2023 Cretaceous ice-rafted dropstones Iberia, Geology.pdf (4.62 MB)
Ice-rafted dropstones at midlatitudes in the Cretaceous of continental Iberia
journal contribution
posted on 2024-01-19, 09:26 authored by Juan Pedro Rodríguez-López, Carlos L Liesa, Aránzazu Luzón, Arsenio Muñoz, María J Mayayo, Julian MurtonJulian Murton, Ana R SoriaThe Cretaceous is widely considered to have been a period subjected to super-greenhouse conditions. Here, we provide multiscale sedimentologic evidence of glaciers developing at mid-paleolatitudes (~45°N) in continental Iberia during the Hauterivian cold snap. Striated and faceted ice-rafted glacial dropstones (cobble to boulder size) and striated and grooved silt- to sand-sized grains (ice-rafted debris [IRD]) occur in a lacustrine sequence of the Enciso Group in the eastern Cameros Basin, Spain. The ice-rafted materials constitute the first evidence reported for a Cretaceous continental cryospheric record in Europe, and they are attributed to calving of glacier snouts, releasing icebergs into an ice-contact lake. The sedimentary succession resembles glacial-deglacial records in lakes overridden by the late Pleistocene Laurentide Ice Sheet in eastern Arctic Canada. The Iberian glacial succession was coeval with plateau permafrost in Asia and IRD records in the Arctic and Australia, revealing a stronger than previously thought cryosphere during the global Hauterivian cold snap.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
GeologyISSN
0091-7613Publisher
Geological Society of AmericaPublisher URL
External DOI
Issue
1Volume
52Page range
33-38Department affiliated with
- Geography Publications
Institution
University of SussexFull text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes