High-resolution correlation of the late Triassic (Raetian) to the early Jurassic (Toarcian) between Pelagic sequence of Panthalassa and terrestrial sequence of Pangea using Milankovitch cycles

Milankovitch forcing is one of the main drivers of cyclic climate changes, and cyclicities of Milankovitch cycles recorded in sedimentary rhythms would give a clue to establish the astronomically calibrated age model. Bedded cherts consist of rhythmical alternations of a chert bed and a shale bed, which are considered to have been formed as a result of cyclic changes in accumulation rate of biogenic SiO2 under extremely slow and continuous accumulation of pelagic clay. Although Milankovitch cycle origin of bedded chert was suggested by several arthors (e.g. Hori et al., 1993), such an origin has been still unproved. Ikeda et al. (2008) demonstrated the Milankovitch cycle origin of the middle Triassic bedded chert based on the similarities in the hierarchy of dominant cyclicities and the nature of amplitude modulation between Milankovitch cycles and the chert bed thickness cycles. However, because the errors of age determinations in the middle Triassic bedded chert are too large, we could not orbitally tune the bedded chert sequence to the astronomical time scale. In this study, we extend our research to the upper Triassic (Raetian) to lower Jurassic (Toarcian) bedded chert sequence and demonstrate its Milankovitch cycle origin. The Triassic/Jurassic (T/J) boundary was recognized as a radiolarian faunal turnover (Carter & Hori, 2005). Because the astronomically calibrated cyclostratigraphy was already established using the upper Triassic (Carnian) to lower Jurassic (Hettangian) lacustrine sequences of Pangea including the T/J boundary horizon (e.g. Olsen & Kent, 1999; Whiteside et al., 2007), we could compare our bedded chert sequence with them. We conducted geologic survey at Katsuyama section (e.g. Carter & Hori, 2005), in Inuyama area, central Japan. The average duration of ca. 20 ky for a chert-shale couplet based on radiolarian biostratigraphy is consistent with the assumption that a chert-shale couplet represents a precession cycle. Spectral analysis of bed number series of chert bed thickness revealed ca. 5, 20, and 200beds cycles that correspond to ca. 100, 400, and ca. 3500 ky eccentricity cycles, respectively. The similarity in the hierarchy of dominant periodicities between Milankovitch cycles and chert bed thickness cycles strongly support the idea that the cyclicities in thickness of a chert bed of upper Triassic to lower Jurassic bedded chert sequence were paced by Milankovitch cycles. We try to import the astronomically calibrated cyclostratigraphy for the lacustrine sequence in Newark basin (Olsen & Kent, 1999; Whiteside et al., 2007) into the bedded chert sequence in Inuyama by using the T/J boundary as a datum level. This correlation suggests that the radiolarian faunal turnover in Panthalassa is almost synchronous (~ ca. 100 ky) with the faunal and floral turnover in Pangea. Such a cyclostratigraphic correlation between pelagic bedded chert sequence and terrestrial lacustrine sequence will also provide useful information on the detailed process and mechanism of environmental changes at the T/J boundary and its relation with mass extinction.