Base camp during field work on Antarctica 2016. Photo: Benjamin Bomfleur
The Antarctic continent exposes Permian to Miocene strata, allowing a keyhole view into the evolution of Antarctic biota and ecosystems. It is an important place to understand the crucial biogeographic faunal turnover at the K/T (K/Pg) mass extinction.
The Antarctic Peninsula is also important as the dispersal corridor between South America and Australia. It is also the place to find more information about Antarctic biodiversity and paleoecology before, during, and after the dramatic Late Eocene cooling.
The goal of this project is to explore Triassic, Jurassic and Late Cretaceous to Eocene deposits for fossils, with a focus on vertebrates.
During the SWEDARP 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2014/15 expeditions and the GANOVEX IX 2015/16 expedition we collected thousands of vertebrate fossils as well as invertebrates and plants. As a result, the Swedish Museum of Natural History today houses one of the largest collections of Antarctic fossils. There have been several new scientific results based on this material:
Marcelo Reguero, Museo de La Plata, Argentina
Jürgen Kriwet, University Vienna, Austria
Benjamin Bomfleur, University of Münster, Germany
Piotr Jadwiszczak, University of Bialystok
Javier Gelfo, Museo de La Plata, Argentina
Cathrin Pfaff, University Vienna, Austria
Thomas Tütken, University of Mainz, Germany
Urszula Hara, Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute, Poland
Andreas Läufer, Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Germany
Andrea Engelbrecht, University Vienna, Austria
Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, Uppsala University, Sweden
Laura Crispini, University of Genova, Italy
Carolina Loch, University of Otago, New Zealand
Monica Buono, Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Davit Vasilyan, JURASSICA Museum, Porrentruy, Switzerland
Guiseppe Marrama, University Vienna, Austria
Gelfo, J.N., Mörs, T., Lorente, M., Lopez, G.M. & Reguero, M. (2015): The oldest mammals from Antarctica, early Eocene of La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island. Palaeontology, 58 (1): 101-110. DOI: 10.1111/pala.12121
Engelbrecht, A., Mörs, T., Reguero, M. & Kriwet, J. (2016): Revision of Eocene Antarctic carpet sharks (Elasmobranchii, Orectolobiformes) from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2016.1266048