[1] Oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate from vertebrate tooth enamel were measured to determine the evolution of tropical sea surface (<$200 m depth) O values of fish tooth enamel (up to 22.3%) could reflect the arrival of a cold water current from the Arctic during the opening of the North Sea rift. An apparent large drop of temperatures from 28 to 21°C is identified at the Callovian-Oxfordian boundary over no more than %2-3 Myr. This cooling is compatible with previous paleobotanical and geochemical studies and can be precisely correlated with the migration of boreal ammonites into the Tethyan domain. Because isotopic sea surface temperatures are probably too low to be compatible with tropical climatic conditions, the d
18O value of seawater could have been >0% owing to limited growth of continental ice during the early middle Oxfordian. The resulting sea level fall is estimated to be at least 50 m and is compatible with a global regression stage. The middle Oxfordian thermal minimum is followed by a new warming stage of 3-4°C from the middle to the late Oxfordian.
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