Multiproxy record of abrupt sea-surface cooling across the Eocene-Oligocene transition in the Gulf of Mexico

Wade, Bridget S.; Houben, Alexander J. P.; Quaijtaal, Willemijn; Schouten, Stefan; Rosenthal, Yair; Miller, Kenneth G.; Katz, Miriam; Wright, James D.; Brinkhuis, Henk

doi:10.1130/g32577.1

Cited by 89 publications

(112 citation statements)

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“…These show larger temperature decreases at high latitudes, whereas tropical regions show much smaller declines. Much of the cooling may occur in the lead-up to the Oi-1 onset (9) and cooling is associated with dramatically increased seasonality (9). Terrestrial records, which generally have coarser temporal resolution, show the full spectrum of climatic change during the EOT.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some records show no major climatic changes during the EOT glaciation (6,10) and others show cooling of 8°C (11), increased seasonality (9,12), and aridification (13). This discrepancy confounds efforts to determine the timescale and sensitivity of terrestrial climate response to changing atmospheric pCO 2 or ocean circulation.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and deep ocean records show mixed responses to global cooling across the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), with some indicating only modest declines in temperature in the tropics (8) and others showing a 3-4°C decrease in SST during the first stage of the cooling event (EOT-1) (9). One recent multiproxy study suggests that cooling during the EOT was specifically linked to increased seasonality, with the majority of cooling occurring during the coolseason months (9).…”

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Terrestrial cooling in Northern Europe during the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Hren

Sheldon

Grimes

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

120

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Geochemical and modeling studies suggest that the transition from the "greenhouse" state of the Late Eocene to the "icehouse" conditions of the Oligocene 34-33.5 Ma was triggered by a reduction of atmospheric pCO 2 that enabled the rapid buildup of a permanent ice sheet on the Antarctic continent. Marine records show that the drop in pCO 2 during this interval was accompanied by a significant decline in high-latitude sea surface and deep ocean temperature and enhanced seasonality in middle and high latitudes. However, terrestrial records of this climate transition show heterogeneous responses to changing pCO 2 and ocean temperatures, with some records showing a significant time lag in the temperature response to declining pCO 2 . We measured the Δ 47 of aragonite shells of the freshwater gastropod Viviparus lentus from the Solent Group, Hampshire Basin, United Kingdom, to reconstruct terrestrial temperature and hydrologic change in the North Atlantic region during the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Our data show a decrease in growing-season surface water temperatures (∼10°C) during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, corresponding to an average decrease in mean annual air temperature of ∼4-6°C from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene. The magnitude of cooling is similar to observed decreases in North Atlantic sea surface temperature over this interval and occurs during major glacial expansion. This suggests a close linkage between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, Northern Hemisphere temperature, and expansion of the Antarctic ice sheets.clumped isotopes | paleoclimate T he Eocene-Oligocene transition 34-33.5 Ma represents one of the most dramatic climatic changes of the past 65 My (1-3). Studies suggest that by 34 Ma, pCO 2 reached a critical threshold where favorable orbital parameters and ocean circulation patterns allowed the rapid buildup of Antarctic ice, triggering widespread reduction in atmospheric pCO 2 and decreases in sea surface and deep ocean temperature (4-8). This event is marked by a +1.5‰ shift in the oxygen isotope ratios of carbonate from deep-sea benthic foraminifera, which reflects both the glaciation of Antarctica and rapid cooling of the surface and deep ocean (1, 3).Marine sediments provide high-resolution records of surface and deep ocean temperature responses to the Late Eocene decreases in pCO 2 and Antarctic glaciation (7,8). These show that cooling was amplified in high-latitude regions, with a decrease in sea surface temperature of >5°C from the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene (7). Tropical sea surface temperature (SST) and deep ocean records show mixed responses to global cooling across the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), with some indicating only modest declines in temperature in the tropics (8) and others showing a 3-4°C decrease in SST during the first stage of the cooling event (EOT-1) (9). One recent multiproxy study suggests that cooling during the EOT was specifically linked to increased seasonality, with the majority of cooling occurring during the coolseason months (...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

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Terrestrial cooling in Northern Europe during the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Hren

Sheldon

Grimes

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

120

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“…The first shift (EOT-1) is believed to represent a transient glaciation [10][11][12] , later followed by the establishment of a continental-scale ice sheet across the Oligocene isotope event-1 33.7 Myr ago; ref. 4).…”

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Relative sea-level rise around East Antarctica during Oligocene glaciation

et al. 2013

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Antarctic glaciation was abruptly established during the EoceneOligocene transition (EOT) in two ∼200-kyr-spaced phases between 34.0 Myr and 33.5 Myr ago, as recorded by the oxygen isotope composition of marine biogenic calcite 3,4,9 (δ 18 O). The first shift (EOT-1) is believed to represent a transient glaciation [10][11][12] , later followed by the establishment of a continental-scale ice sheet across the Oligocene isotope event-1 33.7 Myr ago; ref. 4). This is consistent with Northern Hemisphere ocean-sediment cores, which indicate a 60 ± 20 m relative sea level (rsl) fall across the EOT (refs 13-15). Under isostatic equilibrium conditions, the observed regression nearly corresponds to the rsl drop expected from glacioeustasy 6 . Along the Antarctic margins, however, the rsl changes accompanying the glaciation are expected to strongly deviate from the eustatic, because of large crustal and gravitational perturbations induced by the ice sheet on the deformable Earth 6 . Furthermore, strong regional rsl change gradients would be maintained long after the ice-sheet stabilization, by the flexure of lithosphere 16 . This necessitates self-consistent physical models for rsl change to compare near-field sedimentary sequences with far-field ice-sheet volume estimates.Here we evaluate the regionally varying rsl changes in response to glacial expansion and their effects on glaciomarine facies 17 around East Antarctica with a numerical model for glacial-hydro isostatic adjustment (GIA). Our model is based on the solution of the gravitationally self-consistent sea-level equation 7,8 for a prescribed Antarctic ice-sheet chronology 18 and a linear viscoelastic rheology for the solid Earth (Methods and Supplementary Information). We compare the model results with sedimentary records from the Wilkes Land Margin (Fig. 1a) The ice-sheet model employed in our GIA computations is characterized by a 2.2 Myr growth phase caused by a combination of decreasing CO 2 and orbital forcing that drives summer temperatures below the threshold for glaciation 18 but uses a new reconstruction of Antarctic topography 24 at EOT time (Methods). The ice-sheet volume at the glacial maximum corresponds to ∼69.0 m of equivalent sea level in this model, ∼14.0 m more than previous modelling results 18 , probably owing to larger Antarctic land surface 24 .We run a reference simulation (Fig. 1a-d) for an Earth model defined by an elastic lithosphere thickness (LT) of 100 km, and by a viscosity profile (RVP) that is discretized into a lower mantle (LM), a transition zone (TZ) and an upper mantle (UM) and is characterized by viscosities of 1.0 × 10 22 , 5.0 × 10 20 and 2.5 × 10 20 Pa s respectively (RVP-100 km-LT simulation). To evaluate how the GIA signal varies according to the mantle viscosity, we perform simulations for an ensemble of viscosity profiles (EVPs) characterized by viscosities varying in the range of

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“…The global oxygen isotope record of benthic foraminifera shows a ~1.5‰ increase across the transition over ~300 kyr (Zachos et al, 2001), and has been interpreted to reflect a combination of deep seawater cooling and ice sheet growth on Antarctica. Recent studies show that the isotopic shift occurred in different steps, the first step (precursor event "EOT-1"; 33.8 Ma) was due largely to cooling whereas the following step (event "Oi-1"; 33.5 Ma) reflects a combination of cooling and ice sheet growth (Wade et al, 2012). A possible second precursor event ("EOT-2"; 33.6 Ma) may also reflect cooling of deep sea waters (Katz et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eocene–Oligocene latitudinal climate gradients in North America inferred from stable isotope ratios in perissodactyl tooth enamel

Zanazzi¹,

Judd²,

Fletcher³

et al. 2015

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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This is an author-produced, peer-reviewed version of this article. The final, definitive version of this document can be found online at Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, published 18 O variability is much larger than that recorded in the US Great Plains, suggesting that higher latitudes are more sensitive to major episodes of climate change with respect to temperature seasonality. Finally, our data indicate no major change in the Oligocene vs. Eocene latitudinal gradient in local water δ 18 O in North America, which suggests no change in mean annual temperature gradients across the transition. This result supports the hypothesis that ascribes the climate change of the transition with a drop in atmospheric pCO 2 because climate models show that this mechanism produces uniform cooling at mid-latitudes. This is an author-produced, peer-reviewed version of this article. The final, definitive version of this document can be found online at Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, published by Elsevier. Copyright restrictions may apply.

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Multiproxy record of abrupt sea-surface cooling across the Eocene-Oligocene transition in the Gulf of Mexico

Cited by 89 publications

References 36 publications

Terrestrial cooling in Northern Europe during the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Terrestrial cooling in Northern Europe during the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Relative sea-level rise around East Antarctica during Oligocene glaciation

Eocene–Oligocene latitudinal climate gradients in North America inferred from stable isotope ratios in perissodactyl tooth enamel

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