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The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary is marked by one of the largest mass extinctions in Earth’s history, with geological evidence for this event being expressed in hundreds of locations worldwide. An extensively studied section located near El Kef, northwestern Tunisia, is characterized by the classic iridium-rich K/Pg boundary layer, abundant and well-preserved microfossils, and apparently continuous sedimentation throughout the early Danian with no previously described structural complication. These features led to its designation in 1991 as the Global Stratigraphic Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Danian (i.e., the K/Pg boundary). However, the outcrop section has become weathered, and the “golden spike” marking the GSSP is difficult to locate. Therefore, the El Kef Coring Project aimed to provide a continuous record of unweathered sediments across the K/Pg transition in cores recovered from five rotary-drilled holes located close to the El Kef GSSP. Here, we present new, high-resolution lithologic, biostratigraphic, and geochemical data from these cores. The recovered stratigraphic successions of each hole (all drilled within ∼75 m of one another) are unexpectedly different, and we identified a formerly unknown unconformity within planktic foraminiferal biozone P1b. Our results provide evidence that sedimentation at El Kef was not as continuous or free from structural complication as previously thought. Despite these challenges, we present a new composite section from the five El Kef holes and an age model correlated to the orbitally tuned record at Walvis Ridge, South Atlantic Ocean, which is critical in placing the paleoenvironmental and paleoecological records from El Kef in a global context. 

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 between 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. 

Abstract. Coherent variation in CaCO₃ burial is a feature ofthe Cenozoic eastern equatorial Pacific. Nevertheless, there has been along-standing ambiguity in whether changes in CaCO₃ dissolution or changesin equatorial primary production might cause the variability. Sinceproductivity and dissolution leave distinctive regional signals, a regionalsynthesis of data using updated age models and high-resolution stratigraphiccorrelation is an important constraint to distinguish between dissolutionand production as factors that cause low CaCO₃. Furthermore, the newchronostratigraphy is an important foundation for future paleoceanographicstudies. The ability to distinguish between primary production anddissolution is also important to establish a regional carbonate compensationdepth (CCD). We report late Miocene to Holocene time series of XRF-derived (X-rayfluorescence) bulk sediment composition and mass accumulation rates (MARs) from easternequatorial Pacific Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) sites U1335,U1337, and U1338 and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) site 849, and we also report bulk-density-derived CaCO₃ MARs at ODP sites 848, 850, and 851. We usephysical properties, XRF bulk chemical scans, and images along withavailable chronostratigraphy to intercorrelate records in depth space. Wethen apply a new equatorial Pacific age model to create correlated agerecords for the last 8 Myr with resolutions of 1–2 kyr. Large magnitudechanges in CaCO₃ and bio-SiO₂ (biogenic opal) MARs occurred withinthat time period but clay deposition has remained relatively constant,indicating that changes in Fe deposition from dust is only a secondaryfeedback to equatorial productivity. Because clay deposition is relativelyconstant, ratios of CaCO₃ % or biogenic SiO₂ % to clayemulate changes in biogenic MAR. We define five major Pliocene–Pleistocene low CaCO₃ % (PPLC) intervalssince 5.3 Ma. Two were caused primarily by high bio-SiO₂ burial thatdiluted CaCO₃ (PPLC-2, 1685–2135 ka, and PPLC-5, 4465–4737 ka),while three were caused by enhanced dissolution of CaCO₃ (PPLC-1, 51–402 ka, PPLC-3, 2248–2684 ka, and PPLC-4, 2915–4093 ka). Regional patterns ofCaCO₃ % minima can distinguish between low CaCO₃ caused by highdiatom bio-SiO₂ dilution versus lows caused by high CaCO₃dissolution. CaCO₃ dissolution can be confirmed through scanning XRFmeasurements of Ba. High diatom production causes lowest CaCO₃ %within the equatorial high productivity zone, while higher dissolutioncauses lowest CaCO₃ percent at higher latitudes where CaCO₃ production islower. The two diatom production intervals, PPLC-2 and PPLC-5, havedifferent geographic footprints from each other because of regional changesin eastern Pacific nutrient storage after the closure of the Central American Seaway.Because of the regional variability in carbonate production andsedimentation, the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) approach is onlyuseful to examine large changes in CaCO₃ dissolution.

 

Cyclostratigraphy and astrochronology are now at the forefront of geologic timekeeping. While this technique heavily relies on the accuracy of astronomical calculations, solar system chaos limits how far back astronomical calculations can be performed with confidence. High‐resolution paleoclimate records with Milankovitch imprints now allow reversing the traditional cyclostratigraphic approach: Middle Eocene drift sediments from Newfoundland Ridge are well‐suited for this purpose, due to high sedimentation rates and distinct lithological cycles. Per contra, the stratigraphies of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Sites U1408–U1410 are highly complex with several hiatuses. Here, we built a two‐site composite and constructed a conservative age‐depth model to provide a reliable chronology for this rhythmic, highly resolved (<1 kyr) sedimentary archive. Astronomical components (g‐terms and precession constant) are extracted from proxy time‐series using two different techniques, producing consistent results. We find astronomical frequencies up to 4% lower than reported in astronomical solution La04. This solution, however, was smoothed over 20‐Myr intervals, and our results therefore provide constraints on g‐term variability on shorter, million‐year timescales. We also report first evidence that theg₄–g₃“grand eccentricity cycle” may have had a 1.2‐Myr period around 41 Ma, contrary to its 2.4‐Myr periodicity today. Our median precession constant estimate (51.28 ± 0.56″/year) confirms earlier indicators of a relatively low rate of tidal dissipation in the Paleogene. Newfoundland Ridge drift sediments thus enable a reliable reconstruction of astronomical components at the limit of validity of current astronomical calculations, extracted from geologic data, providing a new target for the next generation of astronomical calculations.

 

Future environmental change may profoundly affect oceanic ecosystems in a complex way, due to the synergy between rising temperatures, reduction in mixing and upwelling due to enhanced stratification, ocean acidification, and associated biogeochemical dynamics. Changes in primary productivity, in export of organic carbon from the surface ocean, and in remineralization deeper in the water column in the so‐called “twilight zone” may substantially alter the marine biological carbon pump, thus carbon storage in the oceans. We present different proxy records commonly used for reconstructing paleoproductivity, and re‐evaluate their use for understanding dynamic change within and between different constituents of the marine biological pump during transient global warming episodes in the past. Marine pelagic barite records are a proxy for carbon export from the photic and/or mesopelagic zone, and are not positively correlated with benthic foraminiferal proxies for arrival of organic matter to the seafloor over three early Eocene periods of global warming (Ocean Drilling Program Site 1263, SE Atlantic). These two proxies reflect processes in different parts of the water column, thus different components of the biological pump. An increase in temperature‐dependent organic carbon remineralization in the water column would have caused decreased arrival of food at the seafloor, starving the benthic biota and explaining the differences between the proxies, and may have led to ocean deoxygenation. Carbon cycle modeling demonstrates the feasibility of enhanced water‐column remineralization to explain both Site 1263 records, suggesting that this mechanism amplifiespCO₂increase, representing a positive feedback during hyperthermal warming.

 

The cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction is vigorously debated, owing to the occurrence of a very large bolide impact and flood basalt volcanism near the boundary. Disentangling their relative importance is complicated by uncertainty regarding kill mechanisms and the relative timing of volcanogenic outgassing, impact, and extinction. We used carbon cycle modeling and paleotemperature records to constrain the timing of volcanogenic outgassing. We found support for major outgassing beginning and ending distinctly before the impact, with only the impact coinciding with mass extinction and biologically amplified carbon cycle change. Our models show that these extinction-related carbon cycle changes would have allowed the ocean to absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide, thus limiting the global warming otherwise expected from postextinction volcanism.

 

Much of our understanding of Earth’s past climate comes from the measurement of oxygen and carbon isotope variations in deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Yet, long intervals in existing records lack the temporal resolution and age control needed to thoroughly categorize climate states of the Cenozoic era and to study their dynamics. Here, we present a new, highly resolved, astronomically dated, continuous composite of benthic foraminifer isotope records developed in our laboratories. Four climate states—Hothouse, Warmhouse, Coolhouse, Icehouse—are identified on the basis of their distinctive response to astronomical forcing depending on greenhouse gas concentrations and polar ice sheet volume. Statistical analysis of the nonlinear behavior encoded in our record reveals the key role that polar ice volume plays in the predictability of Cenozoic climate dynamics.