Cretaceous stratigraphy of Antarctica and its global significance

Crame, J. Alistair ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5027-9965; Francis, Jane E.. 2025 Cretaceous stratigraphy of Antarctica and its global significance. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 545. 10.1144/SP545-2023-153

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Abstract/Summary

The Cretaceous period is particularly well represented by a thick sequence of clastic sedimentary rocks exposed in the Antarctic Peninsula region of western Antarctica. This was an active margin throughout the Late Mesozoic and in total some 7km+ of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks accumulated in a series of fore-, intra-, and back-arc basins. The Fossil Bluff Group of eastern Alexander Island can be traced from the Jurassic - Cretaceous boundary into the Upper Albian and represents a broad-scale shallowing-upwards sequence from deep marine to a prominent Upper Albian fluvial interval in which high density forests developed at a palaeolatitude of 75°S. The Cretaceous sequence exposed in the James Ross Island group continues right through the Upper Cretaceous to the K–Pg boundary. The Campanian - Maastrichtian succession in particular is over 2km in total thickness and richly fossiliferous. The improved Cretaceous stratigraphy of Antarctica is an invaluable terrestrial record of climatic change at a high palaeolatitude. This includes a gradual increase in temperature to the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, and then a decline to the K–Pg boundary. There may be no simple link between these palaeotemperature changes and Cretaceous patterns of biotic radiation and extinction.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1144/SP545-2023-153
ISSN:	2041-4927
Date made live:	12 Dec 2023 13:38 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536049

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1144/SP545-2023-153

ISSN:

2041-4927

Date made live:

12 Dec 2023 13:38 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536049