Tethyan echinoids from the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene of the Gschliefgraben (Eastern Alps, Upper Austria)

The Gschliefgraben, a tectonic window exposing ultrahelvetic rocks otherwise covered by the Flysch Nappe, is situated immediately north of the Northern Calcareous Alps in Upper Austria. Rocks exposed are predominantly marls, but subsidiary amounts of glauconitic sandstone and nummulitic limestone are also present. The sedimentary succession comprises Albian (Lower Cretaceous) to Eocene (Paleogene) rocks (Prey, 1983). Despite this long range, macrofossils are restricted to certain stratigraphical levels and occur most commonly in the Campanian to Eocene strata.