High-paleolatitude Late Cretaceous paleotemperatures; new data from James Ross Island, Antarctica

Oxygen-isotope analysis of well-preserved macrofossils from the Santonian-Campanian of James Ross Island and the Maastrichtian of Vega Island, Antarctica, indicates that cool high-paleolatitude temperatures prevailed during the Late Cretaceous and suggests that cooling occurred between the Santonian...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 1990-01, Vol.18 (1), p.31-34
Main Authors: Pirrie, Duncan, Marshall, J. D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antarctica
biochemistry
biogeography
C-13/C-12
Campanian
carbon
Climate
Cretaceous
Geochemistry
Geology
Invertebrata
isotopes
James Ross Island
Maestrichtian
Marine
Mesozoic
Mollusca
O-18/O-16
oxygen
paleoclimatology
paleoecology
paleolatitude
paleotemperature
Prehistoric era
Santonian
Senonian
shells
stable isotopes
stratigraphy
Temperature
Upper Cretaceous
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Summary:Oxygen-isotope analysis of well-preserved macrofossils from the Santonian-Campanian of James Ross Island and the Maastrichtian of Vega Island, Antarctica, indicates that cool high-paleolatitude temperatures prevailed during the Late Cretaceous and suggests that cooling occurred between the Santonian-Campanian and the Maastrichtian. Although more than 50% of the material showed diagenetic alteration, 52 unaltered aragonite and calcite samples were analyzed. Mean Δ18O and calculated paleotemperature values were -0.23ppm and 13.6 °C, respectively, for the Santonian-Campanian, and 0.66ppm and 11.7 °C, respectively, for the Maastrichtian. In conjunction with recent Late Cretaceous paleoclimatic data from high northern paleolatitudes, these data indicate the presence of cool polar regions with broad climatic zonation during the Late Cretaceous. This may have partly controlled faunal distributions.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0031:HPLCPN>2.3.CO;2