ALBERT

Description: Recognizing and deciphering transient global warming events triggered by massive release of carbon into Earth's ocean-atmosphere climate system in the past are important for understanding climate under elevated pCO2 conditions. Here we present new high-resolution geochemical records including benthic foraminiferal stable isotope data with clear evidence of a short-lived (30 kyr) warming event at 41.52 Ma. The event occurs in the late Lutetian within magnetochron C19r and is characterized by a ∼2°C warming of the deep ocean in the southern South Atlantic. The magnitudes of the carbon and oxygen isotope excursions of the Late Lutetian Thermal Maximum are comparable to the H2 event (53.6 Ma) suggesting a similar response of the climate system to carbon cycle perturbations even in an already relatively cooler climate several million years after the Early Eocene Climate Optimum. Coincidence of the event with exceptionally high insolation values in the Northern Hemisphere at 41.52 Ma might indicate that Earth's climate system has a thermal threshold. When this tipping point is crossed, rapid positive feedback mechanisms potentially trigger transient global warming. The orbital configuration in this case could have caused prolonged warm and dry season leading to a massive release of terrestrial carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system initiating environmental change. © 2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Description: The Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene is the most recent period in Earth history that experienced sustained global greenhouse warmth on multimillion year timescales. Yet, knowledge of ambient climate conditions and the complex interplay between various forcing mechanisms are still poorly constrained. Here we present a 14.75 million‐year‐long, high‐resolution, orbitally tuned record of paired climate change and carbon‐cycling for this enigmatic period (~67–52 Ma), which we compare to an up‐to‐date compilation of atmospheric pCO2 records. Our climate and carbon‐cycling records, which are the highest resolution stratigraphically complete records to be constructed from a single marine site in the Atlantic Ocean, feature all major transient warming events (termed “hyperthermals”) known from this time period. We identify eccentricity as the dominant pacemaker of climate and the carbon cycle throughout the Late Maastrichtian to Early Eocene, through the modulation of precession. On average, changes in the carbon cycle lagged changes in climate by ~23,000 years at the long eccentricity (405,000‐year) band, and by ~3,000–4,500 years at the short eccentricity (100,000‐year) band, suggesting that light carbon was released as a positive feedback to warming induced by orbital forcing. Our new record places all known hyperthermals of the Late Maastrichtian–Early Eocene into temporal context with regards to evolving ambient climate of the time. We constrain potential carbon cycle influences of Large Igneous Province volcanism associated with the Deccan Traps and North Atlantic Igneous Province, as well as the sensitivity of climate and the carbon‐cycle to the 2.4 million‐year‐long eccentricity cycle.

Description: To explore cause and consequences in past climate reconstructions highly accuracy age models are inevitable. The highly accurate astronomical calibration of the geological time scale beyond 40 million years critically depends on the accuracy of orbital models and radio-isotopic dating techniques. Discrepancies in the age dating of sedimentary successions and the lack of suitable records spanning the middle Eocene have prevented development of a continuous astronomically calibrated geological timescale for the entire Cenozoic Era. We now solve this problem by constructing an independent astrochronological stratigraphy based on Earth's stable 405 kyr eccentricity cycle between 41 and 48 million years ago (Ma) with new data from deep-sea sedimentary sequences in the South Atlantic Ocean. This new link completes the Paleogene astronomical time scale and confirms the intercalibration of radio-isotopic and astronomical dating methods back through the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.930 Ma) and the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (66.022 Ma). Coupling of the Paleogene 405 kyr cyclostratigraphic frameworks across the middle Eocene further paves the way for extending the Astronomical Time Scale (ATS) into the Mesozoic.

Description: To explore cause and consequences of past climate change, very accurate age models such as those provided by the astronomical timescale (ATS) are needed. Beyond 40 million years the accuracy of the ATS critically depends on the correctness of orbital models and radioisotopic dating techniques. Discrepancies in the age dating of sedimentary successions and the lack of suitable records spanning the middle Eocene have prevented development of a continuous astronomically calibrated geological timescale for the entire Cenozoic Era. We now solve this problem by constructing an independent astrochronological stratigraphy based on Earth's stable 405 kyr eccentricity cycle between 41 and 48 million years ago (Ma) with new data from deep-sea sedimentary sequences in the South Atlantic Ocean. This new link completes the Paleogene astronomical timescale and confirms the intercalibration of radioisotopic and astronomical dating methods back through the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.930 Ma) and the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (66.022 Ma). Coupling of the Paleogene 405 kyr cyclostratigraphic frameworks across the middle Eocene further paves the way for extending the ATS into the Mesozoic.

Description: Highlights • Multi-proxy, multi-site reconstruction of Okhotsk Sea palaeo-productivity and mid-depth ventilation changes from 8 to 18 ka. • Link between hinterland river discharge and downstream Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW) ventilation/nutrient signatures. • Surplus Fe, Si(OH)4 export in OSIW during Bølling-Allerød to pelagic Pacific supported transient nutrient-replete conditions. • Subarctic and subtropical Pacific gyres disconnected during Bølling-Allerød, with restricted OSIW flow to lower latitudes. • Deglacial OSIW export and mid-depth Pacific biogeochemistry modulate millennial-scale regional CO2 source/sink conditions. The modern North Pacific plays a critical role in marine biogeochemical cycles, as an oceanic sink of CO2 and by bearing some of the most productive and least oxygenated waters of the World Ocean. The capacity to sequester CO2 is limited by efficient nutrient supply to the mixed layer, particularly from deeper water masses in the Pacific's subarctic and marginal seas. The region is in addition only weakly ventilated by North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW), which receives its characteristics from Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW). Here, we present reconstructions of intermediate water ventilation and productivity variations in the Okhotsk Sea that cover the last glacial termination between eight and 18 ka, based on a set of high-resolution sediment cores from sites directly downstream of OSIW formation. In a multi-proxy approach, we use total organic carbon (TOC), chlorin, biogenic opal, and CaCO3 concentrations as indicators for biological productivity. C/N ratios and XRF scanning-derived elemental ratios (Si/K and Fe/K), as well as chlorophycean algae counts document changes in Amur freshwater and sediment discharge that condition the OSIW. Stable carbon isotopes of epi- and shallow endobenthic foraminifera, in combination with 14C analyses of benthic and planktic foraminifera imply decreases in OSIW oxygenation during deglacial warm phases from c. 14.7 to 13 ka (Bølling-Allerød) and c. 11.4 to 9 ka (Preboreal). No concomitant decreases in Okhotsk Sea benthic-planktic ventilation ages are observed, in contrast to nearby, but southerly locations on the Japan continental margin. We attribute Okhotsk Sea mid-depth oxygenation decreases in times of enhanced organic matter supply to maxima in remineralization within OSIW, in line with multi-proxy evidence for maxima in primary productivity and supply of organic matter. Sedimentary C/N and Fe/K ratios indicate more effective entrainment of nutrients into OSIW and thus an increased nutrient load of OSIW during deglacial warm periods. Correlation of palynological and sedimentological evidence from our sites with hinterland reference records suggests that millennial-scale changes in OSIW oxygen and nutrient concentrations were largely influenced by fluvial freshwater runoff maxima from the Amur, caused by a deglacial northeastward propagation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon that increased precipitation and temperatures, in conjunction with melting of permafrost in the Amur catchment area. We suggest that OSIW ventilation minima and the high lateral supply of nutrients and organic matter during the Allerød and Preboreal are mechanistically linked to concurrent maxima in nutrient utilization and biological productivity in the subpolar Northwest Pacific. In this scenario, increased export of nutrients from the Okhotsk Sea during deglacial warm phases supported subarctic Pacific shifts from generally Fe-limiting conditions to transient nutrient-replete regimes through enhanced advection of mid-depth nutrient- and Fe-rich OSIW into the upper ocean. This mechanism may have moderated the role of the subarctic Pacific in the deglacial CO2 rise on millennial timescales by combining the upwelling of old carbon-rich waters with a transient delivery of mid-depth-derived bio-available Fe and silicate.

Description: The astronomical time scale for the Paleocene is hampered by some uncertainties including discrepant number of 405-kyr eccentricity related cycles and correlation schemes among key records being proposed by different authors (Westerhold et al., 2008; Kuiper et al., 2008; Hilgen et al., 2010). Here we present a new Danian correlation framework resolved at the ~100-kyr short-eccentricity level between the land-based Zumaia and Sopelana hemipelagic sections from the Basque Basin and deep-sea records drilled during ODP Legs 198 (Shatsky Rise, North Pacific) and 208 (Walvis Ridge, South Atlantic) that reconciles both the magnetostratigraphy and the short and longeccentricity cycle patterns among the records and, hence, improves synchroneity of events. The correlation has been aided by composite images from ODP cores and a new wholerock 13C isotope record at Zumaia while its original magnetostratigraphy (Dinarès-Turell et al., 2003; 2010) is reinforced by new data from Sopelana. Notably, we challenge the correlation of the Pacific Sites 1209–1210 that were offset by as much as one 405-kyr cycle in previous interpretations (i.e., the Fasciculithus spp. LO, which approximates the Danian–Selandian (D–S) boundary, and the “Top chron C27n” climatic event were at odds between oceans in the interpretation of Hilgen et al. (2010). It is found that the Danian consists of 11 (and not 10) consecutive 405-kyr eccentricity cycles. The new consistent stratigraphic framework enables accurate estimates to be made of ages for magnetostratigraphic boundaries, bioevents, and sedimentation rates. Low sedimentation rates appear common in all records in the mid- Danian interval along the upper part of chron C28n, including conspicuous condensed intervals in some of the oceanic records that in the past have hampered the proper identification of cycles. The new chronological framework, spanning a duration of about 4.5 My, allows assessing the role of orbital forcing on the paleoclimatic variability as registered by the related isotope records. It appears clear that there exists a periodic beat at the 100-ky and 405-ky eccentricity cycles impressed in the record. The phase relationship between the benthic isotope record and eccentricity is similar to patterns documented for the Oligocene and Miocene, as indicated by others, confirming the role of orbital forcing as the pace maker for paleoclimatic variability on Milankovitch time scales. The preferred tuning to the La2011 orbital solution provides astronomically calibrated ages of 66.022±0.040 Ma and 61.607±0.040 Ma for the (D–S) and Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundaries respectively. Finally, we envisage that the Zumaia section, which already hosts the Selandian GSSP, could serve as the global Danian stratotype.

Description: Published

Description: 64-65

Description: 1A. Geomagnetismo e Paleomagnetismo

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: restricted

Description: We present a new Danian correlation framework between the land-based Zumaia and Sopelana sections from the Basque Basin and marine-based sections drilled during ODP Legs 198 (Shatsky Rise, North Pacific) and 208 (Walvis Ridge, South Atlantic) that reconciles magnetostratigraphy and the short and long eccentricity cycle patterns among the records. A new whole-rock d13C isotope record at Zumaia is compared to that of Site 1262. This allows the question of whether the Danian consists of 10 or 11 consecutive 405-kyr eccentricity cycles to be tested. The new consistent stratigraphic framework enables accurate estimates to be made of ages for magnetostratigraphic boundaries, bioevents, and sedimentation rates. Low sedimentation rates appear common in all records in the mid-Danian interval along the upper part of chron C28n, including conspicuous condensed intervals in some of the oceanic records that in the past have hampered the proper identification of cycles. Notably, we challenge the correlation to the Pacific Sites 1209–1210 that were offset by as much as one 405-kyr cycle in previous interpretations (i.e., the Fasciculithus spp. LO, which approximates the Danian–Selandian boundary, and the TC27n event were at odds between oceans in the interpretation of Hilgen et al. 2010). Finally, we envisage that the Zumaia section, which already hosts the Selandian GSSP, could serve as the global Danian stratotype.

Description: Published

Description: Lisbona

Description: 1A. Geomagnetismo e Paleomagnetismo

Description: restricted

Description: The evolution of the Australian monsoon in relation to high-latitude temperature fluctuations over the last termination remains highly enigmatic. Here we integrate high-resolution riverine runoff and dust proxy data from X-ray fluorescence scanner measurements in four well-dated sediment cores, forming a NE–SW transect across the Timor Sea. Our records reveal that the development of the Australian monsoon closely followed the deglacial warming history of Antarctica. A minimum in riverine runoff documents dry conditions throughout the region during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (15–12.9 ka). Massive intensification of the monsoon coincided with Southern Hemisphere warming and intensified greenhouse forcing over Australia during the atmospheric CO2 rise at 12.9–10 ka. We relate the earlier onset of the monsoon in the Timor Strait (13.4 ka) to regional changes in landmass exposure during deglacial sea-level rise. A return to dryer conditions occurred between 8.1 and 7.3 ka following the early Holocene runoff maximum.