12th International

Cretaceous Symposium

 

31 August - 5 September 2025

 

Leibniz University Hannover | Germany

News

Programme schedule

Abstract submission open

Registration open

Field Trips

 

General note:

For all field trips, hiking boots and rain gear are required. Safety vests and helmets can be provided on request.

 

Pre Conference Field Trips

​Field trip 1: HOLCIM quarry near Höver
|| Sunday, 31.08.2025 start at 12 pm to 4 pmLimit: 20 participants
Guides: Lutz Kaecke and the Paläontologischer Arbeitskreis Hannover
Start and end: Bus stop Höver (Sehnde) Petersweg (31.08.2025, 12 pm to 4 pm).The „Palaeontogical Study Group Hannover“ (”Paläontologischer Arbeitskreis Hannover“, APH) invites participants of the symposium to visit the HOLCIM quarry near Höver. Strata exposed in this open-cast quarry consist of fossil-rich marl- and limestones of Campanian age.Please note that participants must organize their own travel to the quarry, which is close-by to the city of Hannover. Bus line 800 starts from Hannover-Kroepke (close to the main railway station) and has a bus stop close to the quarry entrance (after ca. 40 min.). If you are interested in participating, please tick the box during the registration process or send an e-mail to cretaceous2025 (at) fu-confirm.de before the August 15th.There is no fee for this field trip, but the APH would be grateful to receive donations on site.​© C. Schneider (APH), HOLCIM quarry Höver Field Trip 2: Lower Saxony and Subhercynian Cretaceous Basins
|| Friday to Sunday, 29. – 31.08.2025 start at 10 am; ends at 2pmLimit: 20 participants
Guides: Thomas Voigt and Frank Wiese
Start and end: Hannover. Departure: 29/08/2025, 10 am. Arrival: 31/08/2025, ca. 2 pm.
Expenses: 310.- Euro/person, fees include transport in a minibus, 2 nights in a hotel (breakfast incl., but without lunch packages and dinner). Max. 20 participants.This 3-day fieldtrip presents the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Lower Saxony and Subhercynian Cretaceous basins from the Hauterivian (Lower Cretaceous) to the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous). We show the shift from a siliciclastic Lower Cretaceous sandstone setting towards a nutrient-depleted, pelagic setting of the terminal Cenomanian/Turonian, characterized by nannofossil ooze and a depauperated benthic sea-life with frequent ammonites. The transect from an interbasinal swell with oceanic red beds (oligotrophic setting) into an interbasinal depression with black shales of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 will be discussed with focus on the origin of the black shale development (eutrophic setting). In a number of exposures along the Harz Northern Boundary Fault, the uplift of the Harz Mountains and its tectono-sedimentary fingerprint is demonstrated by a succession of erosional unconformities, and the associated effects on the sedimentary systems at the margin of the uprising Harz block is presented in several localities.​© T. Vorgt, Teufelsmauer Day 1. Friday, August 29th, 2025: Abandoned sandstone quarry near Wöhle, Loges Working Quarry in Söhlde, abandoned Salzgitter-Salder quarry/GSSP of the base Coniacian, Schroeder Stollen (abandoned mining shaft) near Salzgitter. Overnight stay in Blankenburg.Day 2. Saturday, August 30th, 2025: Langenberg/Oker, Ockerkrug, Ziegenberg/Heimburg, Teufelsbachtal near Michaelstein, Teufelsmauer near Weddersleben, sand pit Warnstedt. Overnight stay in Blankenburg.Day 3. Sunday, August 29th, 2025: Schlossfelsen (Lower Cretaceous sandstones, Quedlinburg), Romanic church St. Servatius (Quedlinburg), Wiperti cloister (all Quedlinburg), Lehofsberg (sand pit) near Quedlinburg. 

 

Mid conference Geo-Sit-Seeing-Tours

Wednesday, 03.09.25 start for each field trip 01:30 pm

Hanover is located in the centre of the Lower Saxony Basin, and is surrounded by a circle of Cretaceous outcrops. This gives us the opportunity to visit some of them on Wednesday afternoon. Each of the four “Geosite-Seeing-Tours” we offer starts in front of the University's main building and the busses will take you home a few hours later.

Take your choice. First come first serve and note, you do not have to participate but you paid for it, anyway.

 

1. “Our GSSP”: Turonian and Base Coniacian in Salzgitter Salder
(guided by Silke Voigt)

• Start at 01:30 pm
• Limited to 50 people

 

2. “Dinosaur tracks”: Tetrapod track sites of the Deister Formation (Berriasian) of Münchehagen
(guided by Dinopark Münchhagen team)

• Start at 01:30 pm
• Limited to 50 people

 

3. Bedding rhythms and the Hauterivian / Barremian boundary - the Frielingen section
(guided by Jörg Mutterlose)

• Start at 01:30 pm
• Limited to 50 people

 

4. “For fossil collectors”: Hemipelagic marls of the Misburg-Formation
(Campanian)

• Start at 01:30 pm
• Limited to 80 people

 

Post Conference Field Trip

 

​Field Trip 3: Regional versus global processes – the Cretaceous of the Northwest German Basin
|| Friday to Sunday, 05. – 07.09.2025 start at 2pm; ends at 6pmLimit: 14 participants
Guides: Jörg Mutterlose and Markus Wilmsen
Start and end: Hannover. Departure: 05/09/2025 2 pm from the symposium venue. Arrival: 07/09/2025 ~6 pm.
Expenses: 340.- Euro/person, fees include transport in a minibus, 2 nights in a hotel (breakfast incl.) and 2 lunch packages. Max. 14 participants (a waiting list is kept)The 3-day fieldtrip will take you to the Münsterland area of Northwestern Germany and demonstrate the origin, evolution and demise of an epicontinental basin, the depositional history of which was controlled by sea-level and palaeoclimate changes as well as by subsidence and tectonic inversion. In the course of the field trip, we will show to which extent these factors controlled the deposition of Lower and Upper Cretaceous sediments. Regional and global signals will be discussed in the field, including global events such as the OAE 2, which is well exposed in the northern Münsterland.​© J. Mutterlose, Hesseltal quarry Day 1. Friday, September 5th, 2025:  Frielingen clay pit, Dom Paderborn, Pfalz. Overnight stay Paderborn.Day 2. Saturday, September 6th 2025: Niederntudorf quarry, Rüthen quarry, Rinsche quarry (Anröchte/Klieve), abandoned Schledde quarry (Soest), abandoned quarries near Frömmern (Unna), optional Fark quarry (Nottuln). Overnight stay Nottuln/Havixbeck.Day 3. Sunday, September 7th 2025: Münsterland overview (Wallmeyer), Lower Cretaceous outcrops Bocketal, Museum Borgholzhausen (late Cenomanian ammonite scours), Halle-Hesseltal/Schneiker quarry.