Late Cretaceous chronology of large, rapid sea-level changes: Glacioeustasy during the greenhouse world
- Kenneth G. Miller1,
- Peter J. Sugarman2,
- James V. Browning3,
- Michelle A. Kominz4,
- John C. Hernández5,
- Richard K. Olsson5,
- James D. Wright1,
- Mark D. Feigenson5 and
- William Van Sickel*6
- 1Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
- 2New Jersey Geological Survey, P.O. Box 427, Trenton, New Jersey 08625, USA
- 3Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
- 4Department of Geosciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008-5150, USA
- 5Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
- 6Department of Geosciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008-5150, USA
Abstract
We provide a record of global sea-level (eustatic) variations of the Late Cretaceous (99–65 Ma) greenhouse world. Ocean Drilling Program Leg 174AX provided a record of 11–14 Upper Cretaceous sequences in the New Jersey Coastal Plain that were dated by integrating Sr isotopic stratigraphy and biostratigraphy. Backstripping yielded a Late Cretaceous eustatic estimate for these sequences, taking into account sediment loading, compaction, paleowater depth, and basin subsidence. We show that Late Cretaceous sea-level changes were large (>25 m) and rapid (≪1 m.y.), suggesting a glacioeustatic control. Three large δ18O increases are linked to sequence boundaries (others lack sufficient δ18O data), consistent with a glacioeustatic cause and with the development of small (<106 km3) ephemeral ice sheets in Antarctica. Our sequence boundaries correlate with sea-level falls recorded by Exxon Production Research and sections from northwest Europe and Russia, indicating a global cause, although the Exxon record differs from backstripped estimates in amplitude and shape.
Footnotes
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↵*Present address: Polaris Energy Inc., 500 West Michigan Avenue, Jackson, Michigan 49204, USA
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- Accepted April 5, 2003.
- Received March 3, 2003.
- Revision received April 3, 2003.
- Geological Society of America
