Cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning of the terrestrial upper Santonian-Lower Danian in Songliao Basin, northeastern China

- Astronomical forcing controlled Late Cretaceous continental sedimentation in NE China.
- An Astronomical Time Scale was established for the Upper Cretaceous in Songliao Basin.
- Ages and durations of magnetochrons C33r-C30n were recalibrated.
- A Late Campanian regional unconformity has a duration of ∼3.8 million years.

The Songke-1 north (SK-1n) borehole recovered a continuous, 1541.66 m Late Santonian-Early Danian terrestrial succession in Songliao Basin (SB), northeastern China. It provides a unique record for improving our understanding of continental paleoclimate and ecological system in Cretaceous greenhouse world. Here we use thorium (Th) logging data as a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxy to conduct a detailed cyclostratigraphic study on the SK-1n core. Power spectra, evolutionary fast Fourier transformation and wavelet analysis all reveal significant decameter- to meter-scale sedimentary cycles in the Nenjiang (K2n), Sifangtai (K2s) and Mingshui (K2m) formations. The ratios of cycle wavelengths in these stratigraphic units are ∼20:5:2:1, and are interpreted as Milankovitch cycles of 405 kyr and 100 kyr eccentricity, 38.4 kyr obliquity and 20 kyr precession cycles, respectively. An astronomical time scale (ATS) is established by tuning filtered 405 kyr eccentricity cycles to a target curve of the astronomical solution La2010d based on the magnetostratigraphic time framework of the SK-1n borehole. This ATS provides precise numerical ages for stratigraphic boundaries, biozones, geological and geophysical events, and serves as a basis for correlation of strata and events between marine and terrestrial systems. The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg), Campanian/Maastrichtian, Santonian/Campanian boundaries are estimated at core depths of 318 m, 752.8 m and 1751.1 m, respectively. A ∼3.8 myr-long hiatus between the Nenjiang (K2n) and Sifangtai (K2s) formations occurs from 76.1 to 79.9 million years ago. The ages and durations of magnetochrons C33r to C30n are precisely estimated and provide new constraints on the Late Cretaceous Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) and South Atlantic sea-floor spreading rates.