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

9909601罗伯特·斯科特，塔尔萨大学美国西部内陆盆地北方中白垩纪地层的异常生物和物理趋势促使一些作者提出在早/晚白垩纪边界时，西部内陆海的北方/北方和南方/特提斯臂之间存在简短的联系，尽管还没有直接的物理证据证明这种联系。 拟议的研究将测试这一假设，应用层序地层学，古生物学，孢粉学和化学地层学技术，白垩纪中期地层在中西部内陆的连接可能会被记录。 该研究旨在澄清美国和加拿大具有重要经济意义的白垩纪中期地层中的几个地层学问题。 其更广泛的意义是重新评估白垩纪动物群的混合和演化趋势，并限制在北美神秘的下/上白垩纪边界。 由此产生的综合地层框架也是测试目前公布的假设，即拟议的简短的海洋连接负责区域缺氧事件，以及在全球碳循环的相关变化，记录在白垩纪中期的加拿大地层的第一步。 这对现代气候建模尤其重要，因为许多现代海侵海洋仅被一个低而窄的地峡分开。

9909601 Robert Scott, University of TulsaAnomalous 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.