| Title | Exploring the role of High Arctic Large Igneous Province volcanism on Early Cretaceous Arctic forests |
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| Author | Galloway, J M ;
Fensome, R A; Swindles, G T; Hadlari, T; Schröder-Adams, C;
Herrle, J O; Fath, J; Pugh, A |
| Source | Cretaceous Research vol. 129, 105022, 2022 p. 1-26, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105022  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2022 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20210274 |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Nunavut |
| NTS | 19; 29; 39; 49; 59; 69; 79; 89; 99; 560; 340; 120 |
| Lat/Long WENS | -160.0000 -40.0000 84.0000 75.0000 |
| Subjects | environmental geology; arctic geology; palynology; paleoecology; igneous rocks; Cretaceous |
| Illustrations | location maps; geological time charts; stratigraphic charts; stratigraphic columns; tables; photographs; binary plots; diagrams |
| Program | GEM2: Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals Western Arctic-Beaufort-Northern Yukon |
| Released | 2022 01 01 |
| Abstract | The HauterivianeAptian Isachsen Formation at Glacier Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island, in the Sverdrup Basin of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago was deposited contemporaneous with initiation of the High Arctic
Large Igneous Province (HALIP). New palynological biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, in coordination with the emerging geochronology of HALIP igneous rocks, permits exploration of the effects of volcanism on Arctic vegetation
during the Early Cretaceous. Four informal terrestrial palynofloral zones are defined and used to reconstruct vegetation change over the Isachsen Formation's ca. 17 million year history and explore the role of the HALIP in these changes. Climate
warming during the Hauterivian promoted expansion of a hinterland community dominated by members of the Pinaceae. By the middle Barremian, this community was replaced by mixed heathland and mire, represented by up to 70% fern spores in the uppermost
Paterson Island Member, that may be, in part, in response to environmental disturbance associated with volcanic flows of the HALIP. Above the fern spore spike, dinoflagellate cyst assemblages suggest an early Aptian age and a marine setting for
mudstones of the Rondon Member in which Ocean Anoxic Event 1a is recorded. An interval of floral instability is recorded in the overlying Walker Island Member, characterized by fluctuations in Pinaceae and Cupressaceae pollen and fern spores,
possibly as a result of post-OAE 1a temperature variabilty and landscape disturbance associated with lava flows of the HALIP that were repeatedly extruded onto the subsiding delta plain during deposition of the member. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This study uses pollen and spores preserved in rocks of the Isachsen Formation on Axel Heiberg Island to reconstruct Early Cretaceous vegetation and
climate change and the role of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province in environmental perturbations at this time. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 328928 |
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