Cretaceous Environments of Asia: (v.17 Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy)

This book presents a synthesis of the principal environmental characteristics of the Cretaceous in East and South Asia. The research was accomplished under IGCP project 350, which deals with the biological, climatological and physical environments of this region during the Cretaceous. This synthesis discusses aspects of stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleontology, geochemistry, tectonics, petrology, mineralogy, and geophysics. The research results are summarised by country, and include Far East Russia, Mongolia, eastern China, Korea, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and India. Although these countries do not encompass the entire region, this coverage provides an excellent perspective of the evolution of the region during the Cretaceous. The records incorporated in this book present a wealth of marine and nonmarine data on climate, biotic diversity, circulation and chemistry of the ocean as well as fundamental plume tectonism. The latter appears to have caused much of the environmental change in this broad region, including both an enhanced greenhouse effect and high sea levels.

Table of Contents:
Preface (H. Okada, N.J. Mateer). Cretaceous environmental changes of East Russia (G.L. Kirillova et al.). Cretaceous system in Mongolia and its depositional environments (Yo Khand et al.). Paleoenvironmental changes during the Cretaceous in eastern China (Chen Pei-ji). Upper Mesozoic unconformity-bounded units of Korean peninsula within Koguryo Magmatic Province (Ki-Hong Chang et al.). The Cretaceous system of the Japanese islands and its physical environments (H. Okada, T. Sakai). Changes in Cretaceous ammonoid diversity and marine environments of the Japanese islands (H. Hirano et al.). Early Cretaceous climatic provinces in Japan and adjacent regions on the basis of fossil land plants (T. Kimura). Cretaceous active margin in the eastern Eurasia continent affected by the Southern Pacific Superplume (O. Kinoshita). Comparison of genesis and tectonic setting of the Jurassic and Cretaceous high-pressure metamorphic belts in the circum-Pacific regions (H. Maekawa). Cretaceous environments of the Philippines (P.J. Militante-Matias et al.). Cretaceous environments in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (D. Vu Khuc). Cretaceous environments of northeastern Thailand (A. Meesook). Spatio-temporal patterns of environmental changes in Late Cretaceous sequences of central India (S.K. Tandon). Scientific achievements of IGCP-350 "Environmental and biological change in east and south Asia during the Cretaceous": an overview (H. Okada).