9417776 This award supports research on recently collected fossils from Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. The Earth's high latitude regions are very sensitive to global perturbations. A close examination of the geologic record from these regions of the Earth can provide important insight into past global climatic events. Examination of the fossil record from the high southern latitudes clearly indicates increased stresses on the biosphere during the latest Cretaceous, but prior to the K/T mass extinction event. The excellent paleontological record on Seymour Island provides new and important insights into events in the high southern latitudes at the end of the Cretaceous. The Cretaceous/Tertiary sequence exposed on Seymour Island, Antarctica is unique in several respects. It is appears to be characterized by relatively rapid and nearly-continuous deposition of mid- to outer-shelf sediments across the boundary. In contrast to other K/T boundary sections, the Seymour Island sequence contains abundant and well-preserved macro and micro faunas and floras from the Campanian into the Paleocene and provides an unparalleled opportunity to study the biotic changes of marine benthic fauna prior, during, and following the terminal Cretaceous extinction event. It also provides an opportunity to compare the faunal changes from the high southern latitudes with the worldwide Late Cretaceous biotic crisis. The objectives of this are to analyze the fossil material collected during joint Argentine-US field work in early 1995 and to complete the ongoing taxonomic study of the molluscan fauna material obtained during previous U.S. sponsored expeditions and previous joint Argentine-U.S. expeditions. During the highly successful joint U.S./Argentine expedition to Seymour Island this past austral summer, approximately 3,500 lb. of fossils and sediment samples for microfossil and geochemical studies were collected. The initial phase of our work during the comin g year will focus on curating the fossil material and the preparation of sediment samples that will be sent to those scientists that have expressed an interest in working on the material from Seymour Island. In addition to work on the samples, field observations (geologic data and fossil localities) will be plotted on the new USGS topographic maps. This phase of our data analysis is tedious and time consuming and is projected to take approximately 12 months. Initial results from the field season this year will be presented at the Antarctic Symposium on Geology and Geophysics in September 1995 in Italy.
