Evidence for Glacial Control of Rapid Sea Level Changes in the Early Cretaceous

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 272; no. 5269; pp. 1771 - 1774
• Main Authors: Stoll, Heather M., Schrag, Daniel P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 21.06.1996; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Antarctica; Aragonite; Calcite; Carbonates; Causes of; Chemical elements; Climate; Climate change; Cretaceous; Cretaceous period; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fractions; Geology; Geology, Stratigraphic; Glaciers; Isotope geochemistry; Isotope geochemistry. Geochronology; Marine; Oceans; Paleoclimatology; Petrology of sedimentary rocks except quaternary rocks; Prehistoric era; Sea level; Sea water; Seas; Sedimentary rocks; Sediments; Stratigraphy; Florida; United States; North America; Virginia; Antarctica; Mesozoic; eustacy; stable isotopes; deep-sea environment; O-18; continental shelf; carbonate rocks; emergence; paleoclimatology; strontium; Blake-Bahama Basin; Berriasian; drilling; Deep Sea Drilling Project; nannofossils; offshore; sedimentary rocks; C-13; glaciation; ice sheets; fluctuations; Lower Cretaceous; Valanginian; marine sediments
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5269.1771

Lower Cretaceous bulk carbonate from deep sea sediments records sudden inputs of strontium resulting from the exposure of continental shelves. Strontium data from an interval spanning 7 million years in the Berriasian-Valanginian imply that global sea level fluctuated about 50 meters over time scales of 200,000 to 500,000 years, which is in agreement with the Exxon sea level curve. Oxygen isotope measurements indicate that the growth of-continental ice sheets caused these rapid sea level changes. If glaciation caused all the rapid sea level changes in the Cretaceous that are indicated by the Exxon curve, then an Antarctic ice sheet may have existed despite overall climatic warmth.