What is the Purpose of the "Cretaceous World" Website?

      As we all know, the rich geological record of the Cretaceous Period reveals a world that experienced extreme climatic warmth and significantly higher global sea-levels than today. Elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been im-plicated in these conditions. It thus provides a natural case study of the Earth in ‘greenhouse’ climatic mode. With mounting concerns over global warming today, an understanding of how the Earth system operates when in greenhouse mode is very relevant to studies of future climatic change.

　“Sharing” and “Exchange” are the main purposes of the ‘Cretaceous world’ website. In addition to links to Internet Resources for the Cretaceous, our website synthesizes the results of IGCP 463/494 and 973 National Basic Research Program of China ( Major geological events in the earth surface system during the Cretaceous and greenhouse climate change). In recent years, Chinese Cretaceous Research has made great advances. Some interesting research results are shown on the website. For example, Reconstruction of paleoclimate during important periods of the Cretaceous in China, Marine Cretaceous major geological events and climate change, The terrestrial sedimentary response to the Cretaceous major geological events and climate change, Paleoclimate changes and terrestrial large hydrocarbon source rock formation during the Cretaceous, Radiation and evolution of terrestrial biota and climate change during the Cretaceous, Integrated study on the Cretaceous major geological events and greenhouse climate change. The terms “Jehol Biota” and “Cretaceous Ocean Red Beds” are actively being in many parts of the world. There are still many conundrums. A new column ‘Hot topics’ is presented in our website to deal these and other areas of discussion. The latest researches on the hot topics will be regularly updated, please visit the column and add your comments. In short, we hope these discussions will be useful for these people whose researches are related on the fields and will inspire some young students.

      Along with the launch of IGCP 555 (Rapid Environmental/Climate Change in the Cretaceous Greenhouse World: Ocean-Land Interaction) and ICDP (Deep Ter-restrial Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin), our website will present their latest progress and results. We aim to let more people know about the ancient Cretaceous world and the importance of research on Cretaceous climate....

website update: 31st Mar. 2009

Cretaceous period / Меловая период

      Cretaceous period , third and last period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time, lasting from approximately 144 to 65 million years ago. The Cretaceous was marked, in both North America and Europe, by extensive submergences of the continents. Changes both in the earth's surface and in its flora and fauna brought the Mesozoic to a close...

      МЕЛОВАЯ СИСТЕМА (ПЕРИОД) (мел), третья (самая верхняя) система мезозойской эратемы, соответствующая самому позднему периоду мезозойской эры геологической истории. Начало 132-137 млн. лет назад, продолжительность 66 млн. лет. В меловой период происходило широкое развитие, а затем вымирание последних аммонитов и белемнитов, многих видов крупных пресмыкающихся; распространены зубастые птицы, первые плацентарные млекопитающие, костистые рыбы, крупные рептилии. Среди растений характерны папоротники и голосеменные, в середине мелового периода - покрытосеменные, в конце - цветковые. Среди осадков мелового периода характерны залежи писчего мела, нефти, осадочных железных руд и др.

      В меловом периоде появились покрытосеменные - цветковые растения. Это повлекло за собой увеличение разнообразия насекомых, которые стали опылителями цветов. Так что растительный покров Земли в меловом периоде уже не вызвал бы удивления у современного человека. Чего не скажешь о животном мире того времени. Причины меловой катастрофы до конца не понятны. Сейчас самой популярной теорией стала астероидная – объясняющая вымирание динозавров и других организмов падением гигантского астероида и последовавшей за этим ?астероидной зимой?. Судя по всему, это не совсем верно. Эта версия не может объяснить, почему те или иные организмы выжили, когда другие погибли. Кроме того, многие группы животных явно начали вымирать задолго до конца мела. Переход тех же аммонитов к гетероморфным формам тоже явно свидетельствует о какой-то нестабильности. Очень может быть, что очень многие виды уже были подточены какими-то долговременными процессами и стояли на пути вымирания, а катастрофа – астероид, усиление вулканизма или смена климата из-за движения материков – просто ускорили процесс.

website update: 31st Mar. 2009

Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Paleogeography in China

      Cretaceous deposits are widespread in China. Most strata are non-marine origin and marine sediments occur only in Tibet (Xizang), western Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, Taiwan and limited localities of eastern Heilongjiang. Among them, Tibetan Tethys is a dominant marine area where continuous sequences are preserved. In the recent years, variety results have been obtained from those areas in couple with the study on Cretaceous events (Hao and Wan, 1985; Zhou et al., 1997; Willems et al., 1993; 1996; Wan et al., 2003; 2004; 2005). The non-marine Cretaceous System of sides were different. South side, the north margin of the Indian Plate was in continental slop and shelf positions. That part of sea in Cretaceous is called as the Tethys-Himalaya. They are subdivided in a north-south direction into a number of tectonostratigraphic units, generally separated by major thrusts or normal faults Southern Tibet was a part of this Tethys-Himalayan Sea in which a variety of neritic clastic and carbonate sediments accumulated along with deep marine black shales. Sedimentalogically, it is subdivided into the south Tethys-Himalaya sub-belt and north Tethys-Himalaya sub-belt.[more...]

Xiaoqiao Wan and Pe-ji Chen, 2007

"Major Geological Events in the Earth Surface System During the Cretaceous and Greenhouse Climate Change" Research Topics

      1)Reconstruction of paleoclimate during important periods of the Cretaceous in China; 2)Marine Cretaceous major geological events and climate change; 3)The terrestrial sedimentary response to the Cretaceous major geological events and climate change; 4)Paleoclimate changes and terrestrial large hydrocarbon source rock formation during the Cretaceous; 5)Radiation and evolution of terrestrial biota and climate change during the Cretaceous; 6)Integrated study on the Cretaceous major geological events and greenhouse climate change.

973 National Basic Research Program of China, 2005