New paleomagnetic results from the Eureka Sound Group: Implications for the age of early Tertiary Arctic biota

Some 300 specimens from 101 sites were analyzed from sections spanning more than 2,000 m of lignitic carbonate and clastic rocks. The sediments belong to the lower Tertiary Eureka Sound Group and are exposed near Bay and Strathcona Fiords on Ellesmere Island. Paleomagnetic analysis suggests that remanence is carried by magnetite, and positive fold and reversals tests support an early (detrital or early post-depositional) acquisition of the characteristic magnetization. We correlate the local magnetostratigraphy to Chrons C25 and C26 of the time scale. Comparison of the magnetostratigraphic results obtained here with results from Paleocene/Eocene sections from Wyoming and Texas do not support a significant temporal discrepancy of faunal and floral assemblages between the Arctic and the southwestern United States.