Productivity and organic carbon trends through the Wilcox Group in the deep Gulf of Mexico: Evidence for ventilation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Cunningham, Robert; Phillips, Marcie Purkey; Snedden, John W.; Norton, Ian O.; Lowery, Christopher M.; Virdell, Jon W.; Barrie, Craig D.; Avery, A.A.

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2022.105634

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…While previous studies have documented radiolarian rich intervals during the PETM in cuttings samples (e.g. Cunningham et al, 2022), we report radiolarian-dominated intervals from core during the CIE. In general, radiolaria are 640 abundant in modern slope sediments where dissolved silica concentrations are relatively high to favor shell production, export, and preservation.…”

Section: Biotic Expression Paleocene-eocene Boundary Interval Deep-wa...contrasting

confidence: 57%

“…Several observations from the Anchor 3 core are inconsistent with the closed gateway hypothesis and instead support the interpretation that the GOM remained connected with the Atlantic Ocean (Cunningham et al, 2022). The Anchor 3 core does not show evidence for oceanic drawdown or unconformity occurrence during or immediately prior to the PETM.…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Gulf Of Mexico Closed Gateway Hypothesis 725mentioning

confidence: 72%

“…4). Although the PETM CIE was not identified in the wells studied by Cunningham et al (2022), they reported that other GOM PETM sections were dominantly light gray shale, with lesser siltstone and marlstone, suggesting that the record preserved in the Anchor 3 core may be broadly representative of lithologic change during the PETM over the greater Wilcox deep-sea fan. Many other distal marine PETM sections (shelfal, slope, deep-sea) that are connected with terrigenous sediment sources also show an increase in clay deposition (i.e., decrease in grain size) during the PETM CIE, including in nearshore shelfal sediments in Spitsbergen (Harding et al, 2011), inner-middle neritic sediments of New Jersey (Self-Trail et al, 2012), outer shelf to slope sediments of central California (John et al, 2008), and outer neritic to deep-marine sediments of the North Sea Basin (Kender et al, 2012;Schoon et al, 2015) (Fig.…”

Section: Lithologymentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The decline in terrestrial phytoclasts and spores/pollen, increase in opaque phytoclasts, and marine dinocyst assemblages with peaks in Spiniferites complex and Areoligera abundances, corroborate the foraminifera record prior to the CIE and are consistent with an overall trend in sea level rise (Sluijis et al, 2008a;Sluijis and Brinkhius, 2009). Furthermore, the deep-water GOM record across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary lacks evidence for deposition of 745 evaporites or highly organic units that have characterized isolation and drawdown episodes of the Mediterranean and Black seas (Cunningham et al, 2022).…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Gulf Of Mexico Closed Gateway Hypothesis 725mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2; Wing et al, 2003;Galloway et al, 2011;Foreman et al, 2012;Sharman et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2018). Cunningham et al (2022) recently reviewed publicly available biostratigraphic and geochemical data from GOM wells, primarily from ditch-cuttings samples, and inferred the PETM to range in thickness from 8-222 m. This study aims to determine the lithologic, bio-geochemical, and oceanographic effects of the PETM within the GOM and Wilcox deep-sea fan system by (1) constraining the stratigraphic position of the PETM through integration of 80 bulk organic carbon-isotopic and biostratigraphic data, (2) evaluating changes in sediment lithology and major element https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2022-86 Preprint. Discussion started: 9 December 2022 c Author(s) 2022.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Sharman

Szymanski

Hackworth

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) represents the most pronounced hyperthermal of the Cenozoic era and is hypothesized to have resulted in an intensification of the paleohydrologic cycle, including enhanced seasonality and increased sediment discharge to the coastal ocean. Although the PETM has been widely documented, there are few records from deposits that form the distal, deep-water components of large sediment routing systems. This study presents new constraints on the stratigraphic placement of the PETM in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico basin through analysis of geochemical, carbon-isotopic, and biostratigraphic data within a ~124 m cored interval of the Wilcox Group. Biostratigraphic and carbon-isotopic data indicate that the PETM extends over ~13.4 m based on acmes in the dinoflagellate Apectodinium homomorphum and calcareous nannoplankton Rhomboaster cuspis and a ~−2‰ shift in bulk organic δ13C values. A decrease in bioturbation and benthic foraminifera extinction suggest that deoxygenation of Gulf of Mexico bottom waters was coincident with the onset of the PETM. A ~2 m lag in the depositional record separates the onset of the PETM negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) and deposition of a 5.7 m thick interval of organic-lean claystone and marlstone that reflects a shut-off of the supply of sand, silt, and terrestrial palynomorphs to the basin. An increase in CaCO3 ~4.5 m above the CIE onset is consistent with other sites that indicate ocean acidification and shoaling of the calcite compensation depth during the early PETM. We interpret deposits of the PETM in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico to reflect the combined effects of increased erosional denudation and rising sea level that resulted in sequestration of sand and silt near the coastline but that allowed delivery of terrigenous mud to the deep-sea. The similarity of oceanographic changes observed in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean during the PETM supports the inference that these water masses were connected during latest Paleocene-earliest Eocene time. Although deposition of typical Wilcox Group facies resumed during and after the PETM recovery, an increased influx of terrestrial detritus (i.e., pollen, spores, organic debris) relative to marine dinoflagellates is suggestive of long-lasting effects of the PETM. This study illustrates the profound and prolonged effects of climatic warming on even the most distal reaches of large (≥1×106 km2) sediment routing systems.

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Section: Biotic Expression Paleocene-eocene Boundary Interval Deep-wa...contrasting

confidence: 57%

Section: Evaluation Of the Gulf Of Mexico Closed Gateway Hypothesis 725mentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Lithologymentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Evaluation Of the Gulf Of Mexico Closed Gateway Hypothesis 725mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Sharman

Szymanski

Hackworth

et al. 2022

Preprint

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show abstract

Black shale deposition during the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum: shale-gas potential of the Patala Formation, Himalayan fold-and-thrust belt, Pakistan (eastern Tethys)

Khan,

Littke,

Weltje

et al. 2024

Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch)

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Coastal response to global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Sharman

Covault

Flaig

et al. 2023

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Productivity and organic carbon trends through the Wilcox Group in the deep Gulf of Mexico: Evidence for ventilation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Cited by 10 publications

References 95 publications

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy, geochemistry, and biostratigraphy of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, deep-water Wilcox Group, Gulf of Mexico (U.S.A.)

Black shale deposition during the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum: shale-gas potential of the Patala Formation, Himalayan fold-and-thrust belt, Pakistan (eastern Tethys)

Coastal response to global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

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