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[1] On the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States, Paleocene sands and silts are replaced during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) by the kaolinite-rich Marlboro Clay. The clay preserves abundant magnetite produced by magnetotactic bacteria and novel, presumptively eukaryotic, ironbiomineralizing microorganisms. Using ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy and electron microscopy, we map the magnetofossil distribution in the context of stratigraphy and carbon isotope data and identify three magnetic facies in the clay: one characterized by a mix of detrital particles and magnetofossils, a second with a higher magnetofossil-to-detrital ratio, and a third with only transient magnetofossils. The distribution of these facies suggests that suboxic conditions promoting magnetofossil production and preservation occurred throughout inner middle neritic sediments of the Salisbury Embayment but extended only transiently to outer neritic sediments and the flanks of the embayment. Such a distribution is consistent with the development of a system resembling a modern tropical river-dominated shelf.

Previous workers identified a magnetically anomalous clay layer deposited on the northern United States Atlantic Coastal Plain during the Paleocene‐Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). The finding inspired the highly controversial hypothesis that a cometary impact triggered the PETM. Here we present ferromagnetic resonance (FMR), isothermal and anhysteretic remanent magnetization, first‐order reversal curve, and transmission electron microscopy analyses of late Paleocene and early Eocene sediments in drill core from Ancora, New Jersey. A novel paleogeographic analysis applying a recent paleomagnetic pole from the Faeroe Islands indicates that New Jersey during the initial Eocene had a ∼6°–9° lower paleolatitude (∼27.3° for Ancora) and a more zonal shoreline trace than in conventional reconstructions. Our investigations of the PETM clay from Ancora reveal abundant magnetite nanoparticles bearing signature traits of crystals produced by magnetotactic bacteria. This result, the first identification of ancient biogenic magnetite using FMR, argues that the anomalous magnetic properties of the PETM sediments are not produced by an impact. They instead reflect environmental changes along the eastern margin of North America during the PETM that led to enhanced production and/or preservation of magnetofossils.

We report the discovery of exceptionally large biogenic magnetite crystals in clay-rich sediments spanning the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) in a borehole at Ancora, NJ. Aside from previously described abundant bacterial magnetofossils, electron microscopy reveals novel spearhead-like and spindle-like magnetite up to 4 m long and hexaoctahedral prisms up to 1.4 m long. Similar to magnetite produced by magnetotactic bacteria, these single-crystal particles exhibit chemical composition, lattice perfection, and oxygen isotopes consistent with an aquatic origin. Electron holography indicates single-domain magnetization despite their large crystal size. We suggest that the development of a thick suboxic zone with high iron bioavailability-a product of dramatic changes in weathering and sedimentation patterns driven by severe global warming-drove diversification of magnetite-forming organisms, likely including eukaryotes.biomineralization ͉ electron microscopy ͉ magnetofossil

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