Paleogeographic changes have significantly shaped ocean circulation and climate dynamics throughout Earth’s history. This study integrates geological proxies with climate simulations to assess how ocean gateway evolution influenced ocean salinity near the end of the Mesozoic (~66 Ma). Ourmodeling results demonstrate that 1) Central American Seaway shoaling reorganizes ocean currents, and 2) Arctic marine gateway restrictions, confining Arctic–Global Ocean exchange exclusively to the Greenland–Norwegian Seaway, drive Arctic Ocean surface freshening and southward outflow of buoyant, low-salinity waters. However, only the combined effect of these two factors leads to both Arctic freshening and increased water mass stratification in the Greenland–Norwegian Seaway, proto-North Atlantic, and the Western Tethys. This scenario aligns with Maastrichtian palynological, micropaleontological, and geochemical records from high- and low latitude sites. Our findings highlight the profound impact of these latest Cretaceous paleogeographic reconfigurations in altering global salinity patterns, underscoring their role as key drivers of global climate dynamics.

This work was supported by grant PID2022-136233NB-I00 funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033/and by ERDF A way to make Europe. Vicente Gilabert acknowledges support from Ministerio de Universidades (MIU) and European Union (Margarita Salas post-doctoral grant) funded by European Union-NextGeneration EU.