Evidence for Extreme Climatic Warmth from Late Cretaceous Arctic Vertebrates

Tarduno, J. A.; Brinkman, Donald B.; Renne, Paul R.; Cottrell, R. D.; Scher, Howie D.; Castillo, Paterno R.

doi:10.1126/science.282.5397.2241

Cited by 226 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Choristoderes were semiaquatic active predators and some of them, such as Ikechosaurus from the Jehol Biota, resembled modern gharials. Although choristoderes commonly occur along with crocodilians, their presence in assemblages from which crocodilians are absent has led to the hypothesis that they were ecological competitors of crocodilians (35,36) and had similar environmental temperature requirements (34). On the basis of present data, we argue that choristoderes could tolerate low temperatures, and thus probably occupied the ecological niches of crocodilians in colder environments where the latter could not live, although they definitely occurred together in warmer environments.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Under the cool climatic conditions of the Jehol Biota, ectothermic vertebrates such as turtles, lizards, or amphibians may have hibernated, whereas endothermic animals such as mammals, non avian dinosaurs, birds, and possibly pterosaurs may have benefited from their integumentary structures (hair, feathers, or feather-like structures) as insulation devices, allowing them to keep sustained activity all year round. The occurrence of choristoderes (crocodile-like archosauromorph reptiles) in the Jehol Biota raises the question of whether they can be used as an ecological analogue to crocodilians in terms of temperature tolerance, as has been proposed (34). Choristoderes were semiaquatic active predators and some of them, such as Ikechosaurus from the Jehol Biota, resembled modern gharials.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Amiot

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

138

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Early Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages from East Asia and particularly the Jehol Biota of northeastern China flourished during a period of highly debated climatic history. While the unique characters of these continental faunas have been the subject of various speculations about their biogeographic history, little attention has been paid to their possible climatic causes. Here we address this question using the oxygen isotope composition of apatite phosphate (δ ) from various reptile remains recovered from China, Thailand, and Japan. δ values indicate that cold terrestrial climates prevailed at least in this part of Asia during the Barremian—early Albian interval. Estimated mean air temperatures of about 10 ± 4 °C at midlatitudes (∼42 °N) correspond to present day cool temperate climatic conditions. Such low temperatures are in agreement with previous reports of cold marine temperatures during this part of the Early Cretaceous, as well as with the widespread occurrence of the temperate fossil wood genus Xenoxylon and the absence of thermophilic reptiles such as crocodilians in northeastern China. The unique character of the Jehol Biota is thus not only the result of its evolutionary and biogeographical history but is also due to rather cold local climatic conditions linked to the paleolatitudinal position of northeastern China and global icehouse climates that prevailed during this part of the Early Cretaceous.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Amiot

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

138

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“…2-c). These localities, including those of the Arctic (Tarduno et al, 1998;Vandermark et al, 2007), were mostly located in lowlying river channels and deltaic deposits bordering the Western Interior Seaway; the climate was warm. This distribution may represent an ecological preference, or simply a prevalence of this type of environment within the Late Cretaceous rock record (e.g.…”

Section: Upper Cretaceousmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choristoderes and the freshwater assemblages of Laurasia

Matsumoto¹,

Evans²

2010

J. iber. geol.

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Choristoderes are freshwater aquatic diapsid reptiles of uncertain phylogenetic position. Although the lineage probably diverged from other diapsids in the Permo-Triassic, choristoderes apparently never reached Gondwana. Within Laurasia, however, they have been recovered from Japan, China, Mongolia, Trans-Baikal Russia, Central Asia, Western Europe, and North America, reaching extreme northern latitudes. Setting aside controversial Triassic records, their known temporal range currently extends from the Middle Jurassic (Britain, Kyrgyzstan) to the Miocene (Czech Republic). However, although small choristoderes are known to span the entirety of this period, the larger, more derived neochoristoderes are recorded only from the Early Cretaceous through to the earliest Eocene. The gavial-like neochoristodere Champsosaurus is the most familiar taxon, characterised by large size, a long rostrum and flared temporal fenestrae, but research over the last three decades has revealed many new genera and exposed an unexpected diversity in terms of body size (small to relatively large), neck length (long v. short) and skull morphology (longirostrine v. brevirostrine, open v. closed lower temporal fenestrae). Typically choristoderes occur as part of a mesic assemblage that includes fish, lizards, mammals, turtles, frogs, salamanders, small dinosaurs and, usually, crocodiles. At maturity, Jurassic choristoderes were generally smaller than co-occuring crocodiles and were relatively unspecialized postcranially. The Early Cretaceous of Asia saw a dramatic diversification of choristoderes, including the appearance of much larger neochoristoderes. Perhaps significantly, the relevant Asian horizons (e.g. Yixian Formation, China; Okurodani and Kuwajima formations, Japan) yield no crocodiles. In Late Cretaceous and Paleogene horizons however, across Euramerica, large gavial-like neochoristoderes came to share freshwater ecosystems with a diversity of crocodiles, the neochoristoderes apparently occupying a specialist (gavial-like) piscivorous niche as long as it was available and resources were adequate.

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“…Furthermore, as water vapor is a greenhouse gas, the increased vapor content of the lower atmosphere enhances the "greenhouse effect" (Rind and Chandler, 1991). Elevated atmospheric pCO 2 levels from large igneous province eruptions (Larson, 1991;Tarduno et al, 1998), and the presence of continental seaways (Poulsen et al, 1999) may have reduced regional thermal gradients by as much as 15°C.…”

Section: Geologic Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation rates and atmospheric heat transport during the Cenomanian greenhouse warming in North America: Estimates from a stable isotope mass-balance model

Ufnar

Ludvigson

González

et al. 2008

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Citation for published item:fn rD hF pF nd vudvigsonD qF eF nd qonz¡ lezD vF nd qr¤ o keD hF F @PHHVA 9 re ipit tion r tes nd tmospheri he t tr nsport during the genom ni n greenhouse w rming in xorth emeri X estim tes from st le isotope m ssE l n e modelF9D l eogeogr phyD p l eo lim tologyD p l eoe ologyFD PTT @IEPAF ppF PVEQVF Further information on publisher's website: httpsXGGdoiForgGIHFIHITGjFp l eoFPHHVFHQFHQQ Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 266, 1 2, 27 August 2008, 10.1016/j.palaeo.2008 Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

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Evidence for Extreme Climatic Warmth from Late Cretaceous Arctic Vertebrates

Cited by 226 publications

References 27 publications

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Oxygen isotopes of East Asian dinosaurs reveal exceptionally cold Early Cretaceous climates

Choristoderes and the freshwater assemblages of Laurasia

Precipitation rates and atmospheric heat transport during the Cenomanian greenhouse warming in North America: Estimates from a stable isotope mass-balance model

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