During the transgressions experienced during the Late Cretaceous, the inland sea within the Kristianstad Basin remained very shallow, and its northern parts formed an archipelago with several low islands and a number of small peninsulas.
The climate was subtropical to temperate and local plant life included low-growing flowering plants, ferns, conifers and deciduous trees.

Most of the area preserved in the Kristianstad Basin was a shallow marine inner shelf environment, as indicated by the present invertebrate fauna (which has been compared to modern faunas).
Most of the water was probably less than 40 meters (131 ft) deep, but there were a wide range of environments present.
These environments included rocky and sandy beach areas, drowned river valleys and neritic and deeper offshore environments.
There were shallow and protected coastal bays as well as coastal waters that were significantly deeper.

Some structures within the rocks of the Basin, combined with the often fragmented and broken condition of the fossils recovered, indicates that the Cretaceous environment was a high-energy environment (one in which the water is fast-moving and agitated, created by waves and currents).

During the Late Cretaceous, the Kristianstad region was home to a diverse marine fauna.
The composition of the local fauna was characteristic of shallow marine life of an inner shelf community and included abundant algae, brachiopods, bryozoans, molluscs (including bivalves, gastropods, belemnites and the ammonites Baculites and Hauericeras), sea urchins, serpulids, decapods (such as Protocallianassa) and sponges.
Additionally, fish (including a vast array of sharks) were also common and fossils of many species of reptiles, most of them marine, have also been found, including mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sea turtles, crocodylmorphs and a few dinosaurs.
During the transgressions experienced during the Late Cretaceous, the inland sea within the Kristianstad Basin remained very shallow, and its northern parts formed an archipelago with several low islands and a number of small peninsulas. The climate was subtropical to temperate and local plant life included low-growing flowering plants, ferns, conifers and deciduous trees.
Most of the area preserved in the Kristianstad Basin was a shallow marine inner shelf environment, as indicated by the present invertebrate fauna (which has been compared to modern faunas). Most of the water was probably less than 40 meters (131 ft) deep, but there were a wide range of environments present. These environments included rocky and sandy beach areas, drowned river valleys and neritic and deeper offshore environments. There were shallow and protected coastal bays as well as coastal waters that were significantly deeper.
Some structures within the rocks of the Basin, combined with the often fragmented and broken condition of the fossils recovered, indicates that the Cretaceous environment was a high-energy environment (one in which the water is fast-moving and agitated, created by waves and currents).
During the Late Cretaceous, the Kristianstad region was home to a diverse marine fauna. The composition of the local fauna was characteristic of shallow marine life of an inner shelf community and included abundant algae, brachiopods, bryozoans, molluscs (including bivalves, gastropods, belemnites and the ammonites Baculites and Hauericeras), sea urchins, serpulids, decapods (such as Protocallianassa) and sponges. Additionally, fish (including a vast array of sharks) were also common and fossils of many species of reptiles, most of them marine, have also been found, including mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sea turtles, crocodylmorphs and a few dinosaurs.
Kristianstad Basin