Recycled palynofloras from the Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Peninsula, and their climatic implication
발표년도
2004
저널
고생물학회지
권
20
호수
1
페이지
1-19
초록
Recycled terrestrial palynomorphs recorded from surficial glaciomarine sediments of the Bransfield Strait, Antarctic Peninsula, help to enhance our understanding of Cretaceous to early Tertiary vegetation and climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula. Climate data determined from palynofloras, together with published multi-proxies of fossil plants, sediments and geochemical indicators, show a distinct pattern of warming and cooling through Late Cretaceous into early Tertiary. Cooler climates during the Early Cretaceous were followed by a warming, ever-wet, phase which peaked during the Coniacian to Early Campanian. The climate cooled during the Maastrichtian and Early Paleocene and cold, wet and probably seasonal environments prevailed. Late Paleocene/Early Eocene was once again warm but conditions subsequently deteriorated through the latter part of the Eocene, when cold seasonal climates developed. The cooling temperatures ultimately led to the onset of the Cenozoic ice sheets and the elimination of vegetation from mainland Antarctica