Employment of GDGTs in extreme climate event studies: the case of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2

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Abstract

The Late Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2; ~94 Ma) represents one of the largest global carbon cycle perturbations during the Phanerozoic. Recently the TEX86H-based sea surface temperature (SST) record of the OAE2 interval at Bass River (ODP 174AX), New Jersey shelf was published (van Helmond et al., 2014). In combination with palynological and bulk geochemical data, it was exhibited that changes in SST were associated with strong variations in precipitation and runoff. Based on these data we suggest that an acceleration of the hydrological cycle during OAE2 played a key role in supplying nutrients to coastal waters and enhancing stratification, thus contributing to the development of ocean anoxia. Additionally a significant cooling in SSTs during OAE2 matches with the spot occurrence of a boreal dinocyst complex. This provides the fundament for an ongoing project to determine whether/how this dinocyst complex migrated as a consequence of variations in SST.
Current work focuses on the first TEX86H-based SST record of OAE2 for northwestern Europe, from the Wunstorf borehole, North Germany. That, despite preservation issues, exhibits a SST-trend which corresponds with previous proto-North Atlantic records, including the pronounced cooling event. This new record will further improve our knowledge on Late Cretaceous climate and latitudinal thermal gradients in a greenhouse world in general.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 23 Apr 2014
EventGDGT Workshop 2014 - NIOZ, Texel, Netherlands
Duration: 23 Apr 201425 Apr 2014

Conference

ConferenceGDGT Workshop 2014
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityTexel
Period23/04/1425/04/14

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