Publication Date:
2014-09-18
Description:
Present day oceans are generally well ventilated except mid-depth oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) under high surface water productivity regimes, regions of sluggish circulation, and restricted marginal basins. In the Mesozoic, however, entire oceanic basins transiently became dysoxic or even anoxic. In particular the Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Events (OAEs) were characterised by laminated organic-carbon rich shales and low-oxygen indicating trace fossil assemblages preserved in the sedimentary record. Yet both, qualitative and quantitative assessments of intensity and extent of Cretaceous near-bottom water oxygenation have been hampered by deep or long-term diagenesis and the evolution of marine biota serving as oxygen indicators in today's ocean. Sedimentary features similar to those found in Cretaceous strata were observed in deposits underlying Recent OMZs, where bottom-water oxygen levels, the flux of organic matter, and benthic life are well known. Their implications for constraining past bottom-water oxygenation are addressed in this review, with emphasis on comparing OMZ sediments from the Peruvian upwelling with deposits of the late Cenomanian OAE 2 from the Atlantic NW African shelf. Holocene laminated sediments were encountered at bottom-water oxygen levels of
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
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