Description

Special Publication 545

This title is a work in progress. Selected articles are available online from the Lyell Collection.

The Cretaceous was first mentioned in the legend of a geological map, largely centred on France, published in 1822 by Jean Baptiste Julien d’Omalius d’Halloy. Two hundred years of research have demonstrated that the Cretaceous records some of the highest sea levels, atmospheric temperatures and extreme events in Earth history. It was also a time of significant palaeogeographical changes and continental fragmentation. This volume draws together a collection of papers from an exceptionally wide geographical area that reflects the varied geological features of Cretaceous strata and the enclosed faunas and floras. There are geological accounts of areas from the Arctic to the Antarctic Peninsula, onshore and offshore environments, as well as some terrestrial environments with newly described floras and faunas. The application of stable isotope geochemistry to stratigraphical problems, and the identification of cyclostratigraphy, features quite prominently in many of the areas described.