Journal
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 401, Issue -, Pages 70-82Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.055
Keywords
dissolution; chemical erosion; nannofossils; planktonic foraminifera; Paleocene Eocene thermal maximum
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [EAR06-28394, OCE-1060877C]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [1060877] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The input of massive amounts of carbon to the atmosphere and ocean at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; similar to 55.53 Ma) resulted in pervasive carbonate dissolution at the seafloor. At many sites this dissolution also penetrated into the underlying sediment column. The magnitude of dissolution at and below the seafloor, a process known as chemical erosion, and its effect on the stratigraphy of the PETM, are notoriously difficult to constrain. Here, we illuminate the impact of dissolution by analyzing the complete spectrum of sedimentological grain sizes across the PETM at three deep-sea sites characterized by a range of bottom water dissolution intensity. We show that the grain size spectrum provides a measure of the sediment fraction lost during dissolution. We compare these data with dissolution and other proxy records, electron micrograph observations of samples and lithology. The complete data set indicates that the two sites with slower carbonate accumulation, and less active bioturbation, are characterized by significant chemical erosion. At the third site, higher carbonate accumulation rates, more active bioturbation, and possibly winnowing have limited the impacts of dissolution. However, grain size data suggest that bioturbation and winnowing were not sufficiently intense to diminish the fidelity of isotopic and microfossil assemblage records. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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