A refined age for the earliest opening of Bering Strait

• Published in: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
• Main Authors: Oleinik, Anton E., Gladenkov, Andrey Yu, Marincovich, Louie, Jr., Barinov, Konstantin B.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: Paleoecology > Bering Sea Region; Diatoms; Fossil > North Pacific Region; Geology; Stratigraphic > Miocene; Paleoceanography > North Pacific Region; Mollusks; Fossil > Arctic Ocean; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Bering Sea; Bering Strait; Pacific; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(02)00249-3; http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=165902

Biostratigraphically and chronostratigraphically important diatoms from the Milky River Formation, Alaska Peninsula, southwestern Alaska, imply an age range of 5.4^5.5 Ma for the oldest North Pacific Cenozoic occurrence of the marine bivalve mollusk Astarte, which migrated from the Arctic Ocean into the North Pacific when Bering Strait first flooded. The data presented here are a refinement of the age range of 4.8^5.5 Ma reported earlier and imply that Bering Strait first opened very near the end of the Miocene at 5.32 Ma. This manuscript is a version of a published article in Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 183(2002) p. 321-328 www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo