Climatic evolution on the southeastern margin of the Tethys (Negev, Israel) from the Palaeocene to the early Eocene: focus on the late Palaeocene thermal maximum

Bolle, M. P.; Pardo, Alfonso; Adatte, Thierry; Salis, Katharina von; Burns, S.

doi:10.1144/jgs.157.5.929

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…For the Tethyan region, Bolle et al (1998Bolle et al ( , 1999Bolle et al ( , 2000a,b,c) investigated several areas at the southern Tethyan margin (Tunisia, Egypt, Israel) and northern Tethyan margin (Spain, Kazakhstan) and summarized the Paleogene climatic evolution of the Tethys (Bolle and Adatte, 2001) including additional settings from western Europe (Spain, England). During the early Paleocene the Tethyan region was characterized by a warm and humid climate with high precipitation (Bolle and Adatte, 2001).…”

Section: Precipitation Runoff and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Late Paleocene–early Eocene Tethyan carbonate platform evolution — A response to long- and short-term paleoclimatic change

Scheibner

Speijer

2008

Earth-Science Reviews

178

163

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The early Paleogene experienced the most pronounced long-term warming trend of the Cenozoic, superimposed by transient warming events such as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The consequences of climatic perturbations and associated changes on the evolution of carbonate platforms are relatively unexplored. Today, modern carbonate platforms, especially coral reefs are highly sensitive to environmental and climatic change, which raises the question how (sub)tropical reef systems of the early Paleogene reacted to gradual and sudden global warming, eutrophication of shelf areas, enhanced CO 2 levels in an ocean with low Mg/Ca ratios. The answer to this question may help to investigate the fate of modern coral reef systems in times of global warming and rising CO 2 levels. Here we present a synthesis of Tethyan carbonate platform evolution in the early Paleogene (~59-55 Ma) concentrating on coral reefs and larger foraminifera, two important organism groups during this time interval. We discuss and evaluate the importance of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors leading to the dissimilar evolution of both groups during the early Paleogene. Detailed analyses of two carbonate platform areas at low (Egypt) and middle (Spain) paleolatitudes and comparison with faunal patterns of coeval platforms retrieved from the literature led to the distinction of three evolutionary stages in the late Paleocene to early Eocene Tethys: Stage I, late Paleocene coralgal-dominated platforms at low to middle paleolatitudes; stage II, a transitional latest Paleocene platform stage with coralgal reefs dominating at middle paleolatitudes and larger foraminifera-dominated (Miscellanea, Ranikothalia, Assilina) platforms at low paleolatitudes; and stage III, early Eocene larger foraminifera-dominated (Alveolina, Orbitolites, Nummulites) platforms at low to middle paleolatitudes. The onset of the latter prominent larger foraminifera-dominated platform correlates with the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum. The causes for the change from coral-dominated platforms to larger foraminifera-dominated platforms are multilayered. The decline of coralgal reefs in low latitudes during platform stage II is related to overall warming, leading to sea-surface temperatures in the tropics beyond the maximum temperature range of corals. The overall low occurrence of coral reefs in the Paleogene might be related to the presence of a calcite sea. At the same time larger foraminifera started to flourish after their near extinction at the Cretaceous/ Paleogene boundary. The demise of coralgal reefs at all studied paleolatitudes in platform stage III can be founded on the effects of the PETM, resulting in short-term warming, eutrophic conditions on the shelves and acidification of the oceans, hampering the growth of aragonitic corals, while calcitic larger foraminifera flourished. In the absence of other successful carbonate-producing organisms, larger foraminifera were able to take over the role as the dominant carbonate platform inhabitant, leading to a stepw...

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Section: Precipitation Runoff and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Late Paleocene–early Eocene Tethyan carbonate platform evolution — A response to long- and short-term paleoclimatic change

Scheibner

Speijer

2008

Earth-Science Reviews

178

163

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…While some calcareous nannofossil assemblages, were interpreted to record oligotrophic conditions in the open oceans during the PETM (Bolle et al, 2000;Bralower, 2002;Bowen et al, 2004;Kelly et al, 2005), other studies argued for a rise in primary productivity in surface waters, supporting the biological pump as a major negative feedback to the greenhouse warming (Schmitz et al, 1997;Crouch et al, 2001;Stoll and Bains, 2003;Stoll et al, 2007). Yet these lines of evidence are ambiguous.…”

Section: Barium Mars and Discrepancies Regarding Biosphere Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

Productivity feedback did not terminate the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)

2010

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Abstract.The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) occurred approximately 55 million years ago, and is one of the most dramatic abrupt global warming events in the geological record. This warming was triggered by the sudden release of thousands of gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere and is widely perceived to be the best analogue for current anthropogenic climate change. Yet, the mechanism of recovery from this event remains controversial. A massive increase in the intensity of the marine biological pump ("productivity feedback") has been suggested to cause a drawdown of atmospheric CO 2 and subsequent carbon sequestration in the ocean. A re-evaluation of the "productivity feedback hypothesis", based on biogenic barium mass accumulation rates (Ba-MARs) for a site in the Southern Ocean, finds that any increase in export production lagged the initial carbon release by at least ∼70 000 years. This implies that export production did not facilitate rapid removal of excess carbon from the atmosphere. Thus, the most likely mechanism for carbon removal appears to be silicate weathering, which occurred at much slower rates than previously assumed.

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“…The Esna Formation and its lateral equivalents consist mostly of monotonous and fissile gray to brown-green marls and shales, containing abundant and mostly well-preserved calcareous microbiota. The fissile character relates to the generally high smectite contents of the clay fraction (Strouhal, 1993;Bolle et al, 2000aBolle et al, , 2000b. In the interval of major biotic changes associated with the late Paleocene thermal maximum and carbon isotope excursion, however, beds as thick as 1 m of different lithologies (black shales and foraminifera-rich calcarenitic marls) are present.…”

Section: Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

Sea-level changes and black shales associated with the late Paleocene thermal maximum: Organic-geochemical and micropaleontologic evidence from the southern Tethyan margin (Egypt-Israel)

Speijer

Wagner²

2002

Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond

124

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Organic geochemistry and microfossil contents of six sections spanning the late Paleocene thermal maximum are investigated. The sections are arranged along a depth transect (ϳ50-600 m) across an epicontinental basin covering Egypt and Israel. This study is aimed at unraveling paleoceanographic changes associated with the late Paleocene thermal maximum. In three sections (ϳ200-600 m paleodepth), black shales, consisting of dark brown laminated marls with as much as 2.7% total organic carbon (TOC), mark the late Paleocene thermal maximum. The black shales of the deeper sites correlate with pink to gray fissile marls in the shallowest section. In the two remaining sections, this stratigraphic interval is missing. A relative sea-level fall (ϳ30 m) immediately preceded the late Paleocene thermal maximum, during which sea-level rose again by ϳ20 m. This rise may have been eustatically controlled, possibly through a combination of thermal expansion of the oceanic water column and melting of unknown sources of high-altitude or polar ice caps in response to global warming. During the late Paleocene thermal maximum, the upwelling of low-oxygen intermediate Tethyan water into the epicontinental basin led to enhanced biological productivity and anoxia at the seafloor. Before and after the late Paleocene thermal maximum, upwelling and biological productivity were less intense, and seafloor dysoxia was restricted to neritic parts of the basin. The presence of similar TOC-rich beds in extensive areas in southern Asia indicates that the Tethyan continental margins may have acted as significant carbon sinks during the late Paleocene thermal maximum.

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Climatic evolution on the southeastern margin of the Tethys (Negev, Israel) from the Palaeocene to the early Eocene: focus on the late Palaeocene thermal maximum

Cited by 20 publications

References 49 publications

Late Paleocene–early Eocene Tethyan carbonate platform evolution — A response to long- and short-term paleoclimatic change

Late Paleocene–early Eocene Tethyan carbonate platform evolution — A response to long- and short-term paleoclimatic change

Productivity feedback did not terminate the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)

Sea-level changes and black shales associated with the late Paleocene thermal maximum: Organic-geochemical and micropaleontologic evidence from the southern Tethyan margin (Egypt-Israel)

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