Cephalopod and brachiopod fossils from the Pacific: Evidence from the Upper Cretaceous of the Magellan Seamounts - 01/03/12

Doi : 10.1016/j.geobios.2011.11.011

Yuri D. Zakharov ^a,^⁎ , Mikhael E. Melnikov ^b, Alexander M. Popov ^a, Sergej P. Pletnev ^c, Vladimir D. Khudik ^a, Tatiana A. Punina ^a
^a Far Eastern Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (Far Eastern Branch), Prospect Stoletiya 159, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
^b Research Institute of Ocean Geophysics, Federal Scientific Center “Yuzhmorgeologiya”, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar region, Russia
^c Pacific Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (Far Eastern Branch), Radio Street 7, Vladivostok 690032, Russia

Corresponding author.

Abstract

Maastrichtian cephalopods and a brachiopod were dredged from the Butakov, Fedorov, Kotsebu, Il’ichev, Govorov, Gelendzhik, and Ita-Mai-Tai guyots in the Magellan Seamounts. The ammonoids Hypophylloceras sp., Phyllopachiceras sp., Anagaudryceras? sp. A, Anagaudryceras? sp. B, Gaudryceras aff. propemite Marshall, Gaudryceras sp., and Pseudophyllites cf. indra (Forbes), and the single brachiopod Basiliolidae gen. and sp. indet. are a first discovery in this oceanic region, following earlier finds of belemnites (Dimitobelus? sp., Dimitobelidae gen. and sp. nov., and Belemnitella? sp.), and two ammonoid species (Zelandites aff. japonicus Matsumoto and Tetragonitidae gen. and sp. indet.). The Late Cretaceous Magellan Seamounts dimitobelid belemnite fauna shows affinities with southern high latitude forms (New Zealand) and the ammonoid fauna with northern, middle and high latitude ones (Hokkaido-Sakhalin and/or Kamchatka). This suggests by the end of the Cretaceous major surface palaeo-currents from S and N sides in direction of the central Palaeo-Pacific, a position coinciding with the plate tectonic reconstruction of the Magellan Seamounts.