The Palaeocene “top chron C27n” transient greenhouse episode: evidence from marine pelagic Atlantic and peri‐Tethyan sections

Abstract

Terra Nova, 24, 477–486, 2012 Abstract The early Cenozoic, which is punctuated by several negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs), was a time of climatic and oceanographic transition from ‘Greenhouse’ to ‘Icehouse’ conditions. The occurrence of a ∼0.5‰ CIE starting at the top of Chron C27n (TC27N) is reconfirmed with stable isotope data from Zumaia (Spain) and Bjala (Bulgaria) localities. Spectral analysis on respective carbonate/magnetic susceptibility proxy records substantiates the orbital cyclostratigraphy allowing correlation to a high‐resolution benthic foraminifera isotope record from ODP Pacific Site 1209, that indicates a coeval 2 °C transient warming. The hyperthermal event lasts ∼200 ka, contrasting with other short‐lived events from the Eocene, and displays a relatively rapid onset and a longer tailing back to pre‐event values similar to the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), though lower in amplitude. That a causal trigger for the TC27N event may be the onset of volcanism in the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) can be inferred from a ∼200‐m‐thick lava pile erupted during C27n/C26r polarity transition in the E Greenland margin.

Astronomical calibration of the Danian stage (Early Paleocene) revisited: Settling chronologies of sedimentary records across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

“…Moreover, the low-amplitude node at about 66.2 Ma just below the measured age for the K/Pg boundary matches relative low amplitude cycles for lithological Unit 12 just below the boundary at Zumaia (see Fig. 7 in Dinarès-Turell et al, 2013). In this uppermost Maastrichtian interval the faintly developed shorteccentricity maxima −3 and −4 from W08 ( Fig.…”

“…In fact, it may be better at this moment to infer the astronomical age of the K/Pg boundary on the cyclic patterns from the uppermost Maastrichtian instead. The carbonate record from the uppermost 65-m Maastrichtian strata at Zumaia (ten Kate and Sprenger, 1993) was reanalysed by Dinarès-Turell et al (2013) that clearly extracted both the short and long-eccentricity cycles much in accordance with cyclostratigraphic analysis based on magnetic susceptibility and colour reflectance by Batenburg et al (2012) along that interval. The youngest Maastrichtian ∼405-kyr eccentricity minima occurs at about 14 m below the K/Pg boundary, interval that includes about four ∼100-kyr cycles, confirming the notion that the K/Pg boundary is located close to a 405-kyr min- imum.…”

“…The youngest Maastrichtian ∼405-kyr eccentricity minima occurs at about 14 m below the K/Pg boundary, interval that includes about four ∼100-kyr cycles, confirming the notion that the K/Pg boundary is located close to a 405-kyr min- imum. The first eccentricity maxima below the K/Pg occurs 3-4 precession cycles below the boundary at Zumaia (Dinarès-Turell et al, 2013) and by tuning to the corresponding maxima in the La11 solution (66.096 Ma) and subtracting ∼3.5 precession cycles, an age of 66.0225 ± 0.0040 Ma can be derived for the K/Pg. This age is in agreement with the astronomical age of 66 ± 0.07 Ma of Husson et al (2011) (option 2) derived from Maastrichtian sediments from deep-sea cores and the preferred absolute age of 66.043 ± 0.043 Ma from Renne et al (2013).…”

Integrative stratigraphy and climatic events of a new lower Paleogene reference section from the Betic Cordillera: Río Gor, Granada province, SE Spain

“…The exact number of early Paleogene hyperthermals is still undetermined, as the amount of warming necessary to qualify an event as such is somewhat imprecise (Coccioni et al, 2012). There is a general consensus, however, that at least two main hyperthermals occurred during Paleocene times, one of them labeled either as the Latest Danian Event (LDE, Bornemann et al, 2009;Monechi et al, 2012), or Top Chron C27n Event (TC27N, Schulte et al, 2010;Dinarès-Turell et al, 2012), the other as the Early Late Paleocene Event (ELPE, Petrizzo, 2005) or Mid-Paleocene Biotic Event (MPBE; Bernaola et al, 2007;Hyland et al, 2015). The number of Eocene hyperthermals is higher (Nicolo et al, 2007), the three most widely acknowledged being termed Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2; also H1 or Elmo), H2, and Eocene Thermal Maximum 3 (ETM3; also K or X; Lourens et al, 2005;Röhl et al, 2005;Nicolo et al, 2007;Agnini et al, 2009;Stap et al, 2010;Zachos et al, 2010).…”

“…The PETM, in particular, is recognized in terrestrial deposits Domingo et al, 2009;Minelli et al, 2013), and in shallow marine, base-of-slope and deep marine settings of the southern Pyrenees and the Basque Basin (e.g., Canudo & Molina, 1992;Canudo et al, 1995;Schmitz et al, 1997Schmitz et al, , 2001Pujalte et al, 2003Pujalte et al, , 2015aPujalte et al, , 2016Robador et al, 2009;Storme et al, 2012), a recognition leading to a refi ned correlation of the sedimentary records of these different settings across the P/E interval (e.g., Pujalte et al, 2009). Other hyperthermals recognized in the Basque Basin include the LDE/TC27N (Dinarès-Turell et al, 2012), the ELPE/MPBE (Bernaola et al, 2007), and an early Lutetian event termed Chron 21r-H6 (Payros et al, 2012).…”