The early Cretaceous of Greenland: Climatic and biotic changes in the high latitudes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jörg Mutterlose
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2007 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 47612715

• Final Report Year: 2009

Final Report Abstract

The climatic evolution of the early Cretaceous (Valanginian - Hauterivian) is currently interpreted in two different ways. The view of a generally warm-equable greenhouse world is questioned by a rather differentiated picture with cold snaps possibly even causing polar ice caps. These contradictions may have partly been caused by a lack of data from the high latitudes and relative poor biostratigraphie control. We therefore proposed a multi proxy approach based in the high latitudes (NE Greenland) to better understand the palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic evolution of the early Cretaceous. Based on a detailed biostratigraphie scheme (ammonites) we intended to a) understand the palaeoecology and biogeography of calcareous nannofossils, b) study the biogeography of both ammonites and belemnites, c) evaluate the stable isotope record of belemnites, d) develop a strontium isotope curve, and e) interpret the Valanginian - Hauterivian interval with respect to its palaeoclimate and palaeoceanography.

Publications

• Pans, 4.12.2007, annual meeting of the Groupe Français du Crétacé: „The boreal Cretaceous - biota, facies and palaeoclimatic implications"
  
  
• The early Cretaceous of North-East Greenland: A crossroad of belemnite migration. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
  Alsen, P., Mutteriose, J.