Vegetation dynamics along the New Jersey margin (ODP Leg 174AX) in the context of Late Maastrichtian and Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary paleo-environmental changes
Final Report Abstract
The Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary (K/Pg; 65.0 Ma) mass-extinction event is one of the so-called Big Five extinctions that led to major faunal and floral overturn in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In terrestrial floras the K/Pg boundary event is expressed by the extinction of angiosperms and the proliferation of pioneer plants, such as ferns, that likely dominated worldwide for several thousand years after the impact of a bolide at Chicxulub (Mexico). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the degassing of the Deccan Traps in India was a major driving force behind pulses of latest Maastrichtian warming, leading eventually to the collapse of ecosystems at the K/Pg boundary. A series of cores drilled along an onshore-offshore transect on the New Jersey margin drilled in the framework of ODP Leg 174AX and the Continental Dynamics Program were studied for high-resolution palynology including the Meirs Farm, Search Farm, and Fort Monmouth boreholes. The project resulted in the construction of a detailed dinocyst biostratigraphy and the generation of paleotemperature proxy data based on the TEX86 proxy. Together these data provide a solid basis for ongoing work on vegetation reconstructions based on terrestrial palynomorphs.
Publications
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Palynological evidence for prolonged cooling along the Tunisian continental shelf following the K-Pg boundary impact. (2015) Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 426, 216 - 228
Vellekoop, J., Smit, J., van de Schootbrugge, B., Weijers, J.H.W., Galeotti, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Brinkhuis, H.
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Evidence for Cretaceous- Paleogene boundary bolide 'impact winter’ conditions from New Jersey, USA. Geology (2016) 44 (8): 619-622
Vellekoop, J., Esmeray-Senlet, S., Miller, K.G., Browning, J.V., Sluijs, A., van de Schootbrugge, B., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Brinkhuis, H.
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Ecological response to collapse of the biological pump following the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Biogeosciences; 2017; Vol. 14; iss. 4; pp. 1 - 16
Vellekoop, J., Woelders, L., Açikalin, S., Smit, J., van de Schootbrugge, B., Yilmaz, A.O., Brinkhuis, H., Speijer, R.P.
