Project Details
Projekt
Oceanographic and climate changes during the Danian-Selandian transition in the West Atlantic: evidence for a hyperthermal event?
Applicant
Dr. Peter Schulte
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
from 2008 to 2010
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 86505022
The Paleocene-early Eocene is punctuated by several transient, -20-200 ky lasting hyperthermal events of which the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was the most prominent. Abruptly shallower lysocline/CCD, negative 613C excursions, and benthic faunal turnover all imply a major perturbation of the ocean system during these events. Our recent research at the Southern Tethyan shelf suggests the presence of an additional hyperthermal event associated with sea-level fluctuations during the Danian-Selandian (DS) transition. Independently, several deep sea sites include a clay layer ("Chron 27n event") that may correlate with the D-S event in the Tethys. This project aims to decipher paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes during the D-S transition in the OOP Leg 165 from the Caribbean and Leg 171B from the Western Atlantic. Both drillsites provide an expanded and stratigraphically complete Paleocene record including distinct clay layers. High-resolution stable isotope, sedimentological, mineralogical, and biostratigraphic analysis will be applied for (i) achieving a continuous 613C and 618O chemostratigraphy for estimating environmental disturbances and temperatures, (ii) constraining paleoclimate and paleoceanographic changes by mineralogical proxies, and (iii) linking the D-S transition in the deep sea sites with the Tethyan realm by biostratigraphy and stable isotopes.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
International Connection
Belgium
Participating Persons
Privatdozent Dr. André Bornemann; Professor Dr. Robert P. Speijer; Dr. Jorinde Sprong; Professor Dr. Etienne Steurbaut
