Paleoceanographic Perturbations and the Marine Carbonate System during the Middle to Late Miocene Carbonate Crash—A Critical Review

Abstract

This study intends to review and assess the middle to late Miocene Carbonate Crash (CC) events in the low to mid latitudes of the Pacific, Indian, Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans as part of the global paleoceanographic reorganisations between 12 and 9 Ma with an emphasis on record preservation and their relation to mass accumulation rates (MAR). In the Eastern Pacific the accumulation changes in carbonate and opal probably reflect an El-Niño-like state of low productivity, which marks the beginning of the CC-event (11.5 Ma), followed by decreased preservation and influx of corrosive bottom waters (10.3 to 10.1 Ma). At the same time in the Atlantic, carbonate preservation considerably increases, suggesting basin-to-basin fractionation. The low-latitude Indian Ocean, the Pacific and the Caribbean are all characterised by a similar timing of preservation increase starting at ~9.6–9.4 Ma, while their MARs show drastic changes with different timing of events. The Atlantic preservation pattern shows an increase as early as 11.5 Ma and becomes even better after 10.1 Ma. The shallow Indian Ocean (Mascarene plateau) is characterised by low carbonate accumulation throughout and increasing preservation after 9.4 Ma. At the same time, the preservation in the Atlantic, including the Caribbean, is increasing due to enhanced North Atlantic deep-water formation, leading to the increase in carbonate accumulation at 10 Ma. Moreover, the shoaling of the Central American Isthmus might have helped to enhance Caribbean preservation after 9.4 Ma. Lower nannoplankton productivity in the Atlantic should have additionally contributed to low mass accumulation rates during the late CC-interval. Overall, it can be inferred that these carbonate minima events during the Miocene may be the result of decreased surface ocean productivity and oceanographically driven increased seafloor dissolution.

The History of Cenozoic Carbonate Flux in the Atlantic Ocean Constrained by Multiple Regional Carbonate Compensation Depth Reconstructions

“…A subsequent carbonate recovery phase is followed by the mid‐late MCC, a global event seen in most ocean basins (Torfstein & Steinberg, 2020), expressed in our model in a carbon flux low between 12 and 9 Ma. The cause of the MCC is still controversial but may have been caused by decreased productivity and changes in circulation of corrosive deep‐water (Preiss‐Daimler et al., 2021).…”

“…This low matches the combined timing of carbonate crash events recorded at multiple ODP sites across the Atlantic including sites 925–929 from the Ceara Rise, sites 1085 and 1087 from the Benguela upwelling region, and site 1265 from the Walvis Ridge (Preiss‐Daimler et al., 2013). The MCC may have been caused by decreased productivity and changes in circulation of corrosive deep‐water (Preiss‐Daimler et al., 2021) rather than an increase in atmospheric CO 2 which remained relatively low (∼350 ppm) over this period based on the boron isotope record (Steinthorsdottir et al., 2021). Different causes have been suggested for different sites in the Atlantic and continue to be poorly understood (Torfstein & Steinberg, 2020).…”

“…The Van Andel (1975) first‐order CCD curve based on sites off Northwest Africa is generally assumed to be representative of the entire North Atlantic (e.g., Bickert, 2009; Broecker, 2008; Komar & Zeebe, 2021; Preiss‐Daimler et al., 2021; Van Andel, 1975). However, our significantly more detailed reconstructions of the Cenozoic CCD highlight major latitudinal differences in the history of carbonate deposition between the northern and central regions of the North Atlantic (Figures 3a and 3b).…”

An Assessment of the Potential Value for Climate Remediation of Ocean Calcifiers in Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon

“…Continuing the audit analogy, an audit trail (a sequential record of the history and details around an event) finds intact shellfish shells through the whole of early human evolution [4,5], and into the deeper history of planet Earth as illustrated by the global reorganisations of carbonate accumulations from the Cretaceous to the Miocene (between 125 and 9 million years ago) [89][90][91].…”

Planetary bioengineering on Earth to return and maintain the atmospheric carbon dioxide to pre-industrial levels: Assessing potential mechanisms

“…If the exposed seabed is below the CCD, CaCO 3 will dissolve before reaching this depth, preventing deposition of calcareous sediment, and the sea floor sediment will be a layer of siliceous ooze or abyssal clay (Berger, 2016). The power of biogenic carbonate in planetary engineering of planet Earth is illustrated by the global paleoceanographic reorganizations of carbonate accumulation and dissolution from the Cretaceous to the Miocene (between 125 and 9 million years ago) that resulted from variations in surface ocean productivity and oceanographically driven variations in seafloor dissolution (van Andel et al, 1975;van Andel et al, 1977;Preiß-Daimler et al, 2021).…”