Tracing North Atlantic volcanism and seaway connectivity across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)

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  • Morgan T. Jones
  • Ella W. Stokke
  • Alan D. Rooney
  • Joost Frieling
  • Philip A.E. Pogge von Strandmann
  • David J. Wilson
  • Henrik H. Svensen
  • Sverre Planke
  • Thierry Adatte
  • Thibault, Nicolas Rudolph
  • Madeleine L. Vickers
  • Tamsin A. Mather
  • Christian Tegner
  • Valentin Zuchuat
  • Bo P. Schultz

There is a temporal correlation between the peak activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), suggesting that the NAIP may have initiated and/or prolonged this extreme warming event. However, corroborating a causal relationship is hampered by a scarcity of expanded sedimentary records that contain both climatic and volcanic proxies. One locality hosting such a record is the island of Fur in Denmark, where an expanded pre- to post-PETM succession containing hundreds of NAIP ash layers is exceptionally well preserved. We compiled a range of environmental proxies, including mercury (Hg) anomalies, paleotemperature proxies, and lithium (Li) and osmium (Os) isotopes, to trace NAIP activity, hydrological changes, weathering, and seawater connectivity across this interval. Volcanic proxies suggest that NAIP activity was elevated before the PETM and appears to have peaked during the body of the δ13C excursion but decreased considerably during the PETM recovery. This suggests that the acme in NAIP activity, dominated by flood basalt volcanism and thermogenic degassing from contact metamorphism, was likely confined to just ĝ1/4ĝ200ĝkyr (ca. 56.0-55.8ĝMa). The hundreds of thick (>ĝ1ĝcm) basaltic ashes in the post-PETM strata likely represent a change from effusive to explosive activity, rather than an increase in NAIP activity. Detrital δ7Li values and clay abundances suggest that volcanic ash production increased the basaltic reactive surface area, likely enhancing silicate weathering and atmospheric carbon sequestration in the early Eocene. Signals in lipid biomarkers and Os isotopes, traditionally used to trace paleotemperature and weathering changes, are used here to track seaway connectivity. These proxies indicate that the North Sea was rapidly cut off from the North Atlantic in under 12ĝkyr during the PETM recovery due to NAIP thermal uplift. Our findings reinforce the hypothesis that the emplacement of the NAIP had a profound and complex impact on Paleocene-Eocene climate, both directly through volcanic and thermogenic degassing and indirectly by driving regional uplift and changing seaway connectivity.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftClimate of the Past
Vol/bind19
Udgave nummer8
Sider (fra-til)1623-1652
Antal sider30
ISSN1814-9324
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
Gauti Eliassen, Lars Eivind Augland, Sara Callegaro, Olivia Jones, Christine Grabatin, and Claus Heilman-Clausen are warmly thanked for their assistance. Nina Papadomanolaki, Marcus Gutjahr, and Thomas Gernon are thanked for their constructive reviews and comments, and Yannick Donnadieu is thanked for handling this paper. This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project numbers 223272 and 332523. Morgan T. Jones and Ella W. Stokke were funded by the Research Council of Norway Ungeforskertalenter project “Ashlantic”, project number 263000. Tamsin A. Mather and Joost Frieling acknowledge funding from the European Research Council Consolidator Grant (ERC-2018-COG-818717-V-ECHO). Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann was supported by ERC grant 682760. David J. Wilson was supported by a NERC independent research fellowship (NE/T011440/1). Madeleine L. Vickers was funded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020 project ICECAP, grant no. 101024218.

Funding Information:
This research has been supported by the Norges Forskningsråd (grant nos. 263000 and 223272).

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