Deep circulation in the Late Cretaceous: Oxygen isotope paleotemperatures from Inoceramus remains in D.S.D.P. cores

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(82)90088-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Inoceramus is an epibenthic bivalve which lived in a wide variety of paleoenvironments encompassing a broad range of paleodepths. A survey of all Cretaceous sediments from Deep Sea Drilling Project legs 1–69 and 75 revealed over 500 Inoceramus specimens at twenty sites. Of these, 47 well-preserved Late Cretaceous specimens from the South Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans were analyzed for oxygen and carbon isotopes. The specimens exhibit small internal isotopic variability and oxygen isotopic paleotemperatures that are consistent with a deep-sea habitat. Paleotemperatures ranging from 5 to 16°C show that Late Cretaceous oceans were significantly warmer than the present oceans. The data suggest that deep water was formed both by cooling at high latitudes and by evaporation in the subtropics.

References (32)

  • G.W. Brass et al.

    Ocean circulation, plate tectonics and climate

  • H. Craig

    The measurement of oxygen isotope paleotemperatures

  • H. Craig et al.
  • E.T. Degens et al.

    Stratified waters as a key to the past

    Nature

    (1976)
  • R.G. Douglas et al.

    Isotopic analysis of planktonic foraminifera from the Cenozoic of the northwest Pacific, Leg. 6.

    Init. Rep. Deep Sea Drill. Proj.

    (1971)
  • R.G. Douglas et al.

    Oxygen and carbon isotope analyses of Cretaceous and Tertiary foraminifera from the central north Pacific

    Init. Rep. Deep Sea Drill. Proj.

    (1973)
  • Cited by (74)

    • Climate paleogeography knowledge graph and deep time paleoclimate classifications

      2023, Geoscience Frontiers
      Citation Excerpt :

      The nearest living relatives of fossil plants are also unambiguous (Bowman et al., 2014). In addition, a lot of paleoclimatic studies had been conducted both based on the geological proxies and paleoclimate modeling (Saltzman and Barron, 1982; Upchurch et al., 1998; de Bar et al., 2019; Schlanser et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019), which provide abundant quantitative paleoclimatic data. For Boucot’s classification, a total of 397 climatically sensitive deposits during the Coniacian-Maastrichtian are used (Boucot et al., 2013).

    • The giant inoceramid Platyceramus platinus as a high-resolution paleoclimate archive for the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior Seaway

      2018, Cretaceous Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Inoceramids were marine benthic bivalves that occurred worldwide and were one of the most abundant bivalve taxon among Late Cretaceous macrofaunas (Saltzman and Barron, 1982; Dhondt, 1992; Voigt, 1995; MacLeod and Huber, 1996).

    • Extinction, dissolution, and possible ocean acidification prior to the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary in the tropical Pacific

      2017, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
      Citation Excerpt :

      During the Cretaceous, inoceramids were common in many benthic marine communities. They were found globally at all latitudes and wide paleodepths (Saltzman and Barron, 1982; MacLeod et al., 1996). Their extinction was diachronous over a 3–4 Myr time span first at high latitudes at ~ 72 Ma, followed by low latitude regions ~ 68–69 Ma (MacLeod, 1994a; MacLeod et al., 1996; MacLeod and Huber, 1996; Crame and Luther, 1997; Chauris et al., 1998; this study).

    • Greenhouse Climates

      2013, Treatise on Geochemistry: Second Edition
    • <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr ratios in inoceramids (Bivalvia) and carbonate matrix as indicators of differential diagenesis during burial. Early Maastrichtian Bay of Biscay sections (Spain and France). Potential use for chemostratigraphy?

      2008, Cretaceous Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      The most accepted scenario to explain this extinction is a change in ocean circulation. The sluggish circulation of dense, warm, deep-ocean waters changed to vigorous, deep, cold, and oxygen-rich Antarctic waters (Saltzmann et al., 1982; Barron et al., 1984; Barrera and Huber, 1990; Huber, 1990; Thomas, 1990). Both inoceramid and carbonate matrix oxygen isotope records from Member II of the Sopelana II, Sopelana I, and Zumaya sections (Basque-Cantabrian Basin) indicate that inoceramid disappearance is associated with a positive shift in the δ18O values (Gómez-Alday, 2002; Gómez-Alday and Elorza, 2003).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text