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

[909601] Robert Scott tulsauniversity美国西部内陆盆地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白垩纪/晚白垩纪边界时期西部内陆海的北部/北方和南部/特提斯臂之间存在短暂的联系，尽管尚未引用直接的物理证据来证明这种联系。该研究将通过应用层序地层学、古生物学、孢粉学和化学地层学技术对中西部内陆的中白垩纪地层进行测试，在那里可能记录到一种联系。该研究旨在澄清美国和加拿大经济上重要的中白垩纪地层中的几个地层问题。其更广泛的意义是重新评估白垩纪动物混合和进化趋势，并限制北美神秘的下白垩纪/上白垩纪边界。由此产生的综合地层框架也是检验目前发表的假设的第一步，该假设认为，在加拿大白垩纪中期的地层中，提出的短暂的海洋联系是造成区域缺氧事件和全球碳循环相关变化的原因。这对现代气候模拟特别重要，因为许多现代的海侵海洋只被一个低矮而狭窄的地峡隔开。

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.