Download Free Geology And Paleontology Of Seymour Island Antarctic Peninsula Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Geology And Paleontology Of Seymour Island Antarctic Peninsula and write the review.

Antarctic Paleobiology discusses the current status of paleobiology, principally paleobotany and palynology in Antarctica, and the interrelationship of Antarctic floras to those of other Gondwana continents. It provides a broad coverage of the major groups of plants on the one hand, while on the other seeking to evaluate the vegetational history and the physical and biological parameters that influence the distribution of floras through time and space. The biologic activity is discussed within a framework of the geologic history, including the tectonic and paleogeographic history of the region. Finally, the reader will find a comprehensive bibliography of Gondwana paleobotany and palynology.
The fossil history of plant life in Antarctica is central to our understanding of the evolution of vegetation through geological time and also plays a key role in reconstructing past configurations of the continents and associated climatic conditions. This book provides the only detailed overview of the development of Antarctic vegetation from the Devonian period to the present day, presenting Earth scientists with valuable insights into the break up of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Details of specific floras and ecosystems are provided within the context of changing geological, geographical and environmental conditions, alongside comparisons with contemporaneous and modern ecosystems. The authors demonstrate how palaeobotany contributes to our understanding of the paleoenvironmental changes in the southern hemisphere during this period of Earth history. The book is a complete and up-to-date reference for researchers and students in Antarctic paleobotany and terrestrial paleoecology.
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Antarctic Research Series, Volume 76. Michael K. Brett-Surman, George Washington University, observed that, "being a paleontologist is like being a coroner except all the witnesses are dead and all the evidence has been left out in the rain for 65 million years." In the study of paleontology in Antarctica it could also be added that, if not left out in the rain, most of the evidence remains buried beneath several thousand feet of ice. Elucidating the geologic history of the Antarctic continent will always be plagued with this problem. Nonetheless, numerous clever means have been used to extract as much information as is possible, and as presented in this volume. In this light, one of the most intriguing time intervals in Antarctic history is the Eocene Epoch. During this time, the climatic conditions deteriorated rapidly from the so-called "Greenhouse" conditions that dominated Earth's conditions from mid-Mesozoic time through the early Cenozoic to the "Icehouse" conditions that have dominated the climate since that time. Unfortunately, the record of Eocene rocks on the continent is sparse. On the Antarctic Peninsula, specifically on Seymour Island, a robust record of Eocene rocks and fossils has provided virtually all the information we possess about this time interval. Thus the discovery and description of Eocene erratic boulders in morainal deposits in the McMurdo Sound region provides only the second site on the entire continent where we can study the paleontology of this time interval. In all likelihood, the description of erratics containing fossils from any other place in the world would warrant little study and would attract even less attention. However, when most of the vast area of Antarctica lies beneath ice and when clues to the nature of the crust of that part of the continent can be extracted only from study of erratics, the discovery carries with it some excitement.
High-latitude settings are sensitive to climatically driven palaeoenvironmental change and the resultant biotic response. Climate change through the peak interval of Cretaceous warmth, Late Cretaceous cooling, onset and expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet, and subsequently the variability of Neogene glaciation, are all recorded within the sedimentary and volcanic successions exposed within the James Ross Basin, Antarctica. This site provides the longest onshore record of Cretaceous-Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks in Antarctica and is a key reference section for Cretaceous-Tertiary global change. The sedimentary succession is richly fossiliferous, yielding diverse invertebrate, vertebrate and plant fossil assemblages, allowing the reconstruction of both terrestrial and marine systems. The papers within this volume provide an overview of recent advances in the understanding of palaeoenvironmental change spanning the mid-Cretaceous to the Neogene of the James Ross Basin and related biotic change, and will be of interest to many working on Cretaceous and Tertiary palaeoenvironmental change.
No other continent on Earth has undergone such radical environmental changes as Antarctica. In its transition from rich biodiversity to the barren, cold land of blizzards we see today, Antarctica provides a dramatic case study of how subtle changes in continental positioning can affect living communities, and how rapidly catastrophic changes can come about. Antarctica has gone from paradise to polar ice in just a few million years, a geological blink of an eye when we consider the real age of Earth. Frozen in Time presents a comprehensive overview of the fossil record of Antarctica framed within its changing environmental settings, providing a window into a past time and environment on the continent. It reconstructs Antarctica’s evolving animal and plant communities as accurately as the fossil record permits. The story of how fossils were first discovered in Antarctica is a triumph of human endeavour. It continues today with modern expeditions going out to remote sites every year to fill in more of the missing parts of the continent’s great jigsaw of life.