The age of the La Valute limestone-Findenig limestone transition in the La Valute Section (Lower Devonian, Carnic Alps, Italy)

The Lower Devonian sequence at La Valute cave is about 8 meters thick and includes the boundary of La Volute limestone and Findenig limestone. It is represented by pelagic deposits yielding dacryoconarids, nautiloids, ostracods, trilobites, brachiopods, some crinoid stem-plates and conodonts. In order to give an age constrain for the formation-boundary fifteen conodont samples were collected and processed. Apart from some barren samples, a quite diverse Lochkovian fauna is obtained. Conodont genera like Ancyrodelloides, Belodella, Dvorakia, Flajsella, Lanea, Oulodus, Pedavis, Pseudooneotodus, Wurmiella and Zieglerodina have been identified. Distinctive conodont-assemblages belong to two middle-late Lochkovian biozones, the trigonicus Zone (upper part of La Valute limestone) and the pandora beta Zone (base of Findenig limestone), which allow the allocation of the formation-boundary near the base of the pandora beta Zone.