The Role of Antarctica in the Formation of the Cenozoic Climate and Contemporary Open Sea Abyssal Fauna

The key role of the Antarctic continent in the formation of the contemporary (Cenozoic) zonal-contrast climate and related geologically young (Postmesozoic) contemporary abyssal fauna of the World Ocean is discussed on the basis of the current concepts of pleitectonics, history of planetary climates, paleobiooceanology, and bioevolution. It has been shown that the flows of cold aerated near-Antarctic waters that started to descend in the open sea abyssal in the middle of Cenozoic were capable of substituting for previously (in Mesozoic) heated (up to 15–20°C) abyssal waters within only 1500–2000 years. Following the descending near-Antarctic waters, the shallow and cold water oxyphilic fauna assimilated the abyssal zone that had been warm water and weakly populated.