Abstract:

The Earth Surface System is a complicated system which includes geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The Cretaceous is a fantastic research example, when some important events occurred in the Earth Surface System. During the Late Cretaceous, the huge mantle plume brought ocean floor accelerated spreading and it caused the formation of many oceanic plateaus. At the same time, the South and North Atlantic became connected. A new gateway which may take an important role in ocean cycling was formed. The volume increasing elevated the sea level 200300 m higher than today, and massive transgression reached its maximum during the midLate Cretaceous. In this process, volcanic activity and increased land surface eroding provide a large number of nutritious elements for ocean. They made a worldwide alimental and anoxic ocean environment. The releasing carbon dioxide led to a “greenhouse climate”, of which the paleotemperature reached a high level (about 10 ℃ higher than today). CORB (Cretaceous Ocean Red Beds) is a newly introduced geological event, and it has been accepted by scientists from different countries. After more than twenty years research, it has been defined as a group of red, pink and/or brown finegrained pelagic marine sedimentary deposits in oxidized, oligotrophic and low production environments. These events in the Earth Surface System coupled each other in the form of energy cycling including element (e.g. C, S, P, H, O etc.) cycling. And they drove the Earth Surface System to change more actively. But a prevalent conclusion of the change mechanism has not been reached yet because of less Cretaceous continental sedimentary research. The wide distributed Cretaceous continental sedimentary record in China and the accomplishment of the project of “Cretaceous Scientific Drilling” provided the advantage of material for the research. They are the keys to the study of Cretaceous Earth Surface System.

Key words:

Key words: Cretaceous; Earth Surface System; geological event; sedimentary record; CORB