Publication Date:
2017-01-20
Description:
Fossiliferous glacio-marine strata of the Cape Melville Formation (Lower Miocene)
yielded recycled Cretaceous fossils — coccoliths and belemnites in addition to
Tertiary biota. The belemnites here described belong to the family Dimitobelidae
Whitehouse, 1924, and are represented by three taxa: Dimitobelus aff. macgregori
(Glaessner, 1945), D. cf. superstes (Hector, 1886) and Peralobelus sp. These Cretaceous
fossils were brought to King George Island by drifting icebergs during the
Lower Miocene Melville Glaciation and redeposited together with other dropstones
in outer shelf deposits of the Cape Melville Formation. The provenance of these
recycled Cretaceous fossils is unknown: they could have been brought by drifting
icebergs either from the area of Alexander Island where Cretaceous strata with
analogous belemnites are known, or from another site (or sites) o f the Antarctic
Peninsula sector. Relative abundance of recycled belemnites and Cretaceous calcareous
nannoplankton suggests rather a source situated at a distance less than that
between King George Island and Alexander Island (some 1200 km), either under
ice-sheet or Within the shelf area of the Bransfield Strait.
Type:
Article
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
text
