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Diatom biostratigraphy and age of the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2004

David M. Harwood ,
Andrew McMinn  and
Patrick G. Quilty
David M. Harwood
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340, USA. dharwood1@unl.edu
Andrew McMinn
Affiliation:
Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies and Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-77, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia. andrew.mcminn@iasos.utas.edu.au
Patrick G. Quilty
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-79, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia. P.Quilty@utas.edu.au
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Abstract

Fossil marine diatom assemblages from the Sørsdal Formation, a deposit of diatomaceous sand from Marine Plain in the Vestfold Hills, provide age and palaeoenvironmental information from a Pliocene coastal setting in East Antarctica. Benthic and meroplanktic diatom taxa suggest deposition in a shallow coastal embayment with water depths of 20–25 m. Diatom biostratigraphy indicates that the Sørsdal Formation belongs to the Fragilariopsis barronii Zone (4.5 to 4.1 Ma), through correlation to reference sections in the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean. Features of the other biota suggest higher sea-surface temperatures and reduced sea-ice cover, consistent with global records of higher sea level.

Keywords

Antarcticabiostratigraphymarine diatomspalaeoclimatePlioceneSørsdal FormationVestfold Hills
Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 443 - 462
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2000

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