Magnetostratigraphic confirmation of a much faster tempo for sea-level change for the Middle Triassic Latemar platform carbonates

New magnetostratigraphic data for the similar to470-m-thick Latemar carbonate platform, which includes similar to600 shallowing-upward bedding cycles, are consistent with litho- and biostratiographic correlations of the section to a similar to10-m-thick interval in the basinal Buchenstein Beds that most likely represents only similar to1 m.y. of deposition according to published U-Pb single-crystal zircon dates. A reappraisal of reported cycle stratigraphic analyses of the Latemar suggests that the visibly obvious meter-scale bedding is not due to Milankovitch precessional forcing but rather reflects tempos an order of magnitude faster that may involve millennial-scale tidal amplitude variations. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.