 83.5 Ma)

This “Mixed Mineralogyical Unit” is built up of densely interbedded oyster/coquina bearing carbonate rocks, phosphatic dolomite, marl, chert, porcellanite and less siliclastics, partially intercalated by hardgrounds (silcretes, calcrites). Varying strike slip tectonics caused fast physical-chemical change on a shallow marine platform segment along S2 ( Figure 3 ) east of the Dead Sea.

The Santonian base meets the change from normal to reverse magnetization, sea water and temperature rise [7] , volcanics, sills and dikes in the Arctic [6] , high volcanic/tectonic activity in MORB oceanic basins, subduction zones, island arc volcanism and high plate velocity in the OCVB ( Table 1 , Table 2 ) [5] and in the Zagros Belt [10] .

Some twelve dolomite, chert, and porcellanite/tripoli cycles indicate high silica input caused by cyclic glas bearing tuff eruptions. Their transformation to colloidal silica/opal C-T during sea water acidification and CO₂ degassing led subsequently to the formation of K-bentonite by halmyrolysis (pH > 7).

Lower Campanian, Dhiban Chalk M. (83.5 - 80 Ma) [32] [50]

As deja-vu event, the ~70 m thick chalk sequence overlies regionally significant hardgrounds (Santonian/Campanian b.) covered with oysters, corals, detrital chert, phosphatic clasts like that at the Coniacian/Santonian b. It wedges out towards S and E and represents, in a restricted area, a basin filled up with detrital and soft white nannoplankton chalk originated by synsedimentary transtensional strike slip tectonics ( Figure 3 ). Ammonites, reworked oysters, and planktonic forams indicate higher water depths in contrast to the common platform.

Increasing pCO₂ (positive climate forcing) led to growing assimilation intensity during coeval driving forces like:

Middle to Upper Campanian, Main Chert M. (80 - 72 MA) [32]

Some 20 cycles of carbonate rocks (limestone, dolomite) and chert (breccia) build up the ~20 - 50 m thick sequence in Central Jordan bearing bivalves, planktonic/benthic forams and phosphate-coated intraclasts.

Fauna and sedimentary structures (algal cross lamination, graded bedding) indicate shallow marine platform environments.

The cycles are due to pH variation of sea/pore water acidification caused by magmatic degassing under normal magnetization [7] :

Lower to Middle Maastrichtian, Phosphorite M. (72 - 69 Ma)

Some ten limestone-chert-phosphorite cycles build up the ~50 m thick sequence in Central Jordan, which, however, miss the Upper Maastrichtian Muwaqqar M. [32] [52] , the latter plays an important economic role in SE Jordan.

Faunal elements (bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods, planktic/benthic forams, radiolarians, spiculites) indicate shallow to deep subtidal environments of low TOC and frequent variation of seawater acidification under the influence of continuous magmatic degassing like:

Upper Maastrichtian to Danian, Chalk-Marl M. (69 - 61.6 Ma)

The Phosphorite M. is overlain with a broad lithofacies spectrum of regionally varying chalk, marl, and marly and massive limestone [52] , ranging in thickness from ~20 m (SE Jordan) to ~450 m (in Al Jafr Basin). Basins of thick chalk-marl deposits strike NW-SE and are intercalated with bituminous shale (i.e. Yarmouk area), ( Figure 3 ): deformation ellipsoid).

In the latter area (NW Jordan), the KPgB is localized in the missing Nannoplankton zones Naphrolithus frequens and Markalius inversus zone (NF1) [53] .

As driving forces through the KPgB-transitional zone are relevant:

Amirante Arc, Seychelles [3] [54] [55] (67.68 Ma)

Deccan Trap LIP [55] [56] [57] (66.3 - 65.6 Ma, during Chron 29 R)

Chicxulub Impact [3] [55] [56] [57] [58] (66.043 Ma)

Variation of magnetization, falling sea level and temperature [8] [10]

Decreasing velocity of plate motion (Kula Plate) and subduction related volcanism, beginning Mantle plume activity (Greenland) [5] .

The data evidence a complex interplay of drivers that caused several pulses prior to major mass extinction (66.043 Ma), telling: the latter represents an effect of cumulative character.

Abundance of surface outcrops and wells provide excellent conditions for profound lithofacies, tecto- and tuff event analyses of the fossil-rich NW German Late Cretaceous deposits.

Basically, three main structural units namely; Subhercynian, Rhenian, and the Hercynian Zone are regionally distinguished, influenced by salt tectonics and built up by the following lithofacies group, each exposing marginal and basinal environments [59] :

Figure 9 represents eustatic faunal and tectonic events in NW Germany during the Late Cretaceous in connection with lithofacies distribution: The Cenomanian exposes four transgressive phases, a late tectonic event, several additional transgressions through the Cenomanian/Turonian transitional zone, red colored limestone (Rotpläner), a worldwide positive ∂¹³C-excursion around ~94 Ma [59] [60] and many intercalated verified tuff beds.

From Turonian to Santonian several transgressions occurred, intermitted by a high number of tectonic events and tuff/tuffite beds [61] .

Through the Campanian to Maastrichtian, glauconitic marlstone indicates decreasing Eh. Obviously, some transgressions in NW Germany are coeval with the MFSs (K110 - K180) on the Arabian Plate [10] ( Figure 6 ).

Marginal fluviatile-estuarian quartz arenite, deposited on confined braid plains, give hint on environmental acidification sourced in the LIPs and the Chicxulub event [62] . The KPgB has not been verified in NW Germany until now.

Thus, the Upper Maastrichtian meets LIP activity in the American Arc [6] [7] , Deccan Traps (66.3 - 66.5 Ma) and the Chicxulub impact (66.043 Ma) being possible contributors for tuff and glass-derived K-bentonite/montmorillonite [61] .

Figure 9. Lithostratigraphy of the Late Cretaceous on the Jordanian Platform (A) and in NW Germany (B): the latter displays lithofacies, eustatic, and tecto-events [45] relating to major volcanic events [5] [6] [46] and the MFSs on the Arabian Shelf [10] .

So, the Cretaceous sedimentary column in NW Germany provides an event-stratigraphy caused by volcanism and tectonics that directed the faunal assemblage [45] [59] .

Short note to the KPgB ( Figure 10 ):

While globally, temperature and sea level declined through the Lower/Middle Maastrichtian [7] , several T-Pulses occurred by approaching the KPgB (~68 - 66 Ma). The LIPs of the Amirante Arc relate to this time span [3] .

However, δ¹⁸O, ¹³C and clump isotope records through a hiatus-free section across the KPgB and Seymour Island, Antarctica encounter several warming

phases [56] : the first three through 67.8 - 66.9 Ma, a main pulse at 66.24 Ma (7.8˚C ± 3.3˚C) coeval with Deccan volcanism onset and a smaller one (1.1˚C ± 2.7˚C) coinciding with the Deccan Trap (until 65.55 Ma) covering Chrom 29R.

Thereby, nine of ten benthic species (mollusks) and one single ammonite sp. were concerned by the first main warming (Deccan V.) of 7.8˚C increase, and six of fourteen benthic sp. and all ammonite sp. were extinguished by the impact at 1.1˚C increase. So, volcanic onset caused a fast warming up [56] . Indirect effects like ocean water acidification, acid rain and trace metal toxicity would play an additional role.

Global analyses of ∂¹¹B in forams reconfirm the KPgB age by a significant pH drop (8.4 - 7.5), species diversity decline (60% to 20%) and rise of pCO₂ (800 to 1800 atm) [58] . The complex interdependence of cause and effect represents the KPgB as a cumulative transitional zone and not a single event. Missing of the Upper Maastrichtian to lower-most Danian, nannoplankton zones in Jordan underline this cumulative character [53] . It concerns also the Lower and Middle Campanian, where magmatic degassing caused acidification and the missing of nannoplankton in Jordan and spiculitic marlstone in NW Germany, indicating a higher availability of silica [45] .