You probably know about this, but will add anyway. The fossils of Victoria, Australia and palaeoecology of these is probably the best evidence. This is a recent reference and will point to others

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0037122

There is a paper here and reference there in which may help:

  Moriya, Kazuyoshi, Paul A. Wilson, Oliver Friedrich, Jochen Erbacher, and Hodaka Kawahata. 2007. ‘Testing for Ice Sheets during the Mid-Cretaceous Greenhouse Using Glassy Foraminiferal Calcite from the Mid-Cenomanian Tropics on Demerara Rise.’ Geology 35 (7): 615–18. doi:10.1130/G23589A.1.

http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/35/7/615.short

The empirical data is lacking at the moment which could support partial or complete presence of polar ice sheets during Cretaceous. Whatever is published falls in the realm of hypothetical generalization. 

In the Northern Hemisphere there is evidence of dropstones in the in the High Arctic during the Cretaceous.  I would suggest calling Dr. Jane Francis at the British Antarctic Survey for more details.  Cheers, Ben

Here are a couple of additional references:

Miller 2009; Nature Geoscience

Galeotti et al. 2009; Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology

Bornemann et al 2008; Science

Weissert and Lini 1991 (see this and other references in Leckie et al. 2002; Paleoceanography).

Mark Leckie

Dear Syes,

for the Aptian/Albian episode, try the following papers:

Heimhofer et al 2008

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226078115_Coastal_sediments_from_the_Algarve_Low-latitude_climate_archive_for_the_Aptian-Albian?ev=prf_pub

 Mutterlose et al 2009

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233692068_The_Aptian_-_Albian_cold_snap_Evidence_for_mid_Cretaceous_icehouse_interludes

 Rameil et al 2012

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258722803_Surfaces_with_a_long_history_The_Aptian_top_Shu%27aiba_Formation_unconformity_Sultanate_of_Oman

 Maurer et al 2013

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264258351_Late_Aptian_long-lived_glacio-eustatic_lowstand_recorded_on_the_Arabian_Plate

Article Coastal sediments from the Algarve: Low-latitude climate arc...

Article The Aptian - Albian cold snap: Evidence for "mid" Cretaceous...

Article Surfaces with a long history: The Aptian top Shu'aiba Format...

Article Late Aptian long-lived glacio-eustatic lowstand recorded on ...

Dear Colleagues: Roger, Alastair, Ben, Luc, Mark and Niels

The spirit of Science dictates that one can say a little without knowing everything. Deeply appreciate having received links, comments and valuable references concerning the presence of Ice-sheets during Cretaceous.

Roger: That's an authentic and brilliantly presented Early Cretaceous Dinosaurian fauna of Victoria. Recognition of cooling event is in place but no concrete and supporting geologic evidence is provided for Ice-sheets.

Alastair: Isotope analysis of glassy foraminifera led to hypothesizing glaciation but again no supporting geologic evidence.

Ben: Dropstones with or without Glendonites in high Arctic could be of multiple origin. No evidence of Ice-sheet provided. Please see Benett et al. 1996,v. 121, 331-339 PalaeoX3 and Donovan and Pickerill 1997, v. 131, 175-178. PalaeoX3

Luc: Simulation studies are always with pitfalls unless supported by sedimentologic data. Cool Yes but no Ice-sheet. Luc, Ich habe alles gelesen und versucht zu verstehen!

Mark: Paper of Miller 2009, predicts ephemeral existence of Polar Ice-sheets based on isotopic data, but no concrete evidence. Profusely cited work of of Bornemann et al. 2008, suggests large Ice-sheet based on isotopic data. Where is the field evidence? Galeotti et al. 2009, based on eustatic sea level change hypothesized small polar ice cap. Again we need field data. Please see MacLeod et al. 2013, Geology, 41, 1083-1086, who contradicts earlier assertions.

Niels: Heimhofer et al. 2008 and Mutterlose et al 2009 provide valuable data from Late Aptian-Early Albian "Cold Snap", but Ice-sheet is not confidently projected and supported.

I am sure this would encourage lively debate and help us inch towards truth ! Thanks.

Dear Syed:

I could not agree more with your skepticism about polar ice sheets during the Cretaceous; where's the field evidence? We do have some very powerful indirect data from the distribution of glendonites and various isotopic data, as discussed in the many papers mentioned. But we also have relative sea level data that must also be considered. There are many examples of significant movement of the strand line, which represent tens of meters of relative sea level change. The problem is how can we change sea level in a relatively short time without ice? This is the crux of the debate that has been raging for many decades. We now have isotopic data that might indicate increased ice volume, and some of these events are very similar in age with sea level fall events. It would be ideal to find the isotopic data from the same sections as the sea level data. Are there some good examples out there?

Mark

Professor Jafar,

2 comments -

We have published a comprehensive compilation of lithologic indicators of climate that indicates the geographic occurrence of tillites, dropstones and glendonites.  You can download a copy at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263450893_Phanerozoic_Paleoclimate_An_Atlas_of_Lithologic_Indicators_of_Climate

I have also written a brief essay that estimates how the global mean temperature has changed through the Phanerozoic, including a section of the anomalous "mini ice ages" in the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous, which I call "Stoll-Schrag Events" after the early proponents of these episodes of rapid cooling. See the "white stars" on Figure 15. You can download a copy at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275277369_Some_Thoughts_on_Global_Climate_Change_The_Transition_for_Icehouse_to_Hothouse_Conditions

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about our work.

Sincerely,

Chris Scotese, PALEOMAP Project

Book Phanerozoic Paleoclimate: An Atlas of Lithologic Indicators of Climate

Chapter Some Thoughts on Global Climate Change: The Transition for I...

On a more pragmatic view, one could say that science relies on 'WHAT HARD EVIDENCE EXISTS'; however, on a practical scale, and by knowing the very nature of stratigraphic bias and the gaps, ONE IS COMPELLED TO BELIEVE THAT, what is not there could also become an evidence - more so when looking at the possibilities of polar ice during Cretaceous.

To me, it makes sense to presume lesser temperature gradient between tropic-polar regimes during Cretaceous.

However, this does not preclude the climatic indicators, that are being newly recorded and reported.

In essence, what I would like to answer is, instead of abject rejection, keeping mind and eyes open is good - open to criticism and open to receive credit, as well  

Hi Mr Jafar,

Here some referrences that can help:

- Donnadieu, Y., Dromart, G., Godderis, Y., Puceat, E., Brigaud, B., Dera, G., Dumas, C., Olivier, N., 2011. A mechanism for brief glacial episodes in the Mesozoic greenhouse. Paleoceanography 26, A3212-A3212.

- Bornemann, A., Norris, R.D., Friedrich, O., Beckmann, B., Schouten, S., Damste, J.S.S., Vogel, J., Hofmann, P., Wagner, T., 2008. Isotopic evidence for glaciation during the Cretaceous supergreenhouse. Science 319, 189-192.

- Flogel, S., Wallmann, K., Kuhnt, W., 2011. Cool episodes in the Cretaceous - Exploring the effects of physical forcings on Antarctic snow accumulation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 307, 279-288.

- Frakes, L.A., Francis, J.E., 1988. A guide to Phanerozoic cold polar climates from high-latitude ice-rafting in the Cretaceous. Nature 333, 547-549.

- Price, G.D., Nunn, E.V., 2010. Valanginian isotope variation in glendonites and belemnites from Arctic Svalbard: Transient glacial temperatures during the Cretaceous greenhouse. Geology 38, 251-254.

- Price, G.D., Valdes, P.J., Sellwood, B.W., 1998. A comparison of GCM simulated Cretaceous 'greenhouse' and 'icehouse' climates: implications for the sedimentary record. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 142, 123-138.

- Stoll, H.M., Schrag, D.P., 1996. Evidence for glacial control of rapid sea level changes in the early cretaceous. Science 272, 1771-1774.

- Weissert, H., Lini, A., 1991. Ice Age interludes during the time of Cretaceous greenhouse climate? Muller D. W., McKenzie J. A. et Weissert H.,Controversies in Modern Geology, 173-191.

- Gréselle, B., Pittet, B., 2010. Sea-level reconstructions from the Peri-Vocontian Zone (South-east France) point to Valanginian glacio-eustasy. Sedimentology 57, 1640-1684

Regards,

N.

Hi Colleagues

"Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge"  Yes, whatever is happening at RG is good and would lead us to ascertain the presence or absence of polar ice-sheets during Greenhouse Cretaceous!

Nicolas: Thanks for the references, but you need to convince yourself first before attempting to convince others. Cold interludes caused by decrease of atmospheric CO2 and demise of carbonate platforms, moderate sea level drop during middle-late Jurassic (Donnadieu et al. 2011) - sounds attractive but what is the spread of the data collected? Much talked about CO2 is not even prime greenhouse gas, water vapor is! Do we understand water vapor cycle confidently? Methane is far more powerful greenhouse gas!  Isotope studies are reliable but the interpretation may be faulty (Frakes and Francis, 1988)- Oxygen-Carbon isotope variations of the magic mineral Glendonite (CaCO3.6H2O) from Arctic has to be viewed with caution as it may have been formed due to methane seep and not cold water conditions (See Teichert and Luppold, 2013, v. 390, 81-93, PalaeoX3). We should not be surprised to find this mineral in the heart  of warm Cretaceous of North Atlantic-Central Graben- which was a rich domain of methane seepage (See for insight Martin Hovland's book: Deep Water Coral reefs. Unique Hot-Spots-Springer, 2008). Valanginian glaciation in SE France (Gresselle and Pittet 2010) and elsewhere linked to sudden sea level fluctuations- What else could have caused sea level fluctuation? Is this fluctuation eustatic or local? Response continues!  

Muthu: Thanks for your insight. As new technologies develop leading to fresh collection of data/evidence the old hypotheses are replaced by new ones. Therefore, evidence is a dynamic and not a permanent feature.

Christopher: I am a great fan of yours and have frequently used your Palaeomaps! However, allow me to to remind you that incorporation and compilation of data on Glendonites and "Dropstones" uncritically may lead to faulty palaeoclimatic interpretation of your maps.

KMT and Mark: "Supporting geologic evidence" - At least in high northern-southern  latitudes may be Early-Mid Cretaceous sections which should display typical glacial/glacio-marine tillites with or without polished glacial pavement with striations, genuine glacial dropstones, poorly sorted immature clastics, unaltered feldspar grains, and Quartz grains with typical glacially derived surface features as revealed under electronmicroscope etc. Isotopic data should should supplement this. Short term rise and fall in sea level locally may be linked to LIPs activities - eustatic sea level fluctuations can be linked to large polar ice-sheet. Where is the powerful indirect data? We need to further probe this issue without pride or prejudice! My skepticism relies on balanced evaluation of published data.  

Syed,

There seems to be plenty of field evidence that the polar regions were cool during the Scotese "mini ice ages". However, there is no suggestion that these were full blooded ice ages with ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. The evidence is only that polar amplification was not occurring at a time when the global climate was at its warmest during the Phanerzoic - the Jurassic and Cretaceous. The evidence is there, what we need is an explanation.

Currently we focus on greenhouse gases as being the drivers of climate change, but a more important factor is planetary albedo. In fact it could be argued that CO2 alters the climate by contolling the size of the ice sheets and hence albedo. But planetary albedo can also be changed through other mechanisms aprt from ice sheets.

First clouds. The high temperatures and widespread shallow epicontinetal seas would lead to high humidity and thick clouds. Could they have cooled parts of  the surface of the planet to allow ice to form?

Second carbonate platforms. A lowering of sea levels could have exposed these which are white so increasing the albedo and causing cooling. If that caused mini ice sheets to form in polar regions, then sea levels would have fallen further.

Third plate tectoncs. The most obvious cause for the initial sea level drop would be the collison of two continental plates which  would increase the size of the oceanic basins. Moreover, such a collison could produce an orogeny, and high altitude mountains where ice sheets could form. However, there does not seem to have been much mountain building around the time of the mini ice ages.

Fourth desertification. What does seem to have occurred then was desertificiation of the tropics. This too would have increased planetary albedo and caused cooling? A hot topical desert causing cold poles seems unlikely but could a cool tropical desert  cause cold poles? Also unlikely!

What can be said is that if ice did form in polar regions it would cause cooling there by increasing the albedo, and so overturn polar amplification.

Glendonites could be used as palaeotemperature indicator, but their presence cannot be considered as support for polar ice caps without additional evidences. Nowadays they are known from some low latitude deep water sites. In the Cretaceous high-latitude glendonite records are restricted to some stratigraphic intervals only (for Northern Hemnisphere see review in Rogov & Zakharov 2010: http://ashipunov.info/jurassic/j/Rogov,Zakharov,2010_glend_JurCon.pdf ). These are uppermost Berriasian, Upper Valanginian, Hauterivian, Mid Aptian to Lower Albian. In the Southern Hemisphere there are well-known Aptian glendonites from Australia and recently mentioned microglendonite occurrences in the Valanginian (?) and Aptian of Antarctic. To my knowledge Upper Cretaceous glendonite occurrences are unknown yet. 

Glaciations are unlikely to have occurred throughout the Cretaceous, but certain discrete time intervals are clearly associated with cooler temperature, so transient waxing and waning of ice sheet may have been possible (see for instance this recently published paper: Bodin et al., 2015, Global and Planetary Change 133, p. 238-253).

Solide direct evidence for Cretaceous ice sheet is however lacking yet, though Alley & Frakes (2003) are arguing for the presence of earliest Cretaceous Tillite in Australia. Glendonite occurrence is less decisive since glendonites have been shown to be also precipitated at methane seep location (Teichert & Luppold, 2013).

Article Large igneous provinces and organic carbon burial: Controls ...

Hi Stephane

Solitary occurrence of 2m thick Diamictite reported over a decade ago (Alley and Frakes, 2003) throws open challenge of credibility and reproducibility! Supporting evidence of Glendonite and the so called "dropstones", which are plotted in the Early Cretaceous Paleomaps of Christopher, are not conclusive. Rapid sea level fluctuations cannot be confidently linked to ice-sheet episodes alone. Where is the true Tillite in the southern high latitude with or without polished/striated glaciated pavement in more than one locality?

Hi Syed,

You're right, and I think so too, solide direct evidence for ice is lacking. Yet it is clear from numerous independant evidences that transient cooling episodes have occured during the Cretaceous (and the jurassic as well). Climate models have also highlighted the possibility of ice-sheet in Antarctica below a certain pCO2 threshold (for instance Flögel et al., 2011, EPSL).

I'm afraid however that we will have to wait until the present-day East Antarctic ice sheet has vanished to have a definitive answer for the Cretaceous.

I know nothing about this subject... but it is interesting! One question: is it possible that the diamictite and dropstone evidence comes from the calving and outwash of glaciers originating on tall polar mountains? These cold surely exist without a sea-level ice sheet, especially during transient cooler intervals...

Kenneth... if transient ice sheets were existing in the Cretaceous, they were likely occuring in East Antarctica. So their sedimentary imprint (if any) is nowaday buried below 4 km of ice. This is why a definitive answer to the question of Cretaceous Icehouse has to wait for the present-day ice to melt away (sadely) so one can then eventually see if Cretaceous glacial sedimentary structures are present or not!

Barrera and Savin (1999) mentioned a possible link between the early Maastrichtian cooling and a major sea-level fall in the Haq et al. curve. Haq has recently revised his Cretaceous curve and there are now 5 SBs in the Maastrichtian but two of them appear to be major and one may indeed correlate with the early Maastrichtian cooling. Also, examination of diatom-rich sediments from the Alpha Ridge, and palynomorph records from southeastern Australia and Seymour Island support the development of winter sea-ice in the Maastrichtian of the Arctic Sea and around Antarctica (Gallagher et al., 2008; Davies et al., 2009; Bowman et al., 2013). However, no tillite or dropstone have been found for that stage. But once again, those are indirect evidence. As Stéphane says, it's unlikely that we ever find direct evidence for all the putative glaciations of the Cretaceous. 

Nicolas,

The evidence for ice documented by Chris Scotese was for the upper Jurrasic and lower Cretaceous, but you are now pointing to cooling in the upper Cretaceous. That could have been caused by volcanic eruptions in the Deccan Traps, which points to a mechanism for the earlier Scotese mini ice ages i.e. volcanic eruptions.

As each of the continents broke away from Pangea there would have been intense volcanic activity and I suggest that it was that which caused enough cooling to cause mini ice ages when CO2 levels were high.

Dear Colleagues

Transient cool phases during Cretaceous are perfectly in order but the evidence of transient polar ice-sheets remain highly speculative and not supported by concrete direct or indirect evidences.

Syed

Dear KMT

It may not be an appropriate word but what I meant was passing or short lived Polar ice-sheet.

There is a new paper here under discussion about cooling during the Late Cretaceous: Thibault et al. (2015)  "Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian–Maastrichtian) sea surface temperature record of the Boreal Chalk Sea "

http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/11/5049/2015/cpd-11-5049-2015.html

I only read the abstract and the final sentence caught my attention.

"The direct link between SSTs and δ13C variations in the Chalk Sea reassesses long-term glacio-eustasy as the potential driver of carbon isotope and climatic variations in the Maastrichtian."

I was hoping someone else would tell me what the significance of that was :-)

Dear Alastair,

The early Maastrichtian cooling has been associated in the past to a 3rd order sea-level fall by Barrera and Savin (1999) and Miller et al. (1999). Both studies already mentioned at that time the possibility for this climatic event to be driven by the development of a moderate ice-sheet. In parallel, Jarvis et al. (2002, 2006) associate carbon-isotope excursions of the Late Cretaceous to sea-level change and the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian interval is also characterized by a long-lasting negative carbon isotope excursion. Friedrich et al. (2009) argued that the onset of the early Maastrichtian cooling and onset of the carbon isotope excursion are not coincident, that there is lag of about 600 kyr between the two, the carbon isotope excursion preceding the oxygen isotope excursion at sites 525A and 690. Friedrich et al. (2009) used this decoupling between the two signals to argue against glaciation as a driver of these changes and argued for a global change in the source of intermediate and deep-water masses from low to high-latitudes, onset of deep-water formation in the southern ocean, favoured by the opening of tectonic gateways. This makes a lot of sense and I do not disagree with the latter interpretation but in my opinion, this change is not opposed to a potential glaciation. New results of the Chalk Sea show that the onset and the termination of these two excursions in carbon and oxygen are coincident. Moreover, if the lead-lag relationship is clear at site 690, it is actually not so clear at Site 525A and I tend to disagree with Friedrich’s interpretation for the latter site. So this lead-lag relationship appears to be a southern phenomenon only. Moreover, several interesting studies have reopened the door for potential Maastrichtian glaciations. Examination of diatom-rich sediments from the Alpha Ridge apparently support the development of winter sea-ice in the Arctic at that time (Davies et al., 2009). Maastrichtian palynomorph records from southeastern Australia and Seymour Island support the development of winter sea ice around Antarctica (Bowman et al., 2013). The development of ephemeral ice sheets in Antarctica can explain the δ18O excursions through a drop in seawater δ18O accompanied by a global cooling of water masses (Barrera and Savin, 1999; Li and Keller, 1999). Sea-level changes could trigger the onset and termination of the late Campanian–early Maastrichtian carbon isotope excursion by shifting calcium carbonate accumulation and organic-matter burial from shelf to open-ocean areas (Barrera and Savin, 1999; Friedrich et al., 2009). I think that the data, along with this potential winter sea ice reopen the possibility of a Maastrichtian glacio-eustatic scenario.

This whole argumentation is in the discussion of the article which is open to the public.

I hope that it could help you understand better what I mean.

Thanks Nicholas,

That has helped me understand what you are saying, and I have now read you paper but I really need to study it more fully before commenting. It does seem to include some new useful information..

Dear all,

our contribution.

Regards

Rodríguez-López et al. Palaeo3 (2016) Glacial dropstones in the western Tethys during the late Aptian–early Albian cold snap: Palaeoclimate and palaeogeographic implications for the mid-Cretaceous

Keywords: Iceberg drift; Glaciation; HALIP; Volcanism; Ice–magma interactions