Marine climate and hydrography of the Coralline Crag (early Pliocene, UK): isotopic evidence from 16 benthic invertebrate taxa.

Journal article


Vignols, Rebecca M., Valentine, Annemarie M., Finlayson, Alana G., Harper, Elizabeth M., Schöne, Bernd R., Leng, Melanie J., Sloane, Hilary J. and Johnson, Andrew L. A. 2018. Marine climate and hydrography of the Coralline Crag (early Pliocene, UK): isotopic evidence from 16 benthic invertebrate taxa. Chemical Geology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.05.034
AuthorsVignols, Rebecca M., Valentine, Annemarie M., Finlayson, Alana G., Harper, Elizabeth M., Schöne, Bernd R., Leng, Melanie J., Sloane, Hilary J. and Johnson, Andrew L. A.
Abstract

The taxonomic composition of the biota of the Coralline Crag Formation (early Pliocene, eastern England) provides conflicting evidence of seawater temperature during deposition, some taxa indicating cool temperate conditions by analogy with modern representatives or relatives, others warm temperate to subtropical/tropical conditions. Previous isotopic (δ18O) evidence of seasonal seafloor temperatures from serial ontogenetic sampling of bivalve mollusk shells indicated cool temperate winter (< 10 °C) and/or summer (< 20 °C) conditions but was limited to nine profiles from two species, one ranging into and one occurring exclusively in cool temperate settings at present. We supplement these results with six further profiles from the species concerned and supply seven more from three other taxa (two supposedly indicative of warm waters) to provide an expanded and more balanced database. We also supply isotopic temperature estimates from 81 spot and whole-shell samples from these five taxa and 11 others, encompassing ‘warm’, ‘cool’ and ‘eurythermal’ forms by analogy with modern representatives or relatives. Preservation tests show no shell alteration. Subject to reasonable assumptions about water δ18O, the shell δ18O data either strongly indicate or are at least consistent with cool temperate seafloor conditions. The subtropical/tropical conditions suggested by the presence of the bryozoan Metrarabdotos did not exist. Microgrowth-increment and δ13C evidence indicate summer water-column stratification during deposition of the Ramsholt Member, unlike in the adjacent southern North Sea at present (well mixed due to shallow depth and strong tidal currents). Summer maximum surface temperature was probably about 5 °C above seafloor temperature and thus often slightly higher than now (17–19 °C rather than 16–17 °C), but only sometimes in the warm temperate range. Winter minimum surface temperature was below 10 °C and possibly the same as at present (6–7 °C). An expanded surface temperature range compared to now may reflect withdrawal of oceanic heat supply in conjunction with higher global temperature.

KeywordsCoralline Crag; Pliocene; Paleotemperature; Oxygen isotope thermometry; Uniformitarianism
Year2018
JournalChemical Geology
PublisherElsevier
ISSN00092541
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.05.034
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/623343
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
hdl:10545/623343
Publication dates24 May 2018
Publication process dates
Deposited22 Jan 2019, 14:24
Accepted21 May 2018
Accepted21 May 2108
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Archived with thanks to Chemical Geology

ContributorsUniversity of Derby, University of Cambridge, University of Mainz and British Geological Survey
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