Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) macrofossil assemblage from Jason Peninsula, Graham Land: evidence for a significant northward extension of the Latady Formation

Abstract

New exposures of fossiliferous sedimentary rocks at Cape Framnes, Jason Peninsula (65°57′S, 60°33′W) are assigned to the Middle–Late Jurassic Latady Formation of the south-eastern Antarctic Peninsula region. A sequence of fine to coarse-grained sandstones of unknown thickness has yielded a molluscan and plant macrofossil assemblage rich in the following elements: perisphinctid ammonites, belemnopseid belemnites, oxytomid, trigoniid and astartid bivalves, and bennettitalean fronds and fructifications. The overwhelming age affinities are with the Kimmeridgian–early Tithonian part of the Latady Formation, as exposed on the Orville and Lassiter coasts. The Cape Framnes sedimentary rocks help to constrain the age of a major sequence of acid volcanic rocks on Jason Peninsula, and show that the Latady Basin was geographically much more extensive than recognized previously. It was the principal depositional centre of Middle–Late Jurassic sedimentation in the Antarctic Peninsula back-arc region and in areal extent may have rivalled the essentially Cretaceous Larsen Basin.