Did the continent and sea have different temperatures in the northern Antarctic Peninsula during the Middle Eocene?

Abstract

The Seymour Island beds include a remarkable representation of the continental flora and fauna and marine fauna of Eocene in southern high latitudes. We suggest that, at least during the deposition of the best sampled unit, the Cucullaea I Allomember of the La Meseta Alloformation in the Seymour Island area, a cold temperate terrestrial environment co-existed with relatively warmer temperatures in the adjacent shallow shelf sea. This is suggested by the fish and invertebrate fauna and could have been due to the presence of warmer waters of a current reaching the region from the north. The temperature drop proposed for the time of deposition of the uppermost part of the La Meseta Formation (Submeseta Allomember) appears to correspond to the global drop of the end of the Eocene and beginning of Oligocene and not to the establishment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.