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Cretaceous δ13C stratigraphy and the age of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

L.L. Jacobs ,
K. Ferguson ,
M.J. Polcyn  and
C. Rennison
L.L. Jacobs*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
K. Ferguson
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
M.J. Polcyn
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
C. Rennison
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
*
* Corresponding author. Email: jacobs@smu.edu
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Abstract

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Sediments in north-central Texas, ranging in age from >117 to 85 Ma, represent a variety of terrestrial and marine depositional settings. Isotopic analyses of wood fragments found throughout the section allow correlation to the standard secular marine δ13C curve because of characteristic peaks at the Aptian-Albian and Cenomanian-Turonian boundaries. Consistency of the north-central Texas δ13C curve with the marine standard facilitates correlation among non-marine and marine environments on a global scale. Radiometrically dated ammonite zones recognised in Texas provide calibration for the Cenomanian and Turonian portions of the section. Cenomanian and Turonian sediments in north-central Texas preserve the oldest (96 Ma) and the youngest (<85 Ma) well-documented Coniasaurus, a dolichosaur also known from the southern North Sea Basin during that interval. Haasiasaurus, the oldest known well-documented early mosasaur, is found at ‘Ein Yabrud, Israel (98 Ma), followed by other poorly dated Cenomanian taxa from the eastern Mediterranean region, and then by Dallasaurus turneri and Russellosaurus coheni in Texas (92 Ma) and Tethysaurus (90.5 Ma) in Morocco. Neither shifts in δ13C nor large-scale sea level change seem to have influenced dolichosaur or mosasaur evolution in substantial ways during the Cenomanian and Turonian stages.

Keywords

CarbonisotopesCretaceousmosasaursstratigraphyTexas
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 84 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the First Mosasaur Meeting , September 2005 , pp. 257 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2005

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