GEOCHEMICAL SIGNALS IN PALEOGENE PENGUINS FROM SEYMOUR ISLAND (ISLA MARAMBIO), ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

Abstract

Trace elements, particularly rare earth elements (REE), are widely used as proxies to reconstruct paleoenvironmental and taphonomic conditions. We traced these elements in fossil penguin bones collected along the Paleogene sequence exposed in Seymour Island (=Isla Marambio) to test them as indicators of the tectonic changes to which this region was exposed. The results indicated the contents of REE in thirteen samples of the analyzed bone tissues. The negative europium anomaly in the samples from Bartonian and Priabonian beds reflects regional events. This signal coincides in time with the opening of the Drake Passage, and with the tectonic changes that occurred between the end of the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene, between the western margin of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Keywords

• Sphenisciformes
• ICP-MS analysis
• fossil-diagenesis
• taphonomy
• Weddell sea
• Antarctica