Late Campanian-Early Maastrichtian Vertebrates From The James Ross Basin, West Antarctica: Updated Synthesis, Biostratigraphy, And Paleobiogeography

Abstract The Snow Hill Island Formation (SHIF; late Campanian – early Maastrichtian) crops out in the northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula and constitutes the basal part of the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian sedimentary succession of the James Ross Basin (NG Sequence). Its major exposures occur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
Main Authors: MARCELO A. REGUERO, ZULMA GASPARINI, EDUARDO B. OLIVERO, RODOLFO A. CORIA, MARTA S. FERNÁNDEZ, JOSÉ P. O´GORMAN, SOLEDAD GOUIRIC-CAVALLI, CAROLINA ACOSTA HOSPITALECHE, PAULA BONA, ARI IGLESIAS, JAVIER N. GELFO, MARÍA E. RAFFI, JUAN JOSÉ MOLY, SERGIO N. SANTILLANA, MAGALÍ CÁRDENAS
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Academia Brasileira de Ciências 2022
Subjects:
Antarctic Peninsula
Late Cretaceous
NG Sequence
Snow Hill Island Formation
Science
Q
Antarctic
The Antarctic
West Antarctica
Hill Island
Snow Hill Island
Cape Lamb
Snow Hill
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202220211142
https://doaj.org/article/38b5f3199b944877929d26354afd4954
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Summary:Abstract The Snow Hill Island Formation (SHIF; late Campanian – early Maastrichtian) crops out in the northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula and constitutes the basal part of the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian sedimentary succession of the James Ross Basin (NG Sequence). Its major exposures occur at the James Ross and Vega islands. Several fossil-bearing localities have been identified in the SHIF providing a valuable fauna of invertebrates and vertebrates, and flora. Our study focuses on the vertebrate fauna recovered at Gamma and Cape Lamb members of the SHIF. The marine vertebrate assemblages include chondrichthyans, actinopterygians, and marine reptiles (elasmosaurid plesiosaurs and mosasaurs). A diverse terrestrial vertebrate assemblage has been reported being characterized by dinosaurs (sauropod, elasmarian ornithopods, nodosaurid ankylosaur, and a paravian theropod), pterosaurs and birds. Most SHIF dinosaurs share close affinities with penecontemporaneous taxa from southern South America, indicating that at least some continental vertebrates could disperse between southern South America and Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous. The Snow Hill Island Formation provides the most diverse Late Cretaceous marine and continental faunas from Antarctica. The present study summarizes previous and new vertebrate findings with the best actualized stratigraphical framework, providing a more complete fauna association and analyzing further perspectives.

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