Hydrologic Cycle Response to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum at Austral, High-Latitude Site 690 as Revealed by In Situ Measurements of Foraminiferal Oxygen Isotope and Mg/Ca Ratios

Earth surface temperatures warmed by ~5°C during an ancient (~55.5 Ma) global warming event termed the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). This transient (~200 ka) "hyperthermal" climate state had profound consequences for the planet's surficial processes and biosphere, and is widely touted as being an ancient analog for climate change driven by human activities. Hallmarks of the PETM are pervasive carbonate dissolution in the ocean basins and a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) recorded in variety of substrates including soil and marine carbonates. Together these lines of evidence signal the rapid (≤30 ka) release of massive quantities (≥2000 Gt) of ¹³C-depleted carbon into the exogenic carbon cycle. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on pedogenic features in paleosols, clay mineralogy and sedimentology of coastal and continental deposits, and land-plant communities indicate that PETM warmth was accompanied by a major perturbation to the hydrologic cycle. Micropaleontological evidence and n-alkane hydrogen isotope records indicate that increased poleward moisture transport reduced sea-surface salinities (SSSs) in the central Arctic Ocean during the PETM. Such findings are broadly consistent with predictions of climate model simulations. Here we reassess a well-studied PETM record from the Southern Ocean (ODP Site 690) in light of new δ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca data obtained from planktic foraminiferal shells by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), respectively. The unparalleled spatial resolution of these in situ techniques permits extraction of more reliable δ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca data by targeting of minute (≤10 μm spots), biogenic domains within individual planktic foraminifera that retain the original shell chemistry (Kozdon et al. 2011, Paleocean.). In general, the stratigraphic profile and magnitude of the δ¹⁸O decrease (~2.2‰) delimiting PETM warming in our SIMS-generated record are similar to those of published whole-shell δ¹⁸O records for this site; however, the mean baseline of the SIMS δ¹⁸O record is consistently ~1-2‰ lower than that of the published records. We attribute this δ¹⁸O offset to post-depositional diagenesis, which added ¹⁸O-enriched secondary calcite to planktic shells biasing conventional measurements. In the SIMS δ¹⁸O record, a minimum value of -4.4‰ is attained ~43 ka after the CIE onset. This δ¹⁸O minimum coincides with both the minimum δ¹³C value of the CIE and an abundance peak in warm-water immigrant taxa (morozovellids) of planktic foraminifera. Congruence of these two datasets reflects warming of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), but the magnitude of the SST anomaly captured by complementary Mg/Ca data (~5°C) cannot account for the full magnitude of the δ¹⁸O decrease. This discrepancy is reconciled by lowering seawater δ¹⁸O to a value (-2‰) well below that computed for an ice-free world (-1.2‰). We therefore conclude that, much like in the Arctic, increased poleward moisture transport enhanced Antarctic continental runoff and reduced SSSs in the Weddell Sea region during the PETM.