Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem
As the earth faces a warming climate, the rock record reminds us that comparable climatic scenarios have occurred before. In the Late Cretaceous, Arctic marine organisms were not subject to frigid temperatures but still contended with seasonal extremes in photoperiod. Here, we describe an unusual fo...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 2024-09-30T14:29:06+00:00 Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem Chin, Karen Bloch, John Sweet, Arthur Tweet, Justin Eberle, Jaelyn Cumbaa, Stephen Witkowski, Jakub Harwood, David 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 275, issue 1652, page 2675-2685 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2008 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 2024-09-02T04:21:04Z As the earth faces a warming climate, the rock record reminds us that comparable climatic scenarios have occurred before. In the Late Cretaceous, Arctic marine organisms were not subject to frigid temperatures but still contended with seasonal extremes in photoperiod. Here, we describe an unusual fossil assemblage from Devon Island, Arctic Canada, that offers a snapshot of a ca 75 Myr ago marine palaeoecosystem adapted to such conditions. Thick siliceous biogenic sediments and glaucony sands reveal remarkably persistent high primary productivity along a high-latitude Late Cretaceous coastline. Abundant fossil faeces demonstrate that this planktonic bounty supported benthic invertebrates and large, possibly seasonal, vertebrates in short food chains. These ancient organisms filled trophic roles comparable to those of extant Arctic species, but there were fundamental differences in resource dynamics. Whereas most of the modern Arctic is oligotrophic and structured by resources from melting sea ice, we suggest that forested terrestrial landscapes helped support the ancient marine community through high levels of terrigenous organic input. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Devon Island Sea ice The Royal Society Arctic Canada Devon Island ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275 1652 2675 2685 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
As the earth faces a warming climate, the rock record reminds us that comparable climatic scenarios have occurred before. In the Late Cretaceous, Arctic marine organisms were not subject to frigid temperatures but still contended with seasonal extremes in photoperiod. Here, we describe an unusual fossil assemblage from Devon Island, Arctic Canada, that offers a snapshot of a ca 75 Myr ago marine palaeoecosystem adapted to such conditions. Thick siliceous biogenic sediments and glaucony sands reveal remarkably persistent high primary productivity along a high-latitude Late Cretaceous coastline. Abundant fossil faeces demonstrate that this planktonic bounty supported benthic invertebrates and large, possibly seasonal, vertebrates in short food chains. These ancient organisms filled trophic roles comparable to those of extant Arctic species, but there were fundamental differences in resource dynamics. Whereas most of the modern Arctic is oligotrophic and structured by resources from melting sea ice, we suggest that forested terrestrial landscapes helped support the ancient marine community through high levels of terrigenous organic input. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chin, Karen Bloch, John Sweet, Arthur Tweet, Justin Eberle, Jaelyn Cumbaa, Stephen Witkowski, Jakub Harwood, David |
spellingShingle |
Chin, Karen Bloch, John Sweet, Arthur Tweet, Justin Eberle, Jaelyn Cumbaa, Stephen Witkowski, Jakub Harwood, David Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
author_facet |
Chin, Karen Bloch, John Sweet, Arthur Tweet, Justin Eberle, Jaelyn Cumbaa, Stephen Witkowski, Jakub Harwood, David |
author_sort |
Chin, Karen |
title |
Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
title_short |
Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
title_full |
Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
title_fullStr |
Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
title_full_unstemmed |
Life in a temperate Polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a Late Cretaceous Arctic marine ecosystem |
title_sort |
life in a temperate polar sea: a unique taphonomic window on the structure of a late cretaceous arctic marine ecosystem |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Devon Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Devon Island |
genre |
Arctic Devon Island Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Devon Island Sea ice |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 275, issue 1652, page 2675-2685 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0801 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
275 |
container_issue |
1652 |
container_start_page |
2675 |
op_container_end_page |
2685 |
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1811634515327582208 |