The Selandian is a stage in the Paleocene. It spans the time between 61.66 and59.24 Ma. It is preceded by the Danian and followed by the Thanetian.[4] Sometimes[when?] the Paleocene is subdivided[by whom?] 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 island of Zealand (Danish: Sjælland) given its prevalence there.[5]
The start of the Selandian represents a sharp depositional change in the North Sea Basin, where there is a shift to siliciclastic deposition due to the uplift and erosion of the Scotland-Shetland area after nearly 40 million years of calcium carbonate deposition.[7] This change occurs at the same time as the onset of a foreland basin formation in Spitsbergen due to compression between Greenland and Svalbard,[8] suggesting a common tectonic cause that altered the relative motions of the Greenland Plate and the Eurasian Plate. This plate reorganisation event is also manifest as a change in seafloor spreading direction in the Labrador Sea around this time.[9]
^See for example Arenillas et al. (2008) or Bernaola et al. (2009) for a description of the Danian-Selandidan boundary
^Clemmensen A, Thomsen E (2005). "Palaeoenvironmental changes across the Danian–Selandian boundary in the North Sea Basin". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 219 (3–4): 351–394. Bibcode:2005PPP...219..351C. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.01.005.
Arenillas I, Molina E, Ortiz S, Schmitz B (2008). "Foraminiferal and δ13C isotopic event-stratigraphy across the Danian-Selandian transition at Zumaya (northern Spain): chronostratigraphic implications". Terra Nova. 20 (1): 38–44. Bibcode:2008TeNov..20...38A. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2007.00784.x. S2CID129044742.
Bernaola G, Martín-Rubio M, Baceta JI (2009). "New high resolution calcareous nannofossil analysis across the Danian-Selandian transition at the Zumaia section: comparisons with South Tethys and Danish sections". Geologica Acta. 7 (1–2): 79–92.
Rosenkrantz A (March 1921). "En ny københavnsk Lokalitet for forsteningsførende Paleocæn". Meddelelser Fra Dansk Geologisk Forening (in Danish). 5: 1–10.
Rosenkrantz A (1924). "De københavnske Grønsandslag og deres Placering i den danske Lagrække". Meddelelser Fra Dansk Geologisk Forening (in Danish). 6: 1–39.