Latest Cretaceous to Late Paleocene radiolarian biostratigraphy: A new zonation from the New Zealand region

doi:10.1016/0377-8398(93)90024-R

Marine Micropaleontology

Volume 21, Issue 4, May 1993, Pages 295-327

https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8398(93)90024-R Get rights and content

Abstract

The scarcity of records of Early Paleocene radiolarians has meant that while radiolarian biostratigraphy is firmly established as an important tool for correlation, there has been a long-standing gap between established zonations for the Cretaceous and from latest Paleocene to Recent. It has also led to considerable speculation over the level of faunal change across the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary. Consequently, the discovery of rich and diverse radiolarian assemblages in well-delineated K/T boundary sections within siliceous limestones of the Amuri Limestone Group in eastern Marlborough, New Zealand, is of great significance for biostratigraphy and K/T boundary research.

This initial report is restricted to introducing a new latest Cretaceous to mid Late Paleocene zonation based on the radiolarian succession at four of these sections and a re-examination of faunas from coeval sediments at DSDP Site 208 (Lord Howe Rise). Three new Paleocene species are described:Amphisphaera aotea, Amphisphaera kina andStichomitra wero. Six new interval zones are defined by the first appearances of the nominate species. In ascending order these are:Lithomelissa? hoplites Foreman (Zone RK9, Cretaceous),Amphisphaera aotea n. sp. (Zone RP1, Paleocene),Amphisphaera kina n. sp. (RP2),Stichomitra granulata Petrushevskaya (RP3),Buryella foremanae Petrushevskaya (RP4) andBuryella tetradica (RP5). Good age control from foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils permits close correlation with established microfossil zonations. Where age control is less reliable, radiolarian events are used to substantially improve correlation between the sections.

No evidence is found for mass extinction of radiolarians at the end of the Cretaceous. However, the K/T boundary does mark a change from nassellarian to spumellarian dominance, due to a sudden influx of actinommids, which effectively reduces the relative abundance of many Cretaceous survivors. An accompanying influx of diatoms in the basal Paleocene of Marlborough, together with evidence for an increase of total radiolarian abundance, suggests siliceous plankton productivity increased across the K/T boundary. Possible causes for this apparently localised phenomenon are briefly discussed.

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¹: Present address: Department of Geology, Faculty of General Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya 321, Japan.

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Latest Cretaceous to Late Paleocene radiolarian biostratigraphy: A new zonation from the New Zealand region

Abstract

Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.

Bull. Univ. Mo. School Mines Metall., Tech. Ser.

Mar. Micropaleontol.

N.Z. Geol. Surv. Paleontol. Rep.

Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction: Experimental results and theoretical interpretation

Science

Cenozoic geochronology

Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

Radiolarian biostratigraphy of siliceous Eocene deposits in central California

Micropaleontology

Elemental Anomalies at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary, Woodside Creek, New Zealand

Science

Geochemical delineation of the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary in some New Zealand rock sequences

N.Z.J. Geol. Geophys.

Stratigraphic occurrences of iridium anomalies at four Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary sites in New Zealand

Geology

Regional geology of New Caledonia

Init. Rep. DSDP

Radiolaria

Radiolaria from Upper Cretaceous of Middle California

Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap.

Cretaceous planktic foraminifera

Eocene radiolarian faunas from the Mt. Diablo area

California. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap.

Paleocene Radiolaria, DSDP Leg 21

Init. Rep. DSDP

Calcareous nannofossils

Init. Rep. DSDP

Southwest Pacific regional unconformities encountered during Leg 21

Init. Rep. DSDP

A New Zealand Cretaceous-Cenozoic Geological Timescale

N.Z. Geol. Surv. Rec.

Mikrogeologie

Atlas

Fortsetzung

Gro¨ssere Felsproben des Polycystinen-Mergels von Barbados mit weiteren Erla¨uterungen

Monatsber. Ko¨n. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Jahre

Campanian Radiolaria from DSDP Site 313, Mid-Pacific Mountains

Micropaleontology

Depth and latitude distribution of Radiolaria in Campanian (Late Cretaceous) tropical and subtropical oceans

Micropaleontology

Upper Maestrichtian Radiolaria of California

Radiolaria from Leg 10 with Systematics and Ranges for the Families Amphipyndacidae, Artostrobiidae and Theoperidae

Init. Rep. DSDP

Mesozoic Radiolaria from the Atlantic basin and its borderlands

Mesozoic Radiolaria in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Leg 41

Init. Rep. DSDP

Calcareous plankton paleobiogeographic evidence for major climatic fluctuations in the early Cenozoic Atlantic Ocean

J. Geophys. Res.

International Stratigraphic Guide; A Guide to Stratigraphic Classification

Latest Cretaceous to Late Paleocene Radiolaria from Marlborough (New Zealand) and DSDP Site 208

Well-preserved Late Paleocene Radiolaria from Tangihua Complex, Camp Bay, eastern Northland

Tane

Late Cretaceous Radiolarians of the Yubetsu Group, Tokoro Belt, Northeast Hokkaido

J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Univ. Ser. 4

Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic tectonic development of the southwest Pacific region

Tectonophysics

Extinction, survivorship and evolution of planktic foraminifera across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary at El Kef, Tunisia

Mar. Micropaleontol.

Cenozoic paleoceanography in the southwest Pacific Ocean, Antarctic glaciation and the development of the Circum-Antarctic Current

Init. Rep. DSDP

Zonal subdivision of the boreal Paleogene by radiolarians

Radiolyarii verkhnemelovykh i verkhne-eotsenovykh otlozhenii Zapadno-Sibirskoi Nizmennosti

Tr. Vses. Neft. Nauchno-Issled. Geologorazved. Inst. VNIGRI

Sheet 16, Kaikoura