Re: Dinosaurs survived in Antarctica? (Was: Re: "Dinosaurs Died W ithin Hours After Asteroid Hit Earth...")

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Seymour Island is not the antarctic continent.

Of course it is. It's an island only in the sense in which Great Britain is
an island -- it's separated from the mainland by an epicontinental sea at
this particular moment in Earth history.

> For my eyes the maps show separation in late Cretaceous.

Yes, but judging from biogeography and climatology, the map is wrong in
this. (Climatology because the separation of SA and Antarctica and Australia
allows the circumpolar cold current to exist, and this allows Antarctica to
ice over. East Antarctica froze some 45 Ma ago, when Australia is thought to
have severed its last connection to Antarctica, and West Antarctica followed
some 10 Ma later when SA seemingly tore off.)

> For me it sounds very strange if there were feasible land bridges from
> South America to Australia in Eocene. If there were a connection: Where
> are the australian Eutheria / Xenarthra?

Who says they were able to cross the polar forest? Cold winters without
sunlight but probably with snow... Said polar forests are thought to have
been similar to today's temperate rainforests along the west coasts of NA
(northern California to southern Alaska) and SA (southern Chile). Species
adapted to living in tropical/paratropical rainforests, or subtropical
forests, may not have liked this type of environment.