Thursday, 30 August 2007 - 11:30 AM
4.A.D-5
Terminal Cretaceous climate change and biotic response in Antarctica
V. C. Thorn1, J. E. Francis1, J. B. Riding2, R. W. Raiswell1, D. Pirrie3, A. M. Haywood1, J. A. Crame4, and J. M. Marshall5. (1) School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, (2) British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, United Kingdom, (3) School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom, (4) British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (5) Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Latest Cretaceous to early Palaeogene climates in Antarctica are being investigated from an exceptional sedimentary sequence on Seymour Island (James Ross Basin, Antarctic Peninsula) to determine the nature of climate change at the end of the Cretaceous. It has been suggested that, following peak Cretaceous warmth, cooling during the Maastrichtian (~71-65 Ma) may have been severe enough for short-term glaciations at high latitudes, challenging the current view of an ice-free, Cretaceous greenhouse world. High resolution records of palaeontological, sedimentological, and geochemical signals are being obtained to investigate the climate and environmental context at the Antarctic margin prior to the Cretaceous/Tertiary extinctions, the biotic response in the marine and terrestrial realm, and to test the hypothesis of the presence of ice in conjunction with climate/ice sheet model simulations.