Collaborative Research: Did the Albian/Cenomanian Mowry Transgressive/Regressive Cycle Connect the Tethyan and Boreal Seas?

9909199密苏里州大学的Francisca Oboh-lkuenobe，美国西部内陆盆地北部白垩纪中期地层的异常生物和物理趋势促使一些作者提出，在白垩纪早/晚白垩世界线时，西部内陆海的北部/北方和南部/特提斯海湾之间存在短暂的联系，尽管目前还没有直接的物理证据证明这种联系。这项拟议的研究将通过将层序地层学、古生物学、孢粉学和化学地层学技术应用于中西部内陆白垩纪中期的地层来检验这一假设，在那里可能记录到联系。这项研究旨在澄清美国和加拿大白垩纪中期重要经济地层的几个地层学问题。其更广泛的影响是重新评估白垩纪动物群的混合和演化趋势，并限制北美神秘的下/上白垩统界线。由此产生的综合地层格架也是检验目前发表的假说的第一步，该假说认为拟议的短暂海洋连接是加拿大白垩纪中期地层记录的区域缺氧事件和全球碳循环相关变化的原因。这对现代气候模型尤其重要，因为许多现代海侵海洋只被一条又低又窄的地峡隔开。

9909199 Francisca Oboh-lkuenobe, University of Missouri, RollaAnomalous biotic and physical trends in mid-Cretaceous strata of the northern U.S. Western Interior basin have prompted some authors to propose a brief connection between the northern/Boreal and southern/Tethyan arm of the Western Interior sea at the time of the Early/Late Cretaceous boundary, even though no direct physical evidence for such a connection is yet cited. The proposed research will test this hypothesis by applying sequence stratigraphic, paleontologic, palynologic, and chemostratigraphic techniques to mid-Cretaceous strata in the central Western Interior where a connection may be recorded. The study aims to clarify several stratigraphic issues in economically important mid-Cretaceous strata of the United States and Canada. Its broader implications are to reevaluate Cretaceous faunal mixing and evolutionary trends, and to constrain the enigmatic Lower/Upper Cretaceous boundary in North America. The resultant integrated stratigraphic framework is also the first step in testing the currently published hypothesis that the proposed brief marine connection is responsible for the regional anoxic event, and associated changes in the global carbon cycle, recorded in mid-Cretaceous strata of Canada. This is particularly important to modem climate modeling, because many modem transgressing oceans are separated by only a low and narrow isthmus.