The beginning of free circulation of Atlantic Ocean waters

Abstract

The final opening of the Atlantic Ocean was dated with reasonable precision using continuously cored sedimentological and paleontological sections from Muribeca and Riachuelo formations, deposited during the transitional and marine phases of the Sergipe Basin. The last link between America and Africa, in the Paraiba region, was probably broken during the Neoaptian, and since then the free circulation of the Atlantic Ocean waters was possible. This interpretation is corroborated by the presence of planktonic Tethian fauna.