Evidence for multiple middle Eocene warming events in the
Lutetian-Bartonian chemostratigraphic record from the southwest Pacific
Abstract
Climate and carbon cycling during the Eocene were complex, as inferred
from records of stable isotopes and carbonate accumulation in marine
sediment sections. Following a now well-documented early Eocene interval
characterized by extreme global warmth and numerous short-term C-cycle
perturbations documented in many sediment sections across the world, the
‘warmhouse’ climate state of the middle-late Eocene remains far less
studied. In particular, the middle Eocene was punctuated by an event of
significant global warming and seafloor carbonate dissolution (Middle
Eocene Climate Optimum or MECO, ca. ~40.5 Ma). Over the
last decade, studies from multiple sites in the Atlantic have suggested
another abrupt and transient (and potentially a hyperthermal) warming
event seemingly associated with a C-cycle perturbation at
~41.5 Ma, referred to as the Late Lutetian Thermal
Maximum (LLTM). While both MECO and LLTM punctuate the post-EECO
long-term cooling, their isotopic expression and duration are
fundamentally different. At present, a dearth of continuous middle
Eocene chemostratigraphic records limits our understanding of warming
events like MECO and especially, the global extent of the LLTM. In this
study, we develop an isotope stratigraphy of Lutetian-Bartonian age
sediments from three different sites in the southwest Pacific region,
two of which were drilled during IODP Expedition 371 in the Tasman Sea
and a third that derives from field work in New Caledonia. We identify
long-term changes in carbon and oxygen isotope records, possibly related
to 405 Ky eccentricity cycles, and identify the stratigraphic expression
of the LLTM and MECO. These new middle Eocene chemostratigraphic records
from the southwest Pacific help to establish the global nature and
relevance of multiple warming events that occurred during the
‘warmhouse’ climatic conditions of middle Eocene and highlight the
utility of sedimentary carbon isotopes as a tool for chemostratigraphy
and deciphering causes of past global changes.