Extreme warming of tropical waters during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Aze, T.; Pearson, P.N.; Dickson, A.J.; Badger, M.P.S.; Bown, P.R.; Pancost, R.D.; Gibbs, S.J.; Huber, B.T.; Leng, M.J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-5166; Coe, A.L.; Cohen, A.S.; Foster, G.L.. 2014 Extreme warming of tropical waters during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Geology, 42 (9). 739-742. 10.1130/G35637.1
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Abstract/Summary
The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), ca. 56 Ma, was a major global environmental perturbation attributed to a rapid rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Geochemical records of tropical sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) from the PETM are rare and are typically affected by post-depositional diagenesis. To circumvent this issue, we have analyzed oxygen isotope ratios (d18O) of single specimens of exceptionally well-preserved planktonic foraminifera from the PETM in Tanzania (~19°S paleolatitude), which yield extremely low d18O, down to <–5‰. After accounting for changes in seawater chemistry and pH, we estimate from the foraminifer d18O that tropical SSTs rose by >3 °C during the PETM and may have exceeded 40 °C. Calcareous plankton are absent from a large part of the Tanzania PETM record; extreme environmental change may have temporarily caused foraminiferal exclusion.
Item Type: | Publication - Article |
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | 10.1130/G35637.1 |
ISSN: | 0091-7613 |
Date made live: | 05 Sep 2014 14:08 +0 (UTC) |
URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/508323 |
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