Magnetostratigraphy of the uppermost Triassic and lowermost Jurassic Moenave Formation, western United States: Correlation with strata in the United Kingdom, Morocco, Turkey, Italy, and eastern United States

A composite magnetostratigraphy based on the magnetic polarity data from four sections of the uppermost Triassic and lower-most Jurassic Moenave Formation, Utah and Arizona, USA, can be correlated to the marine successions at Saint Audrie's Bay (UK), Oyuklu, Turkey, and the Southern Alps, Italy, and to the nonmarine sections in Morocco, northern Africa, and the Newark Basin, eastern North America, all deposited across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Our proposed correlation provides a stratigraphic framework to tie Triassic-Jurassic sedimentation in the American Southwest to the marine UK, Turkey, and Italy sections, and to the Pangea rift history, including extrusive igneous rocks, preserved in Morocco and in the Newark Basin. The Moenave polarity record is characterized by mostly normal polarity, as is consistent with other polarity records across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, and is interrupted by at least two well-defined reverse-polarity magnetozones. On the basis of available paleontologic information, we interpret the oldest welldefined, reverse-polarity magnetozone, M2r of the Moenave Formation, to correlate with SA5n.2r or SA5n.3r of the Saint Audrie's Bay record, H-of the Oyuklu record, BIT5n.1r of the Italcementi Quarry record, the oldest reverse magnetozone in sedimentary rocks in Morocco, and with reverse magnetozone E23r of the Newark Basin. The youngest reverse magnetozone of the Moenave Formation, M3r, is correlated to the latest Triassic magnetozones SA5n.5r of the Saint Audrie's Bay record, J- of the Oyuklu record, and with the interval of reverse polarity in the "intermediate unit" of the Morocco record. Magnetostratigraphic correlations and marine biostratigraphic information support placement of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in the middle to upper Whitmore Point Member of the Moenave Formation, the Lias Group of the Saint Audrie's Bay section, the chert-rich limestone of the Oyuklu section, above the Zu Limestone in Italy, and in the central Atlantic magmatic province extrusive zone in the Morocco and the Newark records.