Latest Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous age for a fossil flora from the Latady Basin, Antarctic Peninsula

Dating Jurassic terrestrial floras in the Antarctic Peninsula has proved problematic and controversial. Here U–Pb series dating on detrital zircons from a conglomerate interbedded with fossil plant material provide a maximal depositional age of 144 ± 3 Ma for a presumed Jurassic flora. This is the f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Hunter, Morag A., Cantrill, David J., Flowerdew, Michael J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2006
Subjects:
Geology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Oceanography
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Weddell Sea
Weddell
Latady
Larsen Basin
Cantrill Nunataks
Antarc*
Antarctic Science
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102006000290
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102006000290
Description
Summary:Dating Jurassic terrestrial floras in the Antarctic Peninsula has proved problematic and controversial. Here U–Pb series dating on detrital zircons from a conglomerate interbedded with fossil plant material provide a maximal depositional age of 144 ± 3 Ma for a presumed Jurassic flora. This is the first confirmed latest Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous flora from the Latady Basin, and represents some of the youngest sedimentation in this basin. The presence of terrestrial sedimentation at Cantrill Nunataks suggests emergence of the arc closer to the Latady Basin margin in the south compared to Larsen Basin in the north, probably as a result of the failure of the southern Weddell Sea to undergo rifting.

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