Quantifying planktic foraminiferal responses to Paleogene global warming events
Abstract
The Eocene epoch (55-34 million years ago, Ma) is punctuated by a number of transient global warming events associated with deep-sea acidification and carbon cycle perturbation. Here, we investigate the planktic foraminiferal response to two of these events; the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), ~55 Ma and the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), ~40 Ma. Evaluation of these two, very different, warming events provides the opportunity to assess the impact of different rates, event duration, background conditions and faunal assemblages on biotic sensitivity and to identify common (and therefore predictable) biotic signals associated with warming events. Here we analyse new planktic foraminiferal abundance time-series generated across the MECO from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 1051 and 1260 alongside published MECO and PETM datasets. We find that the PETM and MECO are associated with biotic variability significantly above 'background' levels with a clear latitudinal control on the magnitude of biotic perturbation. Planktic foraminiferal assemblages at high latitudes and close to continental margins consistently show the largest response. Ultimately, we find that the rate (and to a lesser extent the magnitude) of environmental change is the dominant control on the size of the biotic perturbation.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMPP31B2024E
- Keywords:
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- 4901 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Abrupt/rapid climate change;
- 4944 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Micropaleontology;
- 4948 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum;
- 4950 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Paleoecology