Early Cretaceous palaeogeography of the Russian Platform

Abstract

Abstract This paper summarizes the data on the Early Cretaceous palaeogeography of the Russian Platform (RP) in the context of the development of the Northeastern Peritethys. One of the main features of the region is the constant mutual influence of the Tethyan and Boreal water masses (WMs) through the system of straits. The latest Volgian–Barremian development of the RP basin was under major influence of the Boreal WM. It differs from the Aptian–Albian interval, which formed under major influence of Tethyan and Peritethyan WMs. Zonal biostratigraphy reflects the type of marine biota related to the type of WM. The WM movement was interrupted by several episodes of exposition of the southern margin of the RP, the Berriasian–Barremian interval, or almost the whole platform, in the late middle–late Aptian.