The Selandian is a stage in the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

and followed by the

Thanetian The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

. Sometimes the Paleocene is subdivided in subepochs, in which the Selandian forms the "middle Paleocene".

Stratigraphic definition

The Selandian was introduced in scientific literature by Danish geologist Alfred Rosenkrantz in 1924. It is named after the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

island of Zealand (

: ''Sjælland'') given its prevalence there.Selandien
Den Store Danske Encyklopædi The base of the Selandian is close to the boundary between biozones NP4 and NP5. It is slightly after the first appearances of many new species of the calcareous nanoplankton

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Fasciculithus'' (''F. ulii'', ''F. billii'', ''F. janii'', ''F. involutus'', ''F. tympaniformis'' and ''F. pileatus'') and close to the first appearance of calcareous nanoplankton species ''Neochiastozygus perfectus''. At the original type location in Denmark the base of the Selandian is an

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval o ...

. The official GSSP was established in the Zumaia section (43° 18'N, 2° 16'W) at the beach of Itzurun in the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

, northern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

GSSP Golden spike Itzurun, Zumaia, Basque Country (02)

The top of the Selandian (the base of the Thanetian) is laid at the base of magnetic chronozone C26n. The Selandian Stage overlaps with the lower part of the Tiffanian

North American Land Mammal Age The North American land mammal ages (NALMA) establishes a geologic timescale for North American fauna beginning during the Late Cretaceous and continuing through to the present. These periods are referred to as ages or intervals (or stages when ref ...

, the Peligran, Tiupampan and lower Itaboraian

South American Land Mammal Ages The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referred to as age ...

and part of the Nongshanian Asian Land Mammal Age. It is coeval with the lower part of the Wangerripian Stage from the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n regional timescale. The start of the Selandian represents a sharp depositional change in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

Basin, where there is a shift to

siliciclastic Siliciclastic (or ''siliclastic'') rocks are clastic noncarbonate sedimentary rocks that are composed primarily of silicate minerals, such as quartz or clay minerals. Siliciclasic rock types include mudrock, sandstone Sandstone is a clastic ...

deposition due to the uplift and erosion of the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

area after nearly 40 million years of calcium carbonate deposition. This change occurs at the same time as the onset of a

foreland basin A foreland basin is a structural basin that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithospher ...

formation in

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

due to compression between

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, suggesting a common tectonic cause that altered the relative motions of the

Greenland Plate The Greenland Plate is a supposed tectonic plate bounded to the west by Nares Strait, a probable transform fault; on the southwest by the Ungava transform underlying Davis Strait; on the southeast by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; and the northeast by th ...

and the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

. This plate reorganisation event is also manifest as a change in seafloor spreading direction in the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...

around this time.

Fauna and Flora

The fauna of the Selandian consisted of giant snakes (''

Titanoboa ''Titanoboa'' (; ) is an extinct genus of very large snakes that lived in what is now La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. They could grow up to , perhaps even long and reach a body mass of . This snake lived during the Middle to Late Paleoc ...

''), crocodiles,

champsosaur Choristodera (from the Greek χωριστός ''chōristos'' + δέρη ''dérē'', 'separated neck') is an extinct order of semiaquatic diapsid reptiles that ranged from the Middle Jurassic, or possibly Triassic, to the late Miocene (168 to ...

Gastornithiformes Gastornithiformes were an extinct order of giant flightless fowl with fossils found in North America, Eurasia, and possibly Australia. Members of Gastornithidae were long considered to be a part of the order Gruiformes. However, the traditiona ...

owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

; and a few archaic forms of mammals, such as Mesonychids,

Pantodonts Pantodonta is an extinct suborder (or, according to some, an order) of eutherian mammals. These herbivorous mammals were one of the first groups of large mammals to evolve (around 66 million years ago) after the end of the Cretaceous. The las ...

, primate relatives Plesiadapids, and Multiberculates. The flora was composed of cacti, ferns, and palm trees.

References

External links

GeoWhen Database - SelandianPaleogene timescale
at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS
Stratigraphic chart of the Paleogene
at the website of Norges Network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy {{coord, 43, 18, 02, N, 2, 15, 34, W, region:EH_type:landmark_source:kolossus-euwiki, display=title Paleocene geochronology Geological ages

Stratigraphic definition

Fauna and Flora

References

Further reading

External links