Upper Cretaceous nannofossils from Leg 120, Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Ocean

Abstract

Drilling on the Kerguelen Plateau during Leg 120 cored the most complete, best preserved record of the Late Cretaceous of the Southern Ocean to date. Two calcareous pelagic sedimentary sections (Sites 747 and 750) provide a record from the upper Turonian(?)-lower Coniacian through the Maestrichtian. Two major disconformities interrupt the record: upper Coniacian-lower Santonian and mid-Campanian. A set of 21 biostratigraphic events were used to correlate these sections. Comparison of the Kerguelen assemblages with previous records indicates weak provincialism and little endemism in the Coniacian through early Campanian Southern Ocean. Strong provincial distinction with high endemism is typical of the late Campanian through Maestrichtian. -from Author