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Lithospheric Plate Motion, Sea Level Changes and Climatic and Ecological Consequences

Abstract

We demonstrate quantitatively that the world-wide Mid to Upper Cretaceous transgression and subsequent regression may have been caused by a contemporaneous pulse of rapid spreading at most of the mid-oceanic ridges between −110 to −85 m.y. The rapid spreading caused the ridges to expand and hence reduced the volumetric capacity of the basins. The subsequent regression was caused by a reduction in spreading rates beginning at −85 m.y.

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HAYS, J., PITMAN, W. Lithospheric Plate Motion, Sea Level Changes and Climatic and Ecological Consequences. Nature 246, 18–22 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/246018a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/246018a0

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