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Article: Palaeoclimatic reconstruction for a Cenomanian‐aged angiosperm flora near Schefferville, Labrador

Palaeontology - Vol. 62 Part 6 - Cover Image
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume: 62
Part: 6
Publication Date: November 2019
Page(s): 1027 1048
Author(s): Alexandre V. Demers‐Potvin, and Hans C. E. Larsson
Addition Information

How to Cite

DEMERS‐POTVIN, A.V., LARSSON, H.C.E. 2019. . Palaeontology, 62, 6, 1027-1048. DOI: /doi/10.1111/pala.12444

Author Information

  • Alexandre V. Demers‐Potvin - Department of Biology McGill University 1205 Dr Penfield Ave Montreal QC Canada
  • Alexandre V. Demers‐Potvin - Redpath Museum McGill University 859 Sherbrooke Street W. Montreal QC Canada
  • Hans C. E. Larsson - Department of Biology McGill University 1205 Dr Penfield Ave Montreal QC Canada
  • Hans C. E. Larsson - Redpath Museum McGill University 859 Sherbrooke Street W. Montreal QC Canada

Publication History

  • Issue published online: 18 October 2019
  • Manuscript Accepted: 20 May 2019
  • Manuscript Received: 03 October 2018

Funded By

McGill University Redpath Museum Class of 66 Award
Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies Bourse de maîtrise en recherche
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant (Canada research chair to HCEL)
Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP)
National Geographic Society Early Career Grant

Online Version Hosted By

Wiley Online Library
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Abstract

An understanding of local and regional climate trends is essential to investigate the remarkable angiosperm radiation that happened during the Albian–Cenomanian transition. However, many of the inland depositional environments pioneered by the first modern angiosperms are poorly represented in the fossil record. Eastern Canada, in particular, has a very poor Mesozoic record. In this paper, we present the first multivariate palaeoclimate analysis (CLAMP) for the environment of a geologically isolated woody dicot dominated flora found in the Redmond no.1 mine, Labrador, near Schefferville, with an estimated Cenomanian age. It reveals that the Redmond flora would have experienced a mean annual temperature of 15.1 ± 2.1°C, one of the coolest recorded for North America at this time. These results confer the Redmond no.1 site a warm temperate and fully humid climate with a hot summer, in accordance with previous qualitative palaeoclimate estimates. This flora fits smoothly into palaeolatitudinal MAT gradients that use other Cenomanian‐estimated North American floras. Despite an inland setting, the climate analysis does not recover a significantly higher degree of seasonality than the sites to which it is compared, which agrees with established climate equability models for the Cretaceous and Palaeogene. This study also introduces 15 new morphotypes discovered in recent fieldwork. The eventual description of the species they represent may refine our dating estimates for the Redmond Formation. A greater understanding of the depositional environment and of the natural history of these angiosperms is required to improve this community's characterization, along with estimates from other proxies.

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