Research articleUnraveling short- and long-term carbon cycle variations during the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 from the Paris Basin Chalk
Introduction
During the time interval spanning the Late Cenomanian-Early Turonian, the Earth experienced severe global warming (e.g., Huber et al., 2002; Voigt et al., 2004) associated with profound perturbations of the ocean-continent and biosphere systems. The cause of these changes is most commonly attributed to intense volcanic eruptions from Large Igneous Provinces widespread on Earth during this time interval, resulting in excessive and rapid influx of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere and hydrosphere systems (Jenkyns, 2010). This may have induced global climate change, disturbances in the biotic and geochemical cycles, and the onset of widespread ocean anoxia during the critical geological event, known as Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2, Schlanger and Jenkyns, 1976). Deep sea environments during the OAE2 witnessed extraordinary enhanced nutrient availability and dramatic decrease in dissolved oxygen concentrations. This led to unusual organic productivity and accumulation of organic matter in ocean sediments and the formation of black shale or organic-rich intervals, which constitute today major petroleum source rocks worldwide (Haq et al., 1987). Fossil and geochemical sedimentary proxies from multiple sites in oceans and continents highlight these severe changes in the biogeochemical cycles. In particular, stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) in carbonate and organic sediments indicate a salient perturbation in the global carbon cycle, expressed as a pronounced, short-lived (< 1 Myr) positive carbon isotope excursion (CIE) (e.g., Scholle and Arthur, 1980; Gale et al., 1993; Paul et al., 1999; Tsikos et al., 2004; Jarvis et al., 2006; Sageman et al., 2006). Thus, marine carbonate and organic CIEs have been used to define the extent of OAE2, since OAE2 organic-rich intervals (or black shale) are not correlatable worldwide (Tsikos et al., 2004; Erbacher et al., 2005; Jarvis et al., 2006; Voigt et al., 2008).
Pronounced short-term oscillations within the OAE2 from multiple paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic data proxies have been studied in detail. For instance, short-term (Milankovitch scale) oscillations in organic-matter proxy (total organic carbon), as well as those in continental weathering proxies have been investigated to better understand the mechanisms behind enhancement of organic matter accumulation and/or preservation and the impact of OAE2 on the hydrological cycle (e.g., Meyers et al., 2012a; Poulton et al., 2015; Charbonnier et al., 2018).
The CIE exhibits prominent internal, short-term δ13C variations (Pratt, 1985; Gale et al., 1993; Erbacher et al., 2005; Jarvis et al., 2006; Voigt et al., 2008; Elrick et al., 2009, e.g., δ13C peaks A, B and C; negative δ13C Plenus Cool Event), which have been rarely explored in terms of Milankovitch forcing, and their record requires highly-resolved δ13C data (Li et al., 2017).
Here, we present new high-resolution (~2 kyr) carbonate δ13C data from the Paris Basin Chalk, able to capture the high-frequency Milankovitch band. The three main objectives of the study were to: (i) characterize with high fidelity the CIE, (ii) study with higher resolution short-term δ13C oscillations within the CIE and their potential astronomical origin, and (iii) discuss the duration of OAE2.
Section snippets
Lithostratigraphy and stable carbon isotopes
“Poigny-CRAIE 701” drill-core in the Paris Basin (Fig. 1) covers almost 700 m thick sedimentary sequence of most of the Late Cretaceous Epoch (Mégnien and Hanot, 2000). We studied a ~41 m thick stratigraphic interval spannig the OAE2 (Fig. 2). Lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy (planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) were first presented by Janin (2000), Robaszynski (2000), Robaszynski and Bellier (2000) and later by Robaszynski et al. (2005), but still with lower resolution,
Results
The δ13C values shift from 2.7 to 5.2‰ at the onset of OAE2, recording the CIE with an amplitude of 2.5‰ (Fig. 2B). This amplitude and relative δ13C variations are very similar to those documented in the English Chalk (Paul et al., 1999; Jarvis et al., 2006). A detailed correlation between Poigny core and other OAE2 key δ13C records, including the English Chalk, is provided in Fig. 4, Fig. 5 and Supplementary Fig. S1. Prominent shorter term δ13C fluctuations superimposed on the CIE could be
Correlation of OAE2 equivalent records: a critical overview
Poigny CIE trends are very similar to those recorded at Eastbourne section (southern England), and share some features with several CIE key records in other basins (Fig. 4, Fig. 5, and Supplementary Fig. S1). Correlations between OAE2 sections have generally been established on the basis of integrated stratigraphy (e.g., Gale et al., 1993, Gale et al., 2018; Jarvis et al., 2006; Sageman et al., 2006; Elrick et al., 2009; Meyers et al., 2012b). Most of OAE2 studied sections come from pelagic to
Conclusions
High-resolution (~2 kyr) bulk carbonate δ13C data of Poigny drill-core in the Paris Basin detects with high fidelity positive CIE associated to OAE2. The CIE at Poigny is correlatable to its equivalents in several previously studied sections, and is recorded with the same amplitude (~2.5‰) than its lateral equivalent in the APB in Eastbourne (UK) section. Time-series analysis of Poigny δ13C record reveals Earth's orbital parameters (precession, obliquity and short eccentricity) with the short
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge Damien Gendry at Rennes 1 University for his significant help to access to the Poigny drill-core. During her master degree J.B. (supervised by S.B., B.G. and L.L) was financially supported by ANR-Labex Matisse and ISTeP laboratory. S.B., G.C. and B.G. were supported by French ANR Project AstroMeso. We thank very much anonymous reviewers for their very helpful reviews.
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