Premium
Global relationships of Argentine (Neuquén Basin) Early Cretaceous ammonite faunas
Author(s) -
Rawson Peter F.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geological journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1099-1034
pISSN - 0072-1050
DOI - 10.1002/gj.1065
Subject(s) - ammonite , paleontology , cretaceous , structural basin , geology , equator , range (aeronautics) , taxon , fauna , geography , ecology , latitude , biology , materials science , geodesy , composite material
Of the 16 ammonite families of Valanginian to Early Barremian age, six are represented in the Neuquén Basin–the Neocomitidae, Olcostephanidae, Oosterellidae, Holcodiscidae, Ancyloceratidae and Douvilleiceratidae. Normally, only one or two ammonite genera occur at any one level, and there were ten turnovers at family level. Each turnover marks an important immigration event and other immigrations sometimes occurred between. All the taxa are of Tethyan origin; but while some immigrants are Andean Province forms, other are taxa that for at least part of their temporal range achieved an almost pandemic distribution, even invading the marginal Boreal basins of NW Europe (North Sea and Lower Saxony basins). The Neuquén and NW European basins lay at similar palaeolatitudes south and north of the equator, and there are striking similarities between some of the immigrants to the two areas. Links between the NW European and other South American faunas suggest a possible direct marine connection between the two areas. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.