Palynology of the James Ross Island area

Extract

The James Ross Island area is recognized as one of the geological treasures of Antarctica. It exposes a section of over 6 km of Cretaceous and Tertiary marine sedimentary strata with an important content of reworked Upper Jurassic rocks near the base. This sequence has produced some of the most remarkable fossil finds in the Southern Hemisphere. The list is extensive and includes a wealth of marine invertebrates, plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, land mammals and birds, giant penguins, whales, and fossil leaves and wood. The sediments record a long history of submarine fan, shelf and deltaic deposition in a back-arc environment, and the contained fossils provide valuable information on Cretaceous and Tertiary climates, and biological evolution at high palaeolatitudes.