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

• 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

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.