More Like this

1. Lacustrine cyclicity in the early Eocene Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah: Evidence from X-ray fluorescence core scanning

   https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2020.24  

   Walters, Andrew P. ; Meyers, Stephen R. ; Carroll, Alan R. ; Hill, Tina R. ; Vanden Berg, Michael D. ( April 2020 , Journal of Sedimentary Research)

   ABSTRACT The Green River Formation preserves an extraordinary archive of terrestrial paleoclimate during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO; ∼ 53–50 Ma), expressing multiple scales of sedimentary cyclicity previously interpreted to reflect annual to Milankovitch-scale forcing. Here we utilize X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and micro X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) scanning in combination with radioisotopic age data to evaluate a rock core record of laminated oil shale and carbonate mudstone from Utah's Uinta Basin, with the parallel objectives of elucidating the paleo-environmental significance of the sedimentary rhythms, testing a range of forcing hypotheses, and evaluating potential linkages between high- and low-frequency forcing. This new assessment reveals that the ∼ 100-μm-scale laminae—the most fundamental rhythm of the Green River Formation—are most strongly expressed by variations in abundance of iron and sulfur. We propose that these variations reflect changes in redox state, consistent with annual stratification of the lake. In contrast to previous studies, no support was found for ENSO or sunspot cycles. However, millimeter- to centimeter-scale rhythms—temporally constrained to the decadal to centennial scale—are strongly expressed as alternations in the abundance of silicate- versus carbonate-associated elements (e.g., Al and Si vs. Ca), suggesting changes in precipitation and sediment delivery to the paleo-lake.more »Variations also occur at the meter scale, defining an approximate 4 m cycle interpreted to reflect precession. We also identify punctuated intervals, associated principally with one phase of the proposed precession cycle, where Si disconnects from the silicate input. We propose an alternative authigenic or biogenic Si source for these intervals, which reflects periods of enhanced productivity. This result reveals how long-term astronomical forcings can influence short-term processes, yielding insight into decadal- to millennial-scale terrestrial climate change in the Eocene greenhouse earth.« less
2. Climate, cryosphere and carbon cycle controls on Southeast Atlantic orbital-scale carbonate deposition since the Oligocene (30-0 Ma)

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2091-2021  

   Drury, AnnaJoy ; Liebrand, Diederik ; Westerhold, Thomas ; Beddow, Helen M. ; Hodell, David A. ; Wilkens, Roy H. ; Lyle, Mitchell ; Bell, David B. ; Kroon, Dick ; Palike, Heiko ; et al ( October 2021 , Climate of the past)

   Beaufort, Luc (Ed.)

   Abstract. The evolution of the Cenozoic cryosphere from unipolar to bipolar over the past 30 million years (Myr) is broadly known. Highly resolved records of carbonate (CaCO3) content provide insight into the evolution of regional and global climate, cryosphere, and carbon cycle dynamics. Here, we generate the first Southeast Atlantic CaCO3 content record spanning the last 30 Myr, derived from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) ln(Ca/Fe) data collected at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1264 (Walvis Ridge, SE Atlantic Ocean). We present a comprehensive and continuous depth and age model for the entirety of Site 1264 (~316 m; 30 Myr). This constitutes a key reference framework for future palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic studies at this location. We identify three phases with distinctly different orbital controls on Southeast Atlantic CaCO3 deposition, corresponding to major developments in climate, the cryosphere and the carbon cycle: (1) strong ~110 kyr eccentricity pacing prevails during Oligocene–Miocene global warmth (~30–13 Ma), (2) increased eccentricity-modulated precession pacing appears after the middle Miocene ClimateTransition (mMCT) (~14–8 Ma), and (3) pervasive obliquity pacing appears in the late Miocene (~7.7–3.3 Ma) following greater importance of high-latitude processes, such as increased glacial activity and high-latitude cooling. The lowest CaCO3 content (92 %–94 %) occurs betweenmore »18.5 and 14.5 Ma, potentially reflecting dissolution caused by widespread early Miocene warmth and preceding Antarctic deglaciation across the Miocene Climatic Optimum (~17–14.5 Ma) by 1.5 Myr. The emergence of precession pacing of CaCO3 deposition at Site 1264 after ~14 Ma could signal a reorganisation of surface and/or deep-water circulation in this region following Antarctic reglaciation at the mMCT. The increased sensitivity to precession at Site 1264 between 14 and 13 Ma is associated with an increase in mass accumulation rates (MARs) and reflects increased regional CaCO3 productivity and/or recurrent influxes of cooler, less corrosive deep waters. The highest carbonate content (%CaCO3) and MARs indicate that the late Miocene–early PlioceneBiogenic Bloom (LMBB) occurs between ~7.8 and 3.3Ma at Site 1264; broadly contemporaneous with the LMBB in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. At Site 1264, the onset of the LMBB roughly coincides with appearance of strong obliquity pacing of %CaCO3, reflecting increased high-latitude forcing. The global expression of the LMBB may reflect increased nutrient input into the global ocean resulting from enhanced aeolian dust and/or glacial/chemical weathering fluxes, due to enhanced glacial activity and increased meridional temperature gradients. Regional variability in the timing and amplitude of the LMBB may be driven by regional differences in cooling, continental aridification and/or changes in ocean circulation in the late Miocene.« less
3. Tectonic Forcing, Subsidence, and Sedimentary Cyclicity in the Upper Cretaceous, Western Interior U.S.A.

   Rudolph, Kurt ( July 2018 , AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition)

   Sequence stratigraphy is an observationally-based method for interpreting sedimentary cyclicity. Stacking patterns of progradation, retrogradation and degradation are related to the balance of sedimentary accommodation versus sediment supply. While often related to eustasy, accommodation is also controlled by tectono-subsidence. Based on over 50 global examples, regional subsidence and uplift rates are usually greater than rates of sea level rise/fall for durations greater than about one million years. Thus, in many basins, the larger scale patterns of sedimentary cyclicity are driven by tectonics. The Upper Cretaceous of the Western Interior is an ideal laboratory to evaluate stratigraphic response to tectono-subsidence. Based on the stratigraphic framework, geohistory analyses, mapped shorelines and interpreted 2nd order system tracts, there is a strong correlation between subsidence rates and shoreline trajectories/stacking patterns. Large scale transgressions correlate with marked increases in subsidence, while strongly regressive intervals correspond to periods of low subsidence (or uplift). For example, the widespread transgression that occurs above the Turonian (e.g., Niobrara-Baxter-Cody) is associated with a large increase in regional subsidence. And the strongly progradational interval in the Upper Campanian that occurs throughout Wyoming (e.g., Ericson-Pine Ridge-Teapot) corresponds with uplift in proximal areas and reduced subsidence rate in more distal areas. Moreover, themore »patterns of large-scale cyclicity changes along strike. A transect through the Green River to Powder River Basin shows a complicated large-scale stacking pattern with three complete 2nd order cycles in the Upper Cretaceous, correlative to regional subsidence/uplift events. A transect through the Uinta to North Park Basin has only two cycles, with much less complexity in the Campanian-Maastrichtian stacking and subsidence. To the south, the San Juan Basin has three cycles, but these are not coeval with those seen in the northern transects. Subsidence-driven large-scale cyclicity controls exploration play elements, especially reservoir-seal couplets. Along-strike variability in regional subsidence is important in controlling the petroleum system play elements of source, seal and reservoir. It also indicates variation in lithospheric architecture/processes. Drivers may include variations in the angle and nature of the subducting plate.« less
4. A Tale of Two LIP- (Large-Igneous Province) Induced Hyperthermals: The end-Triassic extinction (ETE) and Toarcian OAE (T-OAE)

   Whiteside, J ; Yager, J ; Tackett, L ; Schaller, M ; Olsen, P ( December 2019 , American Geophysical Union Annual Conference)

   Although many sources of atmospheric CO2 have been identified, the major sinks are best understood in a deep-time context. Here, we focus on two Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) situated in the low latitude humid zone ~201.6 Ma and the Karoo-Ferrar located at high southern latitudes ~183 Ma. We use soil carbonate, lithologic, δD of n-alkanes, Sr data, and modeling to examine how these eruptions, hydrological cycling, and weathering impacted global atmospheric CO2, carbon cycling, and biotic extinction at the ETE and T-OAE hyperthermals. CAMP largely erupted in the tropics, doubled atmospheric CO2 from ~2,500 – 5,000 ppm at the ETE (observed in soil carbonates with an onset <1000 and a duration of <~20 ky) and rapidly sequestered CO2 (< 2,500 ppm) as recorded in Newark Supergroup basins (eastern US). These same strata preserve variations in the lake level expression of the climatic precession cycle based on lithology and δD. High cyclicity variance tracked high pCO2 (>~4000 ppm) and drove insolation-paced increases in precipitation. Leaf wax δD shows significant variability, reflecting an enhanced hydrological cycle at the ETE with repeated sudden shifts in relative evaporation for ~1 Myr. In marine strata, 87Sr/86Sr and 187Os/188Os valuesmore »track changes in pCO2, suggesting a terrestrial/marine linkage through continental weathering, CO2, and runoff. Despite the northward movement of these basins into the arid belt, our data suggest lower evaporation relative to precipitation driven by lower temperatures, consistent with lower pCO2 due to CAMP weathering, which modeling estimates to have increased 6 to 10-fold for >1.6 Myr after the eruptive phase. Release of CO2 from the Karoo-Ferrar LIP similarly enhanced the hydrological cycle as evidenced from sedimentary observations (e.g., fine-scale turbidites and debris flow deposits) in Yorkshire (UK). The onset of the carbon isotope excursion at the T-OAE lasts 0.5 Myr with a 1.5 Myr duration modulated by astronomical pacing. Our leaf wax δD from the same strata show a transient enhancement in the hydrological cycle. Although the Karoo-Ferrar has a limited drawdown potential when compared with CAMP‐type basalts because of its higher latitude location, Toarcian weathering rates may have increased 2 to 5-fold, acting as a net sink 1–2 Myr after eruptions ceased.« less
5. Can We See Dust from the 1992 Fall of the Peekskill Meteorite in Hudson River Sediments and Can We Use It as a Stratigraphic Marker?(Regional and Local Stratigraphic Markers in Three Hudson River Cores Taken Near Peekskill, New York: LWB4-1)

   Diallo, M. B. ; McCann, B. ; Abdul, B. ; Adeghe, S. ; Abbott, D. H. ; Bostick, B. C. ; Chang, C. ; Block, K. A. ( December 2018 , American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2018, abstract #B53I-2168)

   We have been studying the stratigraphy of core LWB4-1 taken in 2001 in the Hudson River about 100 meters north of the calculated transit path of the Peekskill meteorite in October 1992. We measured magnetic susceptibility at 1cm intervals from 0 -70 cm depth and found a layer with a magnetic susceptibility of 11 cgs units at 6 cm depth. This is the highest susceptibility in the top 40 cm of the core. Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy revealed the high susceptibility layer at 6 cm depth is part of a 3 cm interval with a high Ni/Cr ratio, but the depth of the peak in the Ni/Cr ratio is poorly resolved due to measurement error. We plan to dry and homogenize discreet samples for analysis on bench top XRF to reduce Ni and Cr error. Based on our identification of the base of modern Pb at 68 cm depth, the top 40 cm of the core covers the time interval from 2001 to 1930. From previous work on Central Park Lake, the base of modern Pb represents the year 1880 A.D. A uniform sedimentation rate model is supported a peak in Pb and As at 8 cm depth. The peakmore »might represent the 1988 ban on the use of Pb arsenide and the start of use of DDT as a pesticide. We found a second peak in Pb at 37.5cm potentially from 1938, the date at which incineration was banned in New York City. We found a third peak in Pb at 50.5cm that might be from World War I around 1914. We found two deeper susceptibility peaks of 12 cgs at 43 cm and 8 cgs at 59 cm. These peaks could represent major Hudson River floods in 1927 and 1903. 137Cs and 210Pb 210 dating are in progress and will help us to determine if our age model is correct. Also, our core exhibits a distinct increase in Ca content starting at 18-25 cm depth and increasing towards the top of the core. This increase could be due to increased erosion, anthropogenic inputs or increased dissolution of CaCO3 rich rocks. We are measuring CaCO3 in the core to better determine the origin of this increase of Ca.« less