Nanofósseis calcários do Campaniano e Maastrichtiano no Atlântico Sul: bioestratigrafia, paleoceanografia e paleobiogeografia

Abstract

The Late Cretaceous period is characterized by global climatic transition that influenced calcareous nannofossil assemblages posing a challenge for biostratigraphic interpretation between different latitudinal degrees. There are a few studies on South Atlantic calcareous nannofossils from 1980 and 1990 decades, but none of them evaluate the South Atlantic as a whole. Therefore, this study aims to describe the calcareous nannofossils assemblages in each latitudinal zone and test the bioevents synchroneity. It were selected 649 samples from twelve cored sections coming from DSDP (Deep Sea Drilling Project) e ODP (Ocean Drilling Program) close to the Brazilian and African margins, in addition to an outcrop in the Antarctic Peninsula. The taxonomic study allowed the identification of 197 calcareous nannofossils species from the Campanian and Maastrichtian. Using the correlation between the biostratigraphical data and magnetostratigraphy, it was possible to identify diachronism in some bioevents of first and last occurrences during the late Campanian and late Maastrichtian. This diachronism is related to species migration between low and mid-latitudes, due to changes in the ocean circulation and surface water temperature. Based on the latitudinal variation in the calcareous nannofossils assemblages, a detailed biostratigraphic study enabled the South Atlantic division in three zonations (low, medium and high-latitudes). We also defined the distribution pattern of some species, indicating a clear paleobiogeographical division between high latitude species and some species limited to low and mid-latitudes. This pattern was possibly controlled by surface water temperature variation. Other species have a wide distribution across the latitudes probably related to nutrient availability.