LATITUDINAL DISTRIBUTION OF PALEOTEMPERATURE ON LAND AND SEA FROM EARLY CRETACEOUS TO MIDDLE MIOCENE

Paleotemperature data from the oceans and the continents are summarize d for the interval from the early Cretaceous through the middle Miocen e. The data are contoured on diagrams of age vs latitude after adjustm ents for the known occurrences of seasonal ice and for estimated ice v olumes. Separate plots for oceans and continents indicate the warmest times for the oceans were the late Paleocene and the late Eocene and t he coolest were the early Oligocene and the early Cretaceous. Continen ts were warmest in the late Cretaceous and the late Eocene and coolest during the early Oligocene and the late Maastrichtian. Oceans were ch aracterized by cooler tropics and warmer higher latitudes than present and continents by strikingly higher temperatures than present over al l latitudes.