Abstract
The organic-walled, hypnozygotic cysts of dinoflagellates (“dinocysts”) provide a rich, albeit incomplete, history of this eukaryotic plankton group in ancient sediments. Building on pioneering studies of the late 1970s and 1980s, recent ocean drilling and more detailed, integrated studies of surface sections have provided a wealth of dino-cyst data spanning the entire Paleogene. Based on multidisciplinary approaches, these studies have been instrumental in refining existing and furnishing new concepts of Paleogene paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions by means of dinocysts. Since dinocysts typically exhibit high abundances in neritic settings, the dinoeyst-based environmental and paleoclimatic information is complementary to that derived from typically more offshore groups such as planktonic foraminifera, coccolithophorids, diatoms, and radiolaria. While in a recent paper we gave a broad overview of case studies from around the globe (Sluijs et al. 2005), here we focus on a summary of these analyses and present a synopsis of applied paleoecological concepts in Paleogene (65–24 ma) dinocyst studies. Representing Earth’s greenhouse-icehouse transition, this episode holds the key to the understanding of extreme transient climatic change. The present paper offers guidelines for the application of dinocyst palaeoecology to the reconstruction of Paleogene sea-surface productivity, temperature, salinity, stratification, and paleo-oxygenation as well as their application in sequence stratigraphy, oceanic circulation and general watermass reconstructions.
Kurzfassung
Die organischwandigen, hypnozygoten Zysten von Dinoflagellaten („Dinozysten“) spiegeln die Entwicklung dieser eukaryoten Planktongruppe in der Erdgeschichte wider, wobei dieser Fossilbericht allerdings nicht vollständig ist, da er auf Zysten beruht. Aufbauend auf ersten richtungsweisenden Arbeiten der späten 70er und 80er Jahre haben neue, integrierende Untersuchungen an marinen Kernbohrungen und Landaufschlüssen zu einer Fülle neuer Erkenntnisse über Dinozysten des gesamten Paläogens geführt. Diese waren maßgeblich daran beteiligt, dass bestehende Vorstellungen zur Paläoumwelt- und Paläoklimaentwicklung des Paläogens verfeinert und neue Vorstellungen entwickelt werden konnten. Da Dinozysten üblicher Weise in neritischen Ablagerungsräumen häufig vorkommen, liefern die aus ihnen abgeleiteten Paläoumwelt- und Paläoklimasignale eine wertvolle Ergänzung zu den Signalen von Planktongruppen mit eher offenmarinem Verbreitungsschwerpunkt wie planktischen Foraminiferen, Coccolithophoriden, Diatomeen und Radiolarien. Da der Zeitraum des Paläogens den Übergang vom Treibhaus- zum Eishausklima der Erde umfasst, spielt er eine Schlüsselrolle zum Verständnis extremen Klimawandels auf kurzfristigen Zeitskalen. In einem vor kurzem erschienenen Beitrag (Sluijs et al. 2005) gaben wir einen Überblick über Fallstudien zur Dinozysten-Ökologie aus dem Paläogen (65–24 ma) beider Hemisphären. Der vorliegende Beitrag präsentiert eine Zusammenfassung dieser Fallstudien und gibt eine Synopsis der verwendeten paläoökologischen Konzepte. Er bietet Leitlinien für die Verwendung der Paläoökologie von Dinozysten zur Rekonstruktion von Ober-flächenwasserproduktivität, -temperatur, -Salzgehalt, -stratifizierung, zur Rekonstruktion der Sauerstoff Versorgung sowie zur Nutzung dieser Signale in der Sequenzstratigraphic und bei der Rekonstruktion ozeanischer Zirkulationsmuster während des Paläogens.
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Pross, J., Brinkhuis, H. Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts as paleoenvironmental indicators in the Paleogene; a synopsis of concepts. Paläontol Z 79, 53–59 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03021753
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03021753
Keywords
- (Marine) eukaryotic plankton
- dinoflagellates
- organic-walled hypnozygotic cysts
- paleoecology
- paleoenvironment
- paleoclimate
- Paleogene