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The Late Paleocene and Early Eocene were characterized by warm greenhouse climates, punctuated by a series of rapid warming and ocean acidification events known as “hyperthermals”, thought to have been paced or triggered by orbital cycles. While these hyperthermals, such as the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), have been studied in great detail, the background low-amplitude cycles seen in carbon and oxygen-isotope records throughout the Paleocene–Eocene have hitherto not been resolved. Here we present a 7.7 million year (myr) long, high-resolution, orbitally-tuned, benthic foraminiferal stable-isotope record spanning the late Paleocene and early Eocene interval (∼52.5–60.5 Ma) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1262, South Atlantic. This high resolution (∼2–4 kyr) record allows the changing character and phasing of orbitally-modulated cycles to be studied in unprecedented detail as it reflects the long-term trend in carbon cycle and climate over this interval. The main pacemaker in the benthic oxygen-isotope ( δ 18 O) and carbon-isotope ( δ 13 C) records from ODP Site 1262, are the long (405 kyr) and short (100 kyr) eccentricity cycles, and precession (21 kyr). Obliquity (41 kyr) is almost absent throughout the section except for a few brief intervals where it has a relatively weak influence. During the course of the Early Paleogene record, and particularly in the latest Paleocene, eccentricity-paced negative carbon-isotope excursions ( δ 13 C, CIEs) and coeval negative oxygen-isotope ( δ 18 O) excursions correspond to low carbonate (CaCO 3 ) and coarse fraction (%CF) values due to increased carbonate dissolution, suggesting shoaling of the lysocline and accompanied changes in the global exogenic carbon cycle. These negative CIEs and δ 18 O events coincide with maxima in eccentricity, with changes in δ 18 O leading changes in δ 13 C by ∼6 (±5) kyr in the 405-kyr band and by ∼3 (±1) kyr in the higher frequency 100-kyr band on average. However, these phase lags are not constant, with the lag in the 405-kyr band extending from ∼4 (±5) kyr to ∼21 (±2) kyr from the late Paleocene to the early Eocene, suggesting a progressively weaker coupling of climate and the carbon-cycle with time. The higher amplitude 405-kyr cycles in the latest Paleocene are associated with changes in bottom water temperature of 2–4 °C, while the most prominent 100 kyr-paced cycles can be accompanied by changes of up to 1.5 °C. Comparison of the 1262 record with a lower resolution, but orbitally-tuned benthic record for Site 1209 in the Pacific allows for verification of key features of the benthic isotope records which are global in scale including a key warming step at 57.7 Ma.

Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles had far-reaching effects on Northern Hemisphere and tropical climate systems during the last glacial period, yet the climatic response to D–O cycles in western North America is controversial, especially prior to 55 ka. We document changes in precipitation along the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada during early Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 and 4 (55–67 ka) from a U-series dated speleothem record from McLean's Cave. The timing of our multi-proxy geochemical dataset is coeval with D–O interstadials (15–18) and stadials, including Heinrich Event 6. The McLean's Cave stalagmite indicates warmer and drier conditions during Greenland interstadials (GISs 15–18), signified by elevated δ18O, δ13C, reflectance, and trace element concentrations, and less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr. Our record extends evidence of a strong linkage between high-latitude warming and reduced precipitation in western North America to early MIS 3 and MIS 4. This record shows that the linkage persists in diverse global climate states, and documents the nature of the climatic response in central California to Heinrich Event 6.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) has been associated with the release of several thousands of petagrams of carbon (Pg C) as methane and/or carbon dioxide into the ocean-atmosphere system within ~10 kyr, on the basis of the co-occurrence of a carbon isotope excursion (CIE), widespread dissolution of deep sea carbonates, and global warming. In theory, this rapid carbon release should have severely acidified the surface ocean, though no geochemical evidence has yet been presented. Using boron-based proxies for surface ocean carbonate chemistry, we present the first observational evidence for a drop in the pH of surface and thermocline seawater during the PETM. Planktic foraminifers from a drill site in the North Pacific (Ocean Drilling Program Site 1209) show a ~0.8‰ decrease in boron isotopic composition (δ11B) at the onset of the event, along with a 30–40% reduction in shell B/Ca. Similar trends in δ11B are present in two lower-resolution records from the South Atlantic and Equatorial Pacific. These observations are consistent with significant, global acidification of the surface ocean lasting at least 70 kyr and requiring sustained carbon release. The anomalies in the B records are consistent with an initial surface pH drop of ~0.3 units, at the upper range of model-based estimates of acidification.

A perturbation of the carbon cycle and biosphere, linked to globally increased temperatures about 55.9 million years ago, characterized the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Its effect on global oceanic productivity is controversial. Here we present records of marine barite accumulation rates that show distinct peaks during this time interval, suggesting a general increase in export productivity. We propose that changes in marine ecosystems, resulting from high atmospheric partial pressure of CO2 and ocean acidification, led to enhanced carbon export from the photic zone to depth, thereby increasing the efficiency of the biological pump. Higher seawater temperatures at that time increased bacterial activity and organic matter regeneration. Through this process much of the sinking particulate organic matter was probably converted to dissolved inorganic and organic carbon. We estimate that an annual carbon export flux out of the euphotic zone and into the deep ocean waters could have amounted to about 15 Gt during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. About 0.4% of this carbon is expected to have entered the refractory dissolved organic pool, where it could be sequestered from the atmosphere for tens of thousands of years. Our estimates are consistent with the amount of carbon redistribution expected for the recovery from the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Globally increased temperatures and a perturbation of the carbon cycle and biosphere characterized the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum about 55.9 million years ago, but its effect on ocean productivity is controversial. Records of marine barite accumulation rates suggest that carbon sequestration during the event could have been enhanced by an efficient biological pump.

Large amounts of 13C-depleted carbon were released to the oceans and atmosphere during a period of abrupt global warming at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) (∼55 Ma). Investigations of qualitative sedimentologic and paleontologic redox proxies such as bioturbation and benthic assemblages from pelagic and hemipelagic sections suggest transient reductions in bottom water oxygen during this interval, possibly on a global scale. Here, we present bulk sediment manganese (Mn) and uranium (U) enrichment factors (EF) in Atlantic and Pacific deep-sea cores to constrain relative paleoredox changes across the PETM. Mn EF range from 1 to 9 in Atlantic sites, 1 to 35 in Southern Ocean sites, and are at crustal averages (EF = 1) in Pacific sites. U EF range from 1 to 5 in Atlantic sites, 1 to 90 in Southern Ocean sites, and are at crustal averages in Pacific sites. Our results indicate suboxic conditions prior to, during, and in the recovery from the PETM at intermediate depth sites in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean while the Pacific sites remained relatively oxygenated. The difference in oxygenation between the Atlantic and Pacific sites leads us to suggest the source for isotopically light carbon release during the PETM was in the Atlantic.

A coupled set of models is used to explore the possibility of long-term internal cycles in the CO 2 –climate–weathering–Antarctic Ice Sheet system. Cycles of this type were found in an earlier study with 0-D box models, and proposed to explain the quasi-periodic oscillations in benthic deep-sea-core records during the Eocene–Oligocene Transition ~ 34 Ma. Here the system is extended using a 3-D Global Climate Model, a 3-D Antarctic ice-sheet model, and two previously published spatially distributed parameterizations of CO 2 consumption by silicate weathering. In 6-million year long simulations across an idealized Eocene–Oligocene Transition, no internal cycles are found, and the coupled system just relaxes from the initial state to the final state, with at most one overdamped half-cycle. The absence of cycles is presumably due to features in this 3-D model system that are absent in the 0-D models: powerful Height Mass-Balance Feedback producing strong ice-sheet expansion after initial growth, and hysteresis in ice-sheet response to climate that damps retreat due to moderate warming. With one of the weathering parameterizations, the models indicate a region of negative slope in the relation between CO 2 level and global weathering consumption, occurring in the range ~ 0.2 to 1.5x PAL (preindustrial atmospheric level). This contrasts with the monotonically increasing relation usually assumed. If confirmed, it would have serious consequences for the well-known CO 2 -weathering thermostat mechanism, at least for CO 2 levels below ~ 1.5x PAL.

[1] We synthesize environmental magnetic results for sediments from the Victoria Land Basin (VLB), which span a total stratigraphic thickness of 2.6 km and a ~17 Myr age range. We assess how magnetic properties record paleoclimatic, tectonic, and provenance variations or mixtures of signals resulting from these processes. The magnetic properties are dominated by large-scale magnetite concentration variations. In the late Eocene and early Oligocene, magnetite concentration variations coincide with detrital smectite concentration and crystallinity variations, which reflect paleoclimatic control on magnetic properties through influence on weathering regime; high magnetite and smectite concentrations indicate warmer and wetter climates and vice versa. During the early Oligocene, accelerated uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains gave rise to magnetic signatures that reflect progressive erosion of the Precambrian-Mesozoic metamorphic, intrusive, and sedimentary stratigraphic cover succession associated with unroofing of the adjacent Transantarctic Mountains. From the early Oligocene to the early Miocene, a consistent fining upward of magnetite particles through the recovered composite record likely reflects increased physical weathering with glacial grinding contributing to progressively finer grained Ferrar Dolerite-sourced magnetite. After 24 Ma, the magnetic properties of VLB sediments are primarily controlled by the weathering and erosion of McMurdo Volcanic Group rocks; increased volcanic glass contents contribute to the fining upward of magnetite grain size. Overall, long-term magnetic property variations record the first-order geological processes that controlled sedimentation in the VLB, including paleoclimatic, tectonic, provenance, and volcanic influences.

We present a new multiproxy (TEX86, δ18O and Mg/Ca), marine temperature history for Canterbury Basin, eastern New Zealand, that extends from middle Paleocene to middle Eocene, including the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and early Eocene climatic optimum (EECO). In light of concerns that proxy-based sea surface temperature (SST) estimates are untenably warm for the southwest Pacific during the Eocene, we review the assumptions that underlie the proxies and develop a preliminary paleo-calibration for TEX86 that is based on four multiproxy Eocene records that represent an SST range of 15–34 °C. For the southwest Pacific Paleogene, we show that TEX86L exhibits the best fit with the Eocene paleo-calibration. SSTs derived from related proxies (TEX86H, 1/TEX86) exhibit a systematic warm bias that increases as TEX86 values decrease (a warm bias of 4–7 °C where TEX86

The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a massive release of carbon. Marine sediments suggest a temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth, indicating extensive silicate weatheringin the aftermath of the event. The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a massive release of carbon. Marine sediments suggest a temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth, indicating extensive silicate weatheringin the aftermath of the event. During the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) about 56 million years ago, thousands of petagrams of carbon were released into the atmosphere and ocean in just a few thousand years, followed by gradual sequestration over approximately 200,000 years. If silicate weathering is one of the key negative feedbacks that removed this carbon, a period of seawater calcium carbonate saturation greater than pre-event levels would be expected during the event's recovery phase. In marine sediments, this should be recorded as a temporary deepening of the depth below which no calcite is preserved — the calcite compensation depth (CCD). Previous and new sedimentary records from sites that were above the pre-PETM CCD show enhanced carbonate accumulation following the PETM. A new record from an abyssal site in the North Atlantic that lay below the pre-PETM CCD shows a period of carbonate preservation beginning about 70,000 years after the onset of the PETM, providing the first direct evidence for an over-deepening of the CCD. This record confirms an overshoot in ocean carbonate saturation during the PETM recovery. Simulations with two earth system models support scenarios for the PETM that involve a large initial carbon release followed by prolonged low-level emissions, consistent with the timing of CCD deepening in our record. Our findings indicate that sequestration of these carbon emissions was most likely the result of both globally enhanced calcite burial above the CCD and, at least in the North Atlantic, an over-deepening of the CCD.

Past warm periods provide an opportunity to evaluate climate models under extreme forcing scenarios, in particular high (> 800 ppmv) atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Although a post-hoc intercomparison of Eocene (~50 million years ago, Ma) climate model simulations and geological data has been carried out previously, models of past high-CO2 periods have never been evaluated in a consistent framework. Here, we present an experimental design for climate model simulations of three warm periods within the latest Paleocene and the early Eocene. Together these form the first phase of DeepMIP – the deeptime model intercomparison project, itself a group within the wider Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP). The experimental design consists of three core paleo simulations and a set of optional sensitivity studies. The experimental design specifies and provides guidance on boundary conditions associated with palaeogeography, greenhouse gases, orbital configuration, solar constant, land surface parameters, and aerosols. Initial conditions, simulation length, and output variables are also specified. Finally, we explain how the geological datasets, which will be used to evaluate the simulations, will be developed.

About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate cooled and an ice sheet formed on Antarctica as atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) fell below ~750 parts per million (ppm). Sedimentary cycles from a drill core in the western Ross Sea provide direct evidence of orbitally controlled glacial cycles between 34 million and 31 million years ago. Initially, under atmospheric CO2 levels of ≥600 ppm, a smaller Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), restricted to the terrestrial continent, was highly responsive to local insolation forcing. A more stable, continental-scale ice sheet calving at the coastline did not form until ~32.8 million years ago, coincident with the earliest time that atmospheric CO2 levels fell below ~600 ppm. Our results provide insight into the potential of the AIS for threshold behavior and have implications for its sensitivity to atmospheric CO2 concentrations above present-day levels.

The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, a transient global warming event, is character- ized by extensive evidence of a more active hydrological cycle. This includes a widespread pulse of kaolinite accumulation on continental margins, viewed as the by-product of either enhanced chemical weathering consistent with much more humid conditions and/or increased erosion of previously deposited laterites. The former would be more consistent with year- round humid conditions, whereas the latter might be indicative of extreme seasonal precipi- tation patterns. To assess these hypotheses, we present a new high-resolution clay mineral assemblage and oxygen isotope record from Bass River, a site on the New Jersey margin (east coast of North America), which shows a sharp rise in the abundance of kaolinite beginning a few thousand years before the onset of the carbon isotope excursion (CIE). The δ 18 O of the

Constraining the magnitude of high-latitude temperature change across the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT) is essential for quantifying the magnitude of Antarctic ice-sheet expansion and understanding regional climate response to this event. To this end, we constructed high-resolution stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) and magnesium/calcium (Mg/Ca) records from planktic and benthic foraminifera at four Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites in the Southern Ocean. Planktic foraminiferal Mg/Ca records from the Kerguelen Plateau (ODP Sites 738, 744, and 748) show a consistent pattern of temperature change, indicating 2–3 °C cooling in direct conjunction with the first step of a two-step increase in benthic and planktic foraminiferal δ18O values across the EOT. In contrast, benthic Mg/Ca records from Maud Rise (ODP Site 689) and the Kerguelen Plateau (ODP Site 748) do not exhibit significant temperature change. The contrasting temperature histories derived from the planktic and benthic Mg/Ca records are not reconcilable, since vertical δ18O gradients remained nearly constant at all sites between 35.0 and 32.5 Ma. Based on the coherency of the planktic Mg/Ca records from the Kerguelen Plateau sites and complications with benthic Mg/Ca paleothermometry at low temperatures, the planktic Mg/Ca records are deemed the most reliable measure of Southern Ocean temperature change. We therefore interpret a uniform cooling of 2–3 °C in both deep surface (thermocline) waters and intermediate deep waters of the Southern Ocean across the EOT. Cooling of Southern Ocean surface waters across the EOT was likely propagated to the deep ocean, since deep waters were primarily sourced on the Antarctic margin throughout this time interval. Removal of the temperature component from the observed foraminiferal δ18O shift indicates that seawater δ18O values increased by 0.6 ± 0.15‰ across the EOT interval, corresponding to an increase in global ice volume to a level equivalent with 60–130% modern East Antarctic ice sheet volume.

We present modern B/Ca core-top calibrations for the epifaunal benthic foraminifer Nuttallides umbonifera and the infaunal Oridorsalis umbonatu s to test whether B/Ca values in these species can be used for the reconstruction of paleo-Δ[CO 3 2− ]. O. umbonatus originated in the Late Cretaceous and remains extant , whereas N. umbonifera originated in the Eocene and is the closest extant relative to Nuttallides truempyi , which ranges from the Late Cretaceous through the Eocene. We measured B/Ca in both species in 35 Holocene sediment samples from the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans. B/Ca values in epifaunal N. umbonifera (~ 85–175 μmol/mol) are consistently lower than values reported for epifaunal Cibicidoides (Cibicides) wuellerstorfi (130–250 μmol/mol), though the sensitivity of Δ[CO 3 2− ] on B/Ca in N. umbonifera (1.23 ± 0.15) is similar to that in C. wuellerstorfi (1.14 ± 0.048). In addition, we show that B/Ca values of paired N. umbonifera and its extinct ancestor, N. truempyi, from Eocene cores are indistinguishable within error. In contrast, both the B/Ca (35–85 μmol/mol) and sensitivity to Δ[CO 3 2− ] (0.29 ± 0.20) of core-top O. umbonatus are considerably lower (as in other infaunal species), and this offset extends into the Paleocene. Thus the B/Ca of N. umbonifera and its ancestor can be used to reconstruct bottom water Δ[CO 3 2− ], whereas O. umbonatus B/Ca appears to be buffered by porewater [CO 3 2− ] and suited for constraining long-term drift in seawater B/Ca.

In conjunction with increasing benthic foraminiferal δ 18 O values at the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT; ca. 34 Ma), coarse-grained ice-rafted debris (IRD; >425 μm) appears abruptly alongside fossil fish teeth with continentally derived neodymium (Nd) isotope ratios (e Nd ) in Kerguelen Plateau (Southern Ocean) sediments. Increased Antarctic weathering flux, as inferred from two steps to less radiogenic e Nd values, coincides with two steps in benthic foraminiferal δ 18 O values. These results indicate that two distinct surges of weathering were generated by East Antarctic ice growth during the EOT. Weathering by ice sheets during a precursor glaciation at 33.9 Ma did not produce significant IRD accumulation during the first e Nd shift. Glacial weathering was sustained during a terrace interval between the two steps, probably by small high-elevation ice sheets. A large increase in weathering signals the rapid coalescence of small ice sheets into an ice sheet of continental proportions ca. 33.7 Ma. Rapid ice sheet expansion resulted in a suppression of weathering due to less exposed area and colder conditions. Parallel changes in Antarctic weathering flux and deep-sea carbonate accumulation suggest that ice-sheet expansion during the EOT had a direct impact on the global carbon cycle; possible mechanisms include associated changes in silicate weathering on the East Antarctic craton and enhanced fertilization of Southern Ocean waters, both of which warrant further investigation.

The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum warm event about 56 million years ago was caused by the release of large amounts of carbon to the ocean and atmosphere. Estimates of the rate of recovery from the event suggest that about 2,000 Pg of the carbon released was sequestered as organic carbon. The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), an approximately 170,000-year-long period of global warming about 56 million years ago, has been attributed to the release of thousands of petagrams of reduced carbon into the ocean, atmosphere and biosphere1,2. However, the fate of this excess carbon at the end of the event is poorly constrained: drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been attributed to an increase in the weathering of silicates or to increased rates of organic carbon burial1,3,4,5. Here we develop constraints on the rate of carbon drawdown based on rates of carbon isotope change in well-dated marine and terrestrial sediments spanning the event. We find that the rate of recovery is an order of magnitude more rapid than that expected for carbon drawdown by silicate weathering alone. Unless existing estimates of carbon stocks and cycling during this time are widely inaccurate, our results imply that more than 2,000 Pg of carbon were sequestered as organic carbon over 30,000–40,000 years at the end of the PETM. We suggest that the accelerated sequestration of organic carbon could reflect the regrowth of carbon stocks in the biosphere or shallow lithosphere that were released at the onset of the event.

The upper Paleocene and lower Eocene are marked by several prominent (> 1‰) carbon isotope (δ13C) excursions (CIE) that coincide with transient global warmings, or thermal maxima, including the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The CIE, which are recorded mainly in marine sedimentary sequences, have also been identified in continental sequences, occurred episodically, and yet appear to be paced or triggered by orbital forcing. To constrain the timing and scale of the CIE relative to long-term baseline variability, we have constructed a 4.52 million year (myr) long, high-resolution (~ 3 kyr) bulk sediment carbon isotope record spanning the lower Eocene to upper Paleocene (C25r–C24n) from a pelagic sediment section recovered at ODP Site 1262 in the southeast Atlantic. This section, which was orbitally-tuned utilizing high-resolution core log physical property and geochemical records, is the most stratigraphically complete upper Paleocene to lower Eocene sequence recovered to date. Time-series analysis of the carbon isotope record along with a high-resolution Fe intensity record obtained by XRF core scanner reveal cyclicity with variance concentrated primarily in the precession (21 kyr) and eccentricity bands (100 and 400-kyr) throughout the upper Paleocene–lower Eocene. In general, minima in δ13C correspond with peaks in Fe (i.e., carbonate dissolution), both of which appear to be in phase with maxima in eccentricity. This covariance is consistent with excess oceanic uptake of isotopically depleted carbon resulting in lower carbonate saturation during periods of high eccentricity. This relationship includes all late Paleocene and early Eocene CIE confirming pacing by orbital forcing. The lone exception is the PETM, which appears to be out of phase with the 400-kyr cycle, though possibly in phase with the 100-kyr cycle, reinforcing the notion that a mechanism other than orbital forcing and/or an additional source of carbon is required to account for the occurrence and unusual scale of this event.

‘…there are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.’ Donald Rumsfeld 12th February 2002. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Hyperthermals: rapid and extreme global warming in our geological past’.

Rapid carbon input into the ocean–atmosphere system caused a dramatic shoaling of the lysocline during the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), a transient (∼ 170 kyr) global warming event that occurred roughly 55 Ma. Carbon cycle models invoking an accelerated carbonate–silicate feedback mechanism to neutralize ocean acidification predict that the lysocline would subsequently deepen to depths below its original position as the marine carbonate system recovered from such a perturbation. To test this hypothesis, records of carbonate sedimentation and preservation for PETM sections in the Weddell Sea (ODP Site 690) and along the Walvis Ridge depth transect (ODP Sites 1262, 1263, and 1266) were assembled within the context of a unified chronostratigraphy. The meridional gradient of undersaturation delimited by these records shows that dissolution was more severe in the subtropical South Atlantic than in the Weddell Sea during the PETM, a spatiotemporal pattern inconsistent with the view that Atlantic overturning circulation underwent a transient reversal. Deepening of the lysocline following its initial ascent is signaled by increases in %CaCO3 and coarse-fraction content at all sites. Carbonate preservation during the recovery period is appreciably better than that seen prior to carbon input with carbonate sedimentation becoming remarkably uniform over a broad spectrum of geographic and bathymetric settings. These congruent patterns of carbonate sedimentation confirm that the lysocline was suppressed below the depth it occupied prior to carbon input, and are consistent with the view that an accelerated carbonate–silicate geochemical cycle played an important role in arresting PETM conditions.

article i nfo Article history: High-resolution geochemical analyses of the Lower Eocene Contessa Road section (Italy) reveal orbitally controlled ! uctuations in the percent concentration of calcium carbonate (wt.% CaCO3) that include the ETM2 (Elmo) and ETM3 ("X") hyperthermal events. Patterns of increased dissolution, negative carbon isotope excursions, and warmer global climates are intimately linked to maxima in insolation, through the global carbon cycle. Extraction of short- and long-eccentricity orbital periodicities of the wt.% CaCO3 record provides a relative cyclochronologyfortheintervalrangingfrom! 52to! 55.5 Ma.TheContessaRoadsectioniseasilyaccessibleand offers a continuous integrated stratigraphic record (stable isotopes, standard calcareous plankton biostrati- graphy, magnetostratigraphy, and cyclostratigraphy), thus providing a potential type succession for the study of Early Eocene hyperthermals.

We constructed a precise early Eocene orbital cyclostratigraphy for DSDP Site 550 (Leg 80, Goban Spur, North Atlantic) utilizing precession related cycles as represented in a high-resolution X-ray fluorescence based barium core log. Based on counting of those cycles, we constrain the exact timing of two volcanic ash layers in Site 550 which correlate to ashes + 19 and − 17 of the Fur Formation in Denmark. The ashes, relative to the onset of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), are offset by 862 kyr and 672 kyr, respectively. When combined with published absolute ages for ash − 17, the absolute age for the onset of the PETM is consistent with astronomically calibrated ages. Using the current absolute age of 28.02 Ma for the Fish Canyon Tuff (FCT) standard for calibrating the absolute age of ash − 17 is consistent with tuning option 2 in the astronomically calibrated Paleocene time scale of Westerhold et al. (2008) [Westerhold, T., Rohl, U., Raffi, I., Fornaciari, E., Monechi, S., Reale, V., Bowles, J., and Evans, H.F., 2008, Astronomical calibration of the Paleocene time: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 257, p. 377–403]. Using the recently recalibrated absolute age of 28.201 Ma for the FCT standard is consistent with tuning option 3 in the astronomically calibrated Paleocene time scale. The new results do not support the existence of any additional 405-kyr cycle in the early Paleocene astronomically tuned time scale.

About 55 million years ago global surface temperatures increased by 5–9 ∘C within a few thousand years, following a pulse of carbon released to the atmosphere. Analysis of existing data with a carbon cycle model indicates that this carbon pulse was too small to cause the full amount of warming at accepted values for climate sensitivity. The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (about 55 Myr ago) represents a possible analogue for the future and thus may provide insight into climate system sensitivity and feedbacks1,2. The key feature of this event is the release of a large mass of 13C-depleted carbon into the carbon reservoirs at the Earth’s surface, although the source remains an open issue3,4. Concurrently, global surface temperatures rose by 5–9 ∘C within a few thousand years5,6,7,8,9. Here we use published palaeorecords of deep-sea carbonate dissolution10,11,12,13,14 and stable carbon isotope composition10,15,16,17 along with a carbon cycle model to constrain the initial carbon pulse to a magnitude of 3,000 Pg C or less, with an isotopic composition lighter than −50‰. As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased during the main event by less than about 70% compared with pre-event levels. At accepted values for the climate sensitivity to a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration1, this rise in CO2 can explain only between 1 and 3.5 ∘C of the warming inferred from proxy records. We conclude that in addition to direct CO2 forcing, other processes and/or feedbacks that are hitherto unknown must have caused a substantial portion of the warming during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Once these processes have been identified, their potential effect on future climate change needs to be taken into account.

Sea-surface temperature (SST) estimates of ~30 °C from planktic foraminifera and archaeal membrane lipids in bathyal sediments in the Canterbury Basin, New Zealand, support paleontological evidence for a warm subtropical to tropical climate in the early Eocene high-latitude (55°S) southwest Pacific. Such warm SSTs call into question previous estimates based on oxygen isotopes and present a major challenge to climate modelers. Even under hypergreenhouse conditions (2240 ppm CO2), modeled summer SSTs for the New Zealand region do not exceed 20 °C.

Past episodes of greenhouse warming provide insight into the coupling of climate and the carbon cycle and thus may help to predict the consequences of unabated carbon emissions in the future.

The Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) is characterized by a global negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and widespread dissolution of seafloor carbonate sediments. The latter feature supports the hypothesis that the PETM and CIE were caused by the rapid release of a large mass (greater than 2000 Gt C) of 12 C-enriched carbon. The source of this carbon, however, remains a mystery. Possible sources include volcanically driven thermal combustion of organic-rich sediment, dissociation of seafloor methane hydrates and desiccation and oxidation of soil/sediment organics. A key constraint on the source(s) is the rate at which the carbon was released. Fast rates would be consistent with a catastrophic event, e.g. massive methane hydrate dissociation, whereas slower rates might implicate other processes. The PETM carbon flux is currently constrained by high-resolution marine and terrestrial records of the CIE. In pelagic bulk carbonate records, the onset of the CIE is often expressed as a single- or multiple-step excursion extending over 10 4 years. Individual planktonic shell records, in contrast, always show a single-step CIE, with either pre-excursion or excursion isotope values, but no transition values. Benthic foraminifera records, which are less complete owing to extinction and diminutive assemblages, show a delayed excursion. Here, we compile and evaluate the individual planktonic shell isotope data from several localities. We find that the most expanded records consistently show a bimodal isotope distribution pattern regardless of location, water depth or depositional facies. This suggests one of several possibilities: (i) the isotopic composition of the surface ocean/atmosphere declined in a geologic instant (

Transient greenhouse warming events in the Paleocene and Eocene were associated with the addition of isotopically-light carbon to the exogenic atmosphere–ocean carbon pool, leading to substantial environmental and biotic change. The magnitude of an accompanying carbon isotope excursion (CIE) can be used to constrain both the sources and amounts of carbon released during an event, as well as to correlate marine and terrestrial records with high precision. The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is well documented, but CIE records for the subsequent warming events are still rare especially from the terrestrial realm. Here, we provide new CIE records for two of the smaller hyperthermal events, I1 and I2, in paleosol carbonate, as well as two additional records of ETM2 and H2 in the Bighorn Basin. Stratigraphic comparison of this expanded, high-resolution terrestrial carbon isotope record to the deep-sea benthic foraminifera records from ODP Sites 1262 and 1263, Walvis Ridge, in the southern Atlantic Ocean corroborates that the Bighorn Basin fluvial sediments record global atmospheric change. The stratigraphic thicknesses of the eccentricity-driven hyperthermals in these archives are in line with precession-forcing of the 7 m thick fluvial overbank-avulsion sedimentary cycles. Using the CALMAG bulk oxide mean annual precipitation proxy, we reconstruct similar or slightly wetter than background soil moisture contents during the four younger hyperthermals, in contrast to drying observed during the PETM. Soil carbonate CIEs vary in magnitude proportionally with the marine CIEs for the four smaller early Eocene hyperthermals. This relationship breaks down for the PETM, with the soil carbonate CIE ~ 2–4‰ less than expected if all five linearly relate to marine CIEs. If the PETM CO2 forcing was similar but scaled to the younger hyperthermals, photosynthetic isotope fractionation or soil environmental factors are needed to explain this anomaly. We use sensitivity testing of experimentally determined photosynthetic isotope discrimination relationships to show that factors other than the recently demonstrated pCO2 sensitivity of C3 plants carbon isotope fractionation are required to explain this anomaly.

Re-examination of a sediment core collected by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP Site 277) on the western margin of the Campbell Plateau, Southwest Pacific Ocean (paleolatitude of ∼ 65° S), has identified an intact Paleocene–Eocene (P–E) boundary overlain by a 34 cm-thick record of the initial phase of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) within nannofossil chalk. The upper part of the PETM is truncated, either due to drilling disturbance or a sedimentary hiatus. An intact record of the onset of the PETM is indicated by a gradual decrease in δ13C values over 20 cm, followed by a 14 cm interval in which δ13C is 2‰ lighter than uppermost Paleocene values. After accounting for effects of diagenetic alteration, we use δ18O and Mg/Ca values from foraminiferal tests to determine that intermediate and surface waters warmed by ∼ 6° at the onset of the PETM prior to the full development of the negative δ13C excursion. After this initial warming, sea temperatures were relatively stable through the PETM, but declined abruptly across the unconformity that truncates the event at this site. Mg/Ca analysis of foraminiferal tests indicate peak intermediate and surface water temperatures of ∼ 19 and ∼ 32 °C, respectively. These temperatures may be influenced by enhanced poleward ocean heat transport during the PETM and surface water values may also be biased towards warm season temperatures.

Available biomagnetostratigraphy suggests that the Palaeocene interval in the classic Tethyan setting of the Bottaccione section (Gubbio, central Italy) may be condensed relative to other outcrops in the area and/or that the Bottaccione succession may contain an unidentified stratigraphic gap in the lower Palaeocene. However, new integrated stratigraphic data, including from bio-, magneto-, chemo-, and cyclostratigraphy, provide robust evidence that the Bottaccione section is complete and comparable to other successions cropping out in the Umbria–Marche area, which solves potential conflicts in the interpretation of the regional biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic records. The recognition of orbitally forced sedimentary cycles, together with the availability of a carbon isotope profile, makes the Bottaccione outcrop a potential reference section for comparison with the already-available record of carbon-cycle alterations in the early–middle Palaeocene.

Paleocene–Eocene warming and changes in oceanic hydrography should have significantly impacted the ecology of marine microorganisms, both at the surface and on the seafloor. We analyzed several key characteristics of foraminifera from two Shatsky Rise (ODP Leg 198) cores spanning the P/E boundary including the maximum test diameters of the largest calcareous trochospiral benthic foraminifera and largest shallow-dwelling planktonic foraminifera, and the stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of benthic foraminifera and bulk samples. We also qualitatively constrained changes in bottom water dissolved oxygen concentrations by quantifying changes in benthic species abundances. We find warming synchronous with an unusual increase in the size of surface-water planktonic in contrast to deep-water benthic foraminifera which decrease in size. We suggest that a decline in bottom water dissolved oxygen is the primary mechanism responsible for the size reduction of Pacific deep-sea benthic foraminifera, whereas the contemporaneous size increase of surface-water planktonic foraminifera is attributed to an increase in thermal stratification and decrease in local nutrient supply.

The initiation of Antarctic glaciation in the early Oligocene (∼34 Ma) is represented by a distinct positive anomaly in the marine δ18O record designated Oi-1 and accompanied by positive excursions in the mean δ13C of oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon and biogenic sediment accumulation rates. Within 400 ky of the onset of Oi-1, the climate system settled into a more moderate but stable “glacial” state. Here, through modeling, we investigate two of the principal biogeochemical processes involved in this response: silicate weathering and marine organic carbon cycling. We initiate the event with a rapid drawdown in atmospheric CO2 resulting from increased weatherability of the continents associated with Himalayan orogeny. This perturbation triggers the overshoot and adjustment of the δ18O record because of feedback among ice-sheet coverage, silicate weathering rates, and atmospheric CO2. The system is a damped oscillator, the strength of which depends on the sensitivity of chemical weathering rates to climate change and climate to changes in atmospheric CO2. Increased oceanic mixing associated with initial transition into a glacial world accelerates the rates of biological productivity and carbon burial, lowering atmospheric CO2 and accelerating global cooling and ice-sheet growth, and generating a carbon isotope response that crudely approximates that observed. The Oi-1 overshoot appears to require a rapid (

An abrupt climate warming of 5 to 10 degrees C during the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary thermal maximum (PETM) 55 Myr ago is linked to the catastrophic release of approximately 1,050-2,100 Gt of carbon from sea-floor methane hydrate reservoirs. Although atmospheric methane, and the carbon dioxide derived from its oxidation, probably contributed to PETM warming, neither the magnitude nor the timing of the climate change is consistent with direct greenhouse forcing by the carbon derived from methane hydrate. Here we demonstrate significant differences between marine and terrestrial carbon isotope records spanning the PETM. We use models of key carbon cycle processes to identify the cause of these differences. Our results provide evidence for a previously unrecognized discrete shift in the state of the climate system during the PETM, characterized by large increases in mid-latitude tropospheric humidity and enhanced cycling of carbon through terrestrial ecosystems. A more humid atmosphere helps to explain PETM temperatures, but the ultimate mechanisms underlying the shift remain unknown.

At Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1090 (subantarctic South Atlantic), benthic foraminiferal stable isotope data (from Cibicidoides and Oridorsalis) span the late Oligocene through early Miocene (f24-16 Ma) at a temporal resolution of f5 ky. Over the same interval, a magnetic polarity stratigraphy can be unequivocally correlated to the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS), thereby providing direct correlation of the isotope record to the GPTS. In an initial age model, we use the newly derived age of the Oligocene/Miocene (O/M) boundary of 23.0 Ma of Shackleton et al. (Geology 28 (2000) 447), revised to the new astronomical calculation (La2003) of Laskar et al. (Icarus (in press)) to recalculate the spline ages of Cande and Kent (J. Geophys. Res. 100 (1995) 6093). We then tune the Site 1090 y 18 O record to obliquity using La2003. In this manner, we are able to refine the ages of polarity chrons C7n through C5Cn.1n. The new age model is consistent, within one obliquity cycle, with previously tuned ages for polarity chrons C7n through C6Bn from Shackleton et al. (Geology 28 447-450 (2000)) when rescaled to La2003. The results from Site 1090 provide independent evidence for the revised age of the Oligocene/Miocene boundary of 23.0 Ma. For early Miocene polarity chrons C6AAr through C5Cn, our obliquity-scale age model is the first to allow a direct calibration to the GPTS. The new ages are generally within one obliquity cycle of those obtained by rescaling the Cande and Kent (J. Geophys. Res. 100 (1995) 6093) interpolation using the new age of the O/M boundary (23.0 Ma) and the

The biostratigraphy of the La Luna Formation has long been in dispute, despite the importance of this unit as the most important source rock for hydrocarbons in Venezuela. In this paper, calcareous microfossil biostratigraphy combined with carbon-isotope stratigraphy provides a stratigraphic framework for the formation, permitting revision of temporal and spatial patterns of deposition of organic-rich sediments. Detailed studies were conducted on a cored borehole and five outcrop sections distributed across the Maracaibo Basin of western Venezuela. Planktic foraminifera have fair to good preservation, and nannofossils are poorly preserved. Many of the Cenomanian to Campanian planktic foraminiferal marker species are present, permitting the application of a traditional zonal scheme. An informal nannofossil biostratigraphic zonal scheme, based primarily on dissolution-resistant species, has been developed. Integration of these zonal schemes has enabled the correlation of changes in carbon-isotope r...

The recurrence of Braarudosphaera chalks in the lower Oligocene sequences of the subtropical South Atlantic has been a long-standing conundrum, with many hypotheses having been advanced to explain the genesis of these exotic nannofossil assemblages. Here, we evaluate different paleoceanographic models within the context of stable isotope (δ18O, δ13C) data measured from bulk-sediment samples and well-preserved foraminifera. Two closely-spaced Braarudosphaera layers from a lower Oligocene (foram Subzone P21a, 29.4–28.5 Ma) section drilled in the southeastern Atlantic (DSDP Site 363) are investigated. Maximum durations for the blooms that deposited the lower and upper Braarudosphaera layers are estimated to be 1.1 and 2.2 k.y., respectively. Bulk-sediment samples enriched in braarudosphaerid carbonate exhibit pronounced δ18O increases on the order of 0.6–1.0‰ which we attribute to isotopic disequilibria driven by braarudosphaerid vital effects. The two Braarudosphaera layers straddle a single peak in benthic foraminiferal δ18O values, suggesting that these blooms may recur on glacial/interglacial timescales. This same pair of braarudosphaerid layers also occurs as a couplet bundled with prolonged (∼6.7 k.y.) thermocline cooling, evidence that these stratigraphically distinct deposits may represent a ‘split signal’ for a single paleoceanographic/paleoclimatic event. Subsumed within this episode of subsurface cooling are two short-lived, negative excursions (∼0.5‰) in the δ13C record of a thermocline-dwelling planktonic foraminifer that coincide with the braarudosphaerid layers. Thus, benthic-to-thermocline δ18O and δ13C gradients were reduced during the braarudosphaerid blooms, a hallmark signature for strengthened upwelling. Both braarudosphaerid layers are marked by transient divergences in the stable isotopic signals of two shallow-dwelling species of planktonic foraminifera. These transient δ18O offsets may reflect subtle differences in the depth ecologies of these two mixed-layer species. If so, then braarudosphaerid depositional events may represent ‘subsurface blooms’ that took place within the lower parts of the euphotic zone. Alternatively, these transient δ18O offsets may reflect periods of pronounced seasonality, with braarudosphaerid blooms occurring during spring upwelling. The recurrence of Braarudosphaera blooms on both sides of the South Atlantic is believed to reflect rhythmic changes in the vigor and configuration of gyre circulation. We speculate that the termination of Braarudosphaera blooms in the South Atlantic near the end of the Early Oligocene may be related to paleoceanographic change caused by the crossing of a critical threshold in the tectonic opening of the Drake Passage and the development of the Antarctic Circum-Polar Current.

The extinction of the Morozovella velascoensis lineage, a group of planktonic foraminifera that dominated tropical assemblages for ∼6.3 m.y., is investigated using an upper Paleocene/lower Eocene section from the central Pacific Ocean (ODP Site 865). Uppermost stratigraphic occurrences of the lineage consist solely of diminutive M. edgari, a species roughly half the size of its ancestor, M. velascoensis. Eigenshape analysis indicates that adult specimens of M. edgari are morphologically similar to small, presumably juvenile, forms of M. velascoensis. The overall stratigraphic succession, where the uppermost occurrences of a lineage are represented by relict populations of minute, juvenilized forms, is consistent with a process called “terminal progenesis.” Various lines of evidence indicate that stress-induced size reduction foreshadowed the extinction of other planktonic foraminiferal lineages as well. The ecological cause(s) for the extinction of ancestral M. velascoensis is unclear. Stable iso...

We assess climate impacts of global warming using ongoing observations and paleoclimate data. We use Earth's measured energy imbalance, paleoclimate data, and simple representations of the global carbon cycle and temperature to define emission reductions needed to stabilize climate and avoid potentially disastrous impacts on today's young people, future generations, and nature. A cumulative industrial-era limit of similar to 500 GtC fossil fuel emissions and 100 GtC storage in the biosphere and soil would keep climate close to the Holocene range to which humanity and other species are adapted. Cumulative emissions of similar to 1000 GtC, sometimes associated with 2 degrees C global warming, would spur "slow" feedbacks and eventual warming of 3-4 degrees C with disastrous consequences. Rapid emissions reduction is required to restore Earth's energy balance and avoid ocean heat uptake that would practically guarantee irreversible effects. Continuation of high fossil fuel emissions, given current knowledge of the consequences, would be an act of extraordinary witting intergenerational injustice. Responsible policymaking requires a rising price on carbon emissions that would preclude emissions from most remaining coal and unconventional fossil fuels and phase down emissions from conventional fossil fuels.

To assess the influence of orbital-scale variations on late Oligocene to early Miocene climate and ocean chemistry, high-resolution (∼5 kyr) benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotope and percent coarse fraction time series were constructed for Ocean Drilling Program site 929 on Ceara Rise in the western equatorial Atlantic. These time series exhibit pervasive low- to high-frequency variability across a 5-Myr interval (20.5–25.4 Ma). The records also reveal several large-scale secular variations including two positive (∼1.6‰) oxygen isotope excursions at 22.95 and 21.1 Ma, suggestive of large but brief glacial maxima (Mi-1 and Mi-1a events of Miller et al. [1991]), and a long-term cyclical increase in the carbon isotopic composition of seawater (shift of ∼1.52‰) that reaches a maximum coincident with peak δ18O values at 22.95 Ma. Lower-resolution (∼25 kyr) records constructed from benthic and planktonic foraminifera as well as bulk carbonate at a shallower site on Ceara Rise (site 926) for the period 21.7–24.9 Ma covary with site 929 δ18O values reflecting changes in Antarctic ice-volume. Likewise, covariance among carbon isotopic records of bulk sediment, benthic, and planktonic foraminifera suggest that the low-frequency cycles (∼400 kyr) and long-term increase in δ13C values represent changes in the mean carbon composition of seawater ΣCO2. The time series presented here constitute the longest, most continuous, and highest-resolution records of pre-Pliocene climate and oceanography to date. The site 929 carbon and oxygen isotope power spectra show significant concentrations of variance at ∼400, 100, and 41 kyr, demonstrating that orbitally induced oscillations have been a normal characteristic of the global climate system since at least the Oligocene, including periods of equable climate and times with no apparent Northern Component Water production.

We investigated rhodoliths (coralline red algae) from a subtropical locality in the Gulf of California (Lithothamnium crassiusculum) and a subarctic locality in Newfoundland (Lithothamnium glaciale) for their potential as paleoenvironmental archives using microanalytical geochemical techniques to measure variations in δ18O, Mg, and Ca. Rhodoliths are potentially well suited as recorders of shallow water paleoenvironmental signals because they (1) have worldwide distribution from the tropics to polar regions, (2) are long lived from decades to centuries, and (3) display well-developed growth bands. Our results indicate that rhodolith growth bands preserve ultrahigh-resolution records of paleoceanographic-paleoclimatic change and likely constitute an important new archive for reconstructing the paleoenvironmental history of littoral-neritic areas in which these algae are found. The δ18O content of individually sampled rhodolith growth bands ranges from −2.4 to −4.6‰ in L. crassiusculum and from −3.2 to −0.3‰ in L. glaciale. In both cases, the range of δ18O values suggests a slightly lower amplitude of variation in sea surface temperature than that actually measured in the ocean at the two study sites. Both L. crassiusculum and L. glaciale show a negative offset from isotopic equilibrium. Electron microprobe analysis of magnesium and calcium in growth bands reveals cyclic variations with values ranging between 7.7–18.5 mol % MgCO3 in L. glaciale and 13.2–22.5 mol % MgCO3 in L. crassiusculum. In addition, electron microprobe element maps highlight individual growth bands, provide a powerful approach to study rhodolith formation, and indicate that the specimens we analyzed have vertical growth rates of 250–450 μm/yr.

We compare refined data sets for Atlantic benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope ratios and for North American mammalian diversity, faunal turnover, and body mass distributions. Each data set spans the late Paleocene through Pleistocene and has temporal resolution of 1.0 m.y.; the mammal data are restricted to western North America. We use the isotope data to compute five separate time series: oxygen isotope ratios at the midpoint of each 1.0-m.y. bin; changes in these ratios across bins; absolute values of these changes (= isotopic volatility); standard deviations of multiple isotope measurements within each bin; and standard deviations that have been detrended and corrected for serial correlation. For the mammals, we compute 12 different variables: standing diversity at the start of each bin; per-lineage origination and extinction rates; total turnover; net diversification; the absolute value of net diversification (= diversification volatility); change in proportional representation of major orders, as measured by a simple index and by a G-statistic; and the mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis of body mass. Simple and liberal statistical analyses fail to show any consistent relationship between any two isotope and mammalian time series, other than some unavoidable correlations between a few untransformed, highly autocorrelated time series like the raw isotope and mean body mass curves. Standard methods of detrending and differencing remove these correlations. Some of the major climate shifts indicated by oxygen isotope records do correspond to major ecological and evolutionary transitions in the mammalian biota, but the nature of these correspondences is unpredictable, and several other such transitions occur at times of relatively little global climate change. We conclude that given currently available climate records, we cannot show that the impact of climate change on the broad patterns of mammalian evolution involves linear forcings; instead, we see only the relatively unpredictable effects of a few major events. Over the scale of the whole Cenozoic, intrinsic, biotic factors like logistic diversity dynamics and within-lineage evolutionary trends seem to be far more important.

Stable and radiogenic isotopic and sedimentological data from sub-Antarctic deep sea sediment cores reveal a temporal link between changes in seawater 87 Sr / 86 Sr ratios and major episodes of late Eocene–early Oligocene climate change. The 87 Sr / 86 Sr records show two major inflections, one at 38–39 Ma near the middle/late Eocene boundary, followed by another at 33.4 Ma. Similarly, the oxygen isotope, ice-rafted debris, and clay assemblage records indicate two important climatic events: the appearance of alpine glaciers and/or small ice-sheets on Antarctica in the late Eocene at 38–39 Ma, followed by a rapid transition to larger and more permanent temperate ice-sheets in the early Oligocene at 33.4 Ma. Moreover, during the early Oligocene (30–33 Ma) three to four inferred peaks in glacial activity appear to coincide with subtle steps in the 87 Sr / 86 Sr record. The coupled variations in climate and seawater Sr isotope ratios during the Eocene/Oligocene imply a strong causal link between the two. Either changes in climate directly influenced patterns of continental weathering and hence seawater chemistry, and/or a tectonic event (e.g., uplift) as reflected in weathering and seawater chemistry triggered relatively abrupt changes in global climate.

The earliest Oligocene (∼33.5 Ma) is marked by a major step in the long-term transition from an ice-free to glaciated world. The transition, characterized by both cooling and ice-sheet growth, triggered a transient but extreme glacial period designated Oi-1. High-resolution isotope records suggest that Oi-1 lasted for roughly 400,000 yr (the duration of magnetochron 13N) before partially abating, and that it was accompanied by an ocean-wide carbon isotope anomaly of ∼0.75‰. One hypothesis relates the carbon isotope anomaly to enhanced export production brought about by climate-induced intensification of wind stress and upwelling, particularly in the Southern Ocean. To understand how this climatic event affected export production in the Southern Ocean, biogenic silica (opal) and carbonate accumulation rates were computed for the sub-polar Indian Ocean using deep-sea cores from ODP Site 744, Kerguelen Plateau. Our findings suggest that net productivity in this region increased by several fold in response to the Oi-1 glaciation. In addition, calcareous primary producers dominant in the Late Eocene were partially replaced by opaline organisms suggesting a trend toward seasonally greater surface divergence and upwelling in this sector of the Southern Ocean. We attribute these changes to intensification of atmospheric/oceanic circulation brought about by high-latitude cooling and the appearance of a full-scale continental ice-sheet on East Antarctica. Higher terrigenous sediment accumulation rates support the idea that wind-induced changes in regional productivity were augmented by an increased supply of glacial dust and debris that provided limiting micro-nutrients (e.g., iron-rich dust particles). We speculate that the rapid changes in biogenic sediment accumulation in the Southern Ocean and other upwelling-dominated regions contributed to the ocean-wide positive carbon isotope anomaly by temporarily increasing the burial rate of organic carbon relative to carbonate carbon. The changes in burial rates, in turn, may have produced a positive feedback on climate by briefly drawing down atmospheric pCO2.

High-resolution (∼3–4 kyr) planktonic stable isotope stratigraphies from Site 925 drilled on Ceara Rise (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 154) are used to investigate the role of the western equatorial Atlantic sea surface hydrography in early Pliocene (3.2–4.7 Ma) climate change. Oxygen isotope results from Globigerinoides sacculifer, a mixed layer dweller, suggest that equatorial sea surface temperatures were cooler than today by ∼2°–3°C, consistent with relatively strong northward advection of heat away from the equator. Oxygen isotope results from Neogloboquadrina dutertrei suggest that over the long term this thermocline dweller tracks global ice volume fluctuations. Stable isotope gradients between the two planktonic species throughout the entire interval imply a stable warm pool in the western equatorial Atlantic. We observe a rapid (3.4 kyr) decrease in G. sacculifer and the N. dutertrei δ18O values at 4.36 Ma that may reflect a freshening of the sea surface, a direct response to a southward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and perhaps, an indirect response to restricted flow through the Central American Seaway.

Study of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages preserved in the central, equatorial Pacific (ODP Site 865) reveal that genera which inhabited the near-surface, mixed layer diversified during the latest Paleocene thermal maximum (LPTM). This transient diversification gave rise to a suite of short-lived (50 to several 100 ka), distinctive morphotypes (Morozovella allisonensis sp. nov., M. africana, and Acarinina sibaiyaensis) that are restricted to the LPTM interval. Parallel morphometric and stable isotopic data have been recorded from individual shells of members of the M. velascoensis/M. allisonensis and A. soldadoensis/A. sibaiyaensis lineages. The single-specimen isotope data confirm that M. allisonensis and A. sibaiyaensis are indeed stratigraphically restricted to the LPTM carbon isotope excursion; all specimens recorded anomalously low δ13C values. A stratigraphic succession of single-specimen isotope data from within the δ13C excursion interval was used to reconstruct the complex population dynamics which mediated the rapid (

Ecotypic correlations between stable isotopic signals and skeletal size indicate that some Late Cretaceous serial planktic foraminifera were strongly photosymbiotic. In contrast, coeval trochospiral planktic foraminifera do not exhibit the isotope/size signatures that typify strongly photosymbiotic species. Comparison to Cenozoic taxa demonstrates that photosymbiosis has recurred throughout planktic foraminiferal history and has evolved independently in superfamilies characterized by very different gross skeletal morphologies. The historical contingency of that evolution is illustrated by the consequences of the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, which terminated the Cretaceous lineages of photosymbiotic planktic foraminifera but did not permanently extinguish photosymbiont reliance by planktic foraminifera.

The late Oligocene and early Miocene periods, some 21 to 27 million years ago, have generally been viewed as times of moderate global warmth and ice-free conditions. Yet several lines of evidence suggest that this interval was punctuated by at least one, and possibly several, episodes of high-latitude cooling and continental glaciation1,2,3. Here, we present stable-isotope and per cent coarse-fraction data from an equatorial, western Atlantic deep-sea-sediment core that provide high-resolution records of the climate variability across the Oligocene/Miocene transition (22.5–25.7 million years ago). A strong 40-kyr periodicity in the oxygen isotope record is consistent with a high-latitude orbital (obliquity) control on ice-volume and temperature. Orbital influences are also apparent at precession and eccentricity frequencies, including a series of ∼400-kyr oscillations that culminate in distinct maxima at the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, about 23.7 million years ago. Covariance between the carbon and oxygen isotope records suggests that the oceanic carbon cycle may have contributed to global cooling during the ∼400-kyr cycles, particularly at the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.

Over the next few centuries, with unabated emissions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), a total of 5000 Pg C may enter the atmosphere, causing CO 2 concentrations to rise to approximately 2000 ppmv, global temperature to warm by more than 8 ° C and surface ocean pH to decline by approximately 0.7 units. A carbon release of this magnitude is unprecedented during the past 56 million years—and the outcome accordingly difficult to predict. In this regard, the geological record may provide foresight to how the Earth system will respond in the future. Here, we discuss the long-term legacy of massive carbon release into the Earth's surface reservoirs, comparing the Anthropocene with a past analogue, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, approx. 56 Ma). We examine the natural processes and time scales of CO 2 neutralization that determine the atmospheric lifetime of CO 2 in response to carbon release. We compare the duration of carbon release during the Anthropocene versus PETM and the ensuing effects on ocean acidification and marine calcifying organisms. We also discuss the conundrum that the observed duration of the PETM appears to be much longer than predicted by models that use first-order assumptions. Finally, we comment on past and future mass extinctions and recovery times of biotic diversity.