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Olsson, Richard K. et al. (2001): Sea-level change across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, a chimera?
Leg/Site/Hole:
Related Expeditions:
Identifier:
ID:
2004-013224
Type:
georefid
Creator:
Name:
Olsson, Richard K.
Affiliation:
Rutgers-State University of New Jersey, Department of Geological Sciences, Piscataway, NJ, United States
Role:
author
Name:
Miller, Kenneth G.
Affiliation:
Role:
author
Name:
Browning, James V.
Affiliation:
Role:
author
Name:
Wright, James D.
Affiliation:
Role:
author
Name:
Cramer, Benjamin S.
Affiliation:
Role:
author
Identification:
Title:
Sea-level change across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, a chimera?
Year:
2001
Source:
In: Anonymous, Geological Society of America, 2001 annual meeting
Publisher:
Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
Volume:
33
Issue:
6
Pages:
99
Abstract:
Major regression of sea-level has been inferred at Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary sections in the Gulf Coastal Plain where some workers place a sequence boundary. However, the discovery of the K-T asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico and continuous cored material from New Jersey yield new insights that requires reinterpretation of sea-level across the boundary. The devastating effect of a high-energy impact (earthquakes, tsunami, ejecta) caused features of deposition (ejecta deposits, tsunamites) and erosion (surface of erosion, slumps) at the K-T boundary in the Gulf Coast. This has made it difficult to determine whether the impact also coincided with a significant change in sea-level. The record in New Jersey is clearer where the K-T boundary lies in the Bass River borehole within an unconformity-bounded, depositional sequence (age ca. 69.1 to 64.5 Ma). A 2.2 m.y. hiatus separates this sequence from underlying Campanian sequences while a ca. 1.5 m.y. hiatus separates Danian Zone P1a from Zone P1c and younger sequences. A 6-cm-thick spherule layer, marks the K-T at this site. Benthic foraminifera indicate that during deposition of the K-T sequence relative sea-level fell from 100-150 m above present sea-level in the lower part of the sequence (transgressive systems tract) to ca. 50 m (highstand systems tract) at the K-T. Three significant events are inferred from the K-T depositional record at Bass River: 1) a approximately 5 degrees C warming of sea-surface temperatures perhaps began about 500 k.y. and ended about 22 k.y. before the K-T; this warming may be related to the main outpouring of the Deccan Traps in India, 2) the K-T event was clearly caused by an asteroid impact at Chicxulub, and, 3) a tsunami event influenced the NJ margin, possibly triggered by massive slumping on the Atlantic slope. There was no significant change, if any, in sea-level across the K-T.
Language:
English
Genre:
Rights:
URL:
Coverage:
Geographic coordinates:
North:39.3700
West:-74.2600
East: -74.2600
South:39.3700
Keywords:
Stratigraphy; Asia; Bass River; benthic taxa; Burlington County New Jersey; Cenozoic; Chicxulub Crater; climate change; Cretaceous; Danian; Deccan Traps; Foraminifera; Gulf Coastal Plain; impacts; India; Indian Peninsula; Invertebrata; K-T boundary; Leg 174AX; lithostratigraphy; lower Paleocene; mass movements; Mesozoic; microfossils; New Jersey; Ocean Drilling Program; Paleocene; paleoclimatology; Paleogene; Protista; regression; sea-level changes; sea-surface temperature; sequence stratigraphy; slumping; spherules; stratigraphic boundary; Tertiary; tsunamis; unconformities; United States; Upper Cretaceous;
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