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Eustatic variations during the Paleocene-Eocene greenhouse world
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, University of California at Santa Cruz, California, USA
Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Netherlands Institute of Applied Geoscience TNO–National Geological Survey, Utrecht, Netherlands
Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, University of California at Santa Cruz, California, USA
Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, University of California at Santa Cruz, California, USA
Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands
Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
We reconstruct eustatic variations during the latest Paleocene and earliest Eocene (∼58–52 Ma). Dinoflagellate cysts, grain size fractions, and organic biomarkers in marine sections at four sites from three continents indicate an increased distance to the coast during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). The same trend is recognized in published records from other sites around the world. Together, the data indicate a eustatic rise during the PETM, beginning 20 to 200 ka before the globally recorded negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) at ∼55.5 Ma. Although correlations are tentative, we recognize other global transgressions during Chrons C25n and C24n. The latter may be associated with Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (∼53.5 Ma) or the “X”-event (∼52 Ma). These results suggest a link between global sea level and “hyperthermal” intervals, potentially because of the melting of small alpine ice sheets on Antarctica, thermal expansion of seawater, or both. However, the early onset of sea level rise relative to the CIE of the PETM suggests contributions from other mechanisms, perhaps decreasing ocean basin volume, on sea level rise.
Received 5 March 2008; accepted 16 September 2008; published 19 December 2008.
Citation: (2008), Eustatic variations during the Paleocene-Eocene greenhouse world, Paleoceanography, 23, PA4216, doi:10.1029/2008PA001615.
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