Extreme warming of mid-latitude coastal ocean during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Inferences from TEX86 and isotope data
- J.C. Zachos1,
- S. Schouten2,
- S. Bohaty3,
- T. Quattlebaum3,
- A. Sluijs4,
- H. Brinkhuis4,
- S.J. Gibbs5 and
- T.J. Bralower5
- 1Earth Sciences Department, University of California–Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
- 2Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands
- 3Earth Sciences Department, University of California–Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
- 4Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, Netherlands
- 5Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
Abstract
Changes in sea surface temperature (SST) during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) have been estimated primarily from oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca records generated from deep-sea cores. Here we present a record of sea surface temperature change across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary for a nearshore, shallow marine section located on the eastern margin of North America. The SST record, as inferred from TEX86 data, indicates a minimum of 8 °C of warming, with peak temperatures in excess of 33 °C. Similar SSTs are estimated from planktonic foraminifer oxygen isotope records, although the excursion is slightly larger. The slight offset in the oxygen isotope record may reflect on seasonally higher runoff and lower salinity.
Footnotes
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↵GSA Data Repository item 2006155, Table DR1, stable isotope, total inorganic and organic carbon, and dinoflagellate abundance data, is available online at www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2006.htm, or on request from editing{at}geosociety.org or Documents Secretary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.
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- Accepted 20 April 2006.
- Received 26 December 2006.
- Revision received 19 April 2006.
- Geological Society of America
