Abstract

The published latest Palaeocene to Early–Middle Eocene age limits of the Sabrina microfloras, offshore Aurora Subglacial Basin, East Antarctica, largely depend on 1970s age-range data for fossil pollen and spore species in the continental margin basins of southern Australia. This paper uses updated biostratigraphical data from southern Australia, including the basins closest to the Aurora Basin throughout the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, to propose that the age of the terrestrial component of the Sabrina microfloras is Campanian to Maastrichtian, not Paleogene. However, the revised age limits do not preclude these microfloras being redeposited more or less intact during the development and expansion of ice-sheets on East Antarctica, i.e. most probably during the late Paleogene based on other evidence from East Antarctica.

摘要

南极洲东部极光冰下盆地近海的 Sabrina 微生物群落的最新古新世至早中始新世年龄限制在很大程度上取决于 1970 年代澳大利亚南部大陆边缘盆地化石花粉和孢子物种的年龄范围数据。本文使用来自澳大利亚南部的最新生物地层数据，包括整个晚白垩世和古近纪最接近奥罗拉盆地的盆地，提出 Sabrina 微生物群落的陆地成分的年龄是坎帕阶到马斯特里赫特阶，而不是古近纪。然而，修订后的年龄限制并不排除这些微生物区系在南极东部冰盖的发展和扩张过程中或多或少完好无损地重新沉积，即根据南极东部的其他证据，最有可能是在古近纪晚期。