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Early Maastrichtian carbon cycle perturbation and cooling event: implications from the South Atlantic Ocean

Early Maastrichtian carbon cycle perturbation and cooling event: implications from the South Atlantic Ocean
Early Maastrichtian carbon cycle perturbation and cooling event: implications from the South Atlantic Ocean
Published stable isotope records in marine carbonate are characterized by a positive ?18O excursion associated with a negative ?13C shift during the early Maastrichtian. However, the cause and even the precise timing of these excursions remain uncertain. We have generated high-resolution foraminiferal stable isotope and grey scale records for the latest Campanian to early Maastrichtian (~73-68 Ma) at two Ocean Drilling Program sites, 525 (Walvis Ridge) and 690 (Weddell Sea). We demonstrate that the negative ?13C excursion is decoupled from the ?18O increase with a lag of about 600 kyr. Our ?13C records (both planktic and benthic) show an amplitude for the negative excursion of 0.7 ‰ that falls between about 72.1 and 70.7 Ma. Our planktic ?18O records indicate an overall increase of 1.2 ‰ from 73 to 68 Ma at Site 690, whereas at Site 525 they record a slightly smaller increase (~1 ‰) that peaks around 70.1 Ma with decreasing values thereafter. Our benthic ?18O data indicate an increase of ~1.5 ‰ at Site 525 and ~0.7 ‰ at Site 690 between about 71.4 and 69.9 Ma. Benthic ?18O values show different baseline values at the two sites before and after the excursion but the larger increase at Site 525 means that the values attained at the peak of the excursion are similar at the two sites. We interpret this observation in terms of water mass changes. The excursion is interpreted to reflect a cooling of bottom waters in response to the strengthening contribution of intermediate- to deep-water production in the high southern latitudes rather than increased ice volume. The associated carbon-cycle perturbations that we observe are interpreted to reflect a weakening of surface-water stratification and increased productivity, as supported by our grey value data.
0883-8305
PA2211
Friedrich, Oliver
680f066c-a4b1-4647-beb3-281addc1ee17
Herrle, Jens O.
aab0b651-7fad-4921-b543-2adf783f9097
Wilson, Paul A.
f940a9f0-fa5a-4a64-9061-f0794bfbf7c6
Cooper, Matthew J.
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
Erbacher, Jochen
77fb7ba3-7411-4331-aa09-c467cd9c43ba
Hemleben, Christoph
bcf47d84-13de-4fcf-824f-48026226a75d
Friedrich, Oliver
680f066c-a4b1-4647-beb3-281addc1ee17
Herrle, Jens O.
aab0b651-7fad-4921-b543-2adf783f9097
Wilson, Paul A.
f940a9f0-fa5a-4a64-9061-f0794bfbf7c6
Cooper, Matthew J.
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
Erbacher, Jochen
77fb7ba3-7411-4331-aa09-c467cd9c43ba
Hemleben, Christoph
bcf47d84-13de-4fcf-824f-48026226a75d

Friedrich, Oliver, Herrle, Jens O., Wilson, Paul A., Cooper, Matthew J., Erbacher, Jochen and Hemleben, Christoph (2009) Early Maastrichtian carbon cycle perturbation and cooling event: implications from the South Atlantic Ocean. Paleoceanography, 24, PA2211. (doi:10.1029/2008PA001654).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Published stable isotope records in marine carbonate are characterized by a positive ?18O excursion associated with a negative ?13C shift during the early Maastrichtian. However, the cause and even the precise timing of these excursions remain uncertain. We have generated high-resolution foraminiferal stable isotope and grey scale records for the latest Campanian to early Maastrichtian (~73-68 Ma) at two Ocean Drilling Program sites, 525 (Walvis Ridge) and 690 (Weddell Sea). We demonstrate that the negative ?13C excursion is decoupled from the ?18O increase with a lag of about 600 kyr. Our ?13C records (both planktic and benthic) show an amplitude for the negative excursion of 0.7 ‰ that falls between about 72.1 and 70.7 Ma. Our planktic ?18O records indicate an overall increase of 1.2 ‰ from 73 to 68 Ma at Site 690, whereas at Site 525 they record a slightly smaller increase (~1 ‰) that peaks around 70.1 Ma with decreasing values thereafter. Our benthic ?18O data indicate an increase of ~1.5 ‰ at Site 525 and ~0.7 ‰ at Site 690 between about 71.4 and 69.9 Ma. Benthic ?18O values show different baseline values at the two sites before and after the excursion but the larger increase at Site 525 means that the values attained at the peak of the excursion are similar at the two sites. We interpret this observation in terms of water mass changes. The excursion is interpreted to reflect a cooling of bottom waters in response to the strengthening contribution of intermediate- to deep-water production in the high southern latitudes rather than increased ice volume. The associated carbon-cycle perturbations that we observe are interpreted to reflect a weakening of surface-water stratification and increased productivity, as supported by our grey value data.

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Published date: 27 May 2009

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 65737
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/65737
ISSN: 0883-8305
PURE UUID: b088b03c-bc90-4fea-bb7e-49deb3854d49
ORCID for Paul A. Wilson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6425-8906
ORCID for Matthew J. Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2130-2759

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Date deposited: 19 Mar 2009
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: Oliver Friedrich
Author: Jens O. Herrle
Author: Paul A. Wilson ORCID iD
Author: Jochen Erbacher
Author: Christoph Hemleben

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