Evidence for Extreme Climatic Warmth from Late Cretaceous Arctic Vertebrates

1998/12/18 by J. A. Tarduno, Donald B. Brinkman, Paul R. Renne +3 · 257 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Arctic #Assemblage (archaeology) #Biology #Cretaceous #Earth science #Ecology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Geography #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geology #Igneous rock #Magmatism #Oceanography #Paleontology #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Physical geography #The arctic #Volcano

paper · doi:10.1126/science.282.5397.2241

published in Science 282(5397), 2241-2243 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)

openalex publication_date 1998/12/18 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

A Late Cretaceous (92 to 86 million years ago) vertebrate assemblage from the high Canadian Arctic (Axel Heiberg Island) implies that polar climates were warm (mean annual temperature exceeding 14 degreesC) rather than near freezing. The assemblage includes large (2.4 meters long) champsosaurs, which are extinct crocodilelike reptiles. Magmatism at six large igneous provinces at this time suggests that volcanic carbon dioxide emissions helped cause the global warmth.

Citations

• Late Cretaceous vertebrate fossils from the North Slope of Alaska and implications for dinosaur ecology

Cited by

• Evidence for protracted High Arctic large igneous province magmatism in the central Sverdrup Basin from stratigraphy, geochronology, and paleodepths of saucer-shaped sills
• A New European Marsupial Indicates a Late Cretaceous High-Latitude Transatlantic Dispersal Route
• High Arctic Large Igneous Province [wikipedia]