Sea-level change, carbon cycling and palaeoclimate during the Late Cenomanian of northwest Europe; an integrated palaeoenvironmental analysis.

Gale, Andrew S., Voigt, Silke and Voigt, Thomas (2006) Sea-level change, carbon cycling and palaeoclimate during the Late Cenomanian of northwest Europe; an integrated palaeoenvironmental analysis. Cretaceous Research, 27 (6). pp. 836-858. DOI 10.1016/j.cretres.2006.04.005.

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Abstract

A new high resolution sea-level curve for the Late Cenomanian M. geslinianum Zone has been generated using sequence stratigraphic analysis on transects through the margins of the Anglo-Paris Basin in the UK and Saxony Basin in Germany. Transgressive sediments that bury a rocky shoreline in the Dresden area have proved particularly useful in determining both the absolute amount of sea-level change and the rate of rise. After a brief fall at the base of the M. geslinianum Zone, sea level rose rapidly through the higher part of the zone, resulting in an overall short term eustatic rise of 22–28 m. Biostratigraphy and carbon isotope stratigraphy have enabled detailed correlations to be made between marginal locations and thick, relatively complete, basinal successions. The basinal successions at Eastbourne, UK, and Gröbern, Germany, provide both geochemical proxies for palaeoenvironmental change, including oxygen and carbon isotope records, and an orbital timescale graduated in precession and eccentricity cycles. Integration of the sea-level history with palaeoclimate evolution, palaeoceanography and changes in carbon cycling allows a detailed reconstruction of events during the Late Cenomanian. Orbital forcing on long eccentricity maxima provides the underlying drive for these changes, but amplification by tectonic events and feedback mechanisms augmented the orbital effects and made the Cenomanian/Turonian Boundary Event distinctive. In particular, variations in atmospheric CO2 caused by oceanic drawdown and a brief period of intense volcanic outgassing resulted respectively in short term cooling and warming events. The magnitude and high rates (up to 1 m/1 kyr) of sea-level rise are diagnostic of glacioeustasy, however improbable this may appear at the height of the Cretaceous greenhouse.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Paleoceanography; Late Cenomanian; stable isotopes; sea level; carbon cycle; Palaeotemperature; Brachiopods
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Elsevier
Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2011 08:41
Last Modified: 22 Sep 2016 08:50
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/12166

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