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Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils in glacio-marine strata at Cape Melville, Antarctica

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Abstract

Glacio-marine sediments of the Cape Melville Formation (King George Island, South Shetland Islands, West Antarctica) contain a rich and predominantly invertebrate fauna. The occurrence of nannoplankton and belemnites might be used as evidence for dating the glacio-marine Cape Melville Formation as Cretaceous. However, the co-occurrence of the coral genus Flabellum (Eocene–Recent) and the foraminiferal genus Uvigerina (Eocene–Recent) indicate that recycling of the nannoplankton and belemnites has occurred. The sediments of the Cape Melville Formation contain a variety of glacially striated ice-rafted dropstones (up to 2 m) of Antarctic continent provenance. These sediments lie between lavas of the Sherratt Bay Formation and Pliocene Polonez Cove Formation, and may correlate with a late Miocene glaciation of Antarctica.

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Author notes

  1. A. Gaździcki

    Present address: Institut für Paláontologie, Universitát Erlangen-Nürnberg, Loewenichstraße 28, D-8520, Erlangen, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Senacka 3, 31-002, Kraków, Poland

    K. Birkenmajer

  2. Institute of Palaeobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, al. Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089, Warszawa, Poland

    A. Gaździcki & R. Wrona

Authors
  1. K. Birkenmajer
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  2. A. Gaździcki
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  3. R. Wrona
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Birkenmajer, K., Gaździcki, A. & Wrona, R. Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils in glacio-marine strata at Cape Melville, Antarctica. Nature 303, 56–59 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/303056a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/303056a0

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