1973/05/01 by W. A. Gordon · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Geological and Geophysical Studies #Geological Studies and Exploration
paper · doi:10.1086/627870
Ocean surface currents of the Cretaceous can be reconstructed by analogy with the modern current system. Constraints on the reconstruction are imposed by the distribution of stenothermal organisms acting as indicators of cool and warm waters. The planetary wind system must have exerted a strong influence on surface oceanic circulation then just as it does today. The outstanding feature of Cretaceous oceanic circulation was the equatorial current system flowing through the Tethys Sea and across the central Pacific Ocean in a circumglobal band of warm water with its own characteristic fauna. West Wind Drift probably existed at high latitudes in both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres. The presence of cold currents comparable with today's California and Peru Currents and of warm currents comparable with today's Mozambique Current and Kuroshio suggests that current gyres existed then as they do now. The Africa-Arabia land seems to have diverted warm, tropical water into the Northern Hemisphere, producing a sharper climatic and faunal gradient between the Tethyan and Arctic regions than between the Tethys and the regions to the south for much of the Cretaceous Period.