
Biostratigraphy, Age, and Paleoenvironment of the Pliocene Beaufort Formation on Meighen Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Product code: USPE551
Print publication date: 08/09/2021
Geological Society of America, GSA Special Papers, Earth Materials Deposits and Petrology
Type: Book (Paperback)
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9780813725512
Author/Edited by: Authors: R.W. Barendregt, J.V. Matthews Jr., V. Behan-Pelletier, J. Brigham-Grette, J.G. Fyles, L.E. Ovenden, D.H. McNeil, E. Brouwers, L. Marincovich, N. Rybczynski, and T.L. Fletcher
Weight: 0.29kg
Number of pages: 39
£15.50
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GSA Special Paper 551
The Beaufort Formation records extraordinary details of Arctic environments and amplified temperatures at approximately modern levels of atmospheric CO2. It was deposited during the Neogene on the western side of what is now the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Meighen Island is a key locality for studying this formation because marine sediments there are interbedded with terrestrial fossiliferous sands. The biostratigraphic succession, fossils from the marine beds, and paleomagnetic data from the Bjaere Bay region of the island suggest two potential ages for the studied exposures: either continuous deposition at ca. 3.0 Ma, or a sequence of deposits at ca. 4.5 Ma and 3.4 Ma. The sediments appear to encompass at least two eustatic highstands of sea level and a particularly warm climate interval of the Pliocene Arctic.