Tertiary marine events of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin and correlation of Oligocene to Pliocene marine outcrops in Arctic North America

Abstract

The benthic foraminiferal succession from the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin of arctic Canada reflects many of the major oceanographic and climatic events of the Tertiary. The Paleocene-Eocene epochs are characterized by restricted marine circulation and pronounced foraminiferal endemism. Paleogeographic reconstruction illustrates that the Paleocene-Eocene Arctic Ocean was markedly different from its modern counterpart and it is thus referred to as the "Arctic Gulf'. Marine connections between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans were broadened and deepened during the Oligocene. The Arctic Gulf thus evolved into a modern Arctic Ocean configuration by sea floor spreading in the Greenland-Norwegian Sea. -from Author