The Eocene-Oligocene transition at ODP Site 1263, Atlantic Ocean: decreases in nannoplankton size and abundance and correlation with benthic foraminiferal assemblages

• Abstract. The biotic response of calcareous nannoplankton to environmental and climatic changes during the Eocene–Oligocene transition (~34.8–32.7 Ma) was investigated at high resolution at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1263 (Walvis Ridge, South East Atlantic Ocean), and compared with a lower resolution benthic foraminiferal record. During this time interval, the global climate which had been warm during the Eocene, under high levels of atmospheric CO2 (pCO2), transitioned into the cooler climate of the Oligocene, with overall lower pCO2. At Site 1263, the absolute nannofossil abundance (coccoliths per gram of sediment; N g−1) and the mean coccolith size decreased distinctly across the E–O boundary (EOB; 33.89 Ma), mainly due to a sharp decline in abundance of large-sized Reticulofenestra and Dictyococcites, within ~53 kyr. Since carbonate dissolution did not vary much across the EOB, the decrease in abundance and size of nannofossils may highlight an overall decrease in their export production, which could have led to an increased ratio of organic to inorganic carbon (calcite) burial, as well as variations in the food availability for benthic foraminifers. The benthic foraminiferal assemblage data show the global decline in abundance of rectilinear species with complex apertures in the latest Eocene (~34.5 Ma), potentially reflecting changes in the food source, thus phytoplankton, followed by transient increased abundance of species indicative of seasonal delivery of food to the sea floor (Epistominella spp.; ~34.04–33.54 Ma), with a short peak in overall food delivery at the EOB (buliminid taxa; ~33.9 Ma). After Oi-1 (starting at ~33.4 Ma), a high abundance of Nuttallides umbonifera indicates the presence of more corrosive bottom waters, possibly combined with less food arriving at the sea floor. The most important signals in the planktonic and benthic communities, i.e. the marked decrease of large reticulofenestrids, extinctions of planktonic foraminifer species and more pronounced seasonal influx of organic matter, preceded the major expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet (Oi-1) by ~440 kyr. During Oi-1, our data show no major change in nannofossil abundance or assemblage composition occurred at Site 1263, although benthic foraminifera indicate more corrosive bottom waters following this event. Marine plankton thus showed high sensitivity to fast-changing conditions, possibly enhanced but pulsed nutrient supply, during the early onset of latest Eocene-earliest Oligocene climate change, or to a threshold in these changes (e.g. pCO2 decline, high-latitude cooling and ocean circulation).

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Earth Science with specialization in Historical Geology and Palaeontology

Geovetenskap med inriktning mot historisk geologi och paleontologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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