How global are the Jurassic–Cretaceous unconformities? |
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| Authors: | Svetlana O Zorina Oksana S Dzyuba Boris N Shurygin Dmitry A Ruban |
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| Institution: | 1. Central Research Institute of Geology of Industrial Minerals, Zinin st. 4, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan 420097, Russia;2. Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch of RAS, Acad. Koptyug av. 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia;3. Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa;4. Present address: PO Box 7333, Rostov‐na‐Donu 344056, Russia |
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| Abstract: | The reality of the global‐scale sedimentation breaks remains controversial. A compilation of data on the Jurassic–Cretaceous unconformities in a number of regions with different tectonic settings and character of sedimentation, where new or updated stratigraphic frameworks are established, permits their correlation. Unconformities from three large reference regions, including North America, the Gulf of Mexico, and Western Europe, were also considered. The unconformities, which encompass the Jurassic‐Cretaceous, the Lower–Upper Cretaceous and the Cretaceous–Palaeogene transitions are of global extent. Other remarkable unconformities traced within many regions at the base of the Jurassic and at the Santonian–Campanian transition are not known from reference regions. A correlation of the Jurassic–Cretaceous global‐scale sedimentation breaks and eustatic curves is quite uncertain. Therefore, definition of global sequences will not be possible until eustatic changes are clarified. Activity of mantle plumes is among the likely causes of the documented unconformities. |
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