Articles | Volume 17, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2515-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2515-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Climate and ecology in the Rocky Mountain interior after the early Eocene Climatic Optimum
Rebekah A. Stein
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Sarah E. Allen
Department of Biology, Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601, USA
Michael E. Smith
School of Earth and Sustainability, Northern Arizona University,
Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Rebecca M. Dzombak
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Brian R. Jicha
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison,
WI 53706, USA
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Tiffany Rivera, McKenna Holliday, Brian Jicha, David H. Malone, Michael J. Braunagel, V. Alex Bonilla Franco, Robert F. Biek, W. Ashley Griffith, and David B. Hacker
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2899, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2899, 2024
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The timing of an ancient gravity slide that originated in the Marysvale volcanic field (Utah) is constrained using 40Ar/39Ar dating of pseudotachylyte, a friction-induced glass that is generated during slide movement, and the volcanic tuffs that were displaced by the slide and those that overly the slide mass. Our results suggest that the Sevier gravity slide occurred at 25.25 Ma. The removal of such a large volume of material likely allowed for the eruption of the Antimony Tuff at 25.19 Ma.
Paolo Boncio, Eugenio Auciello, Vincenzo Amato, Pietro Aucelli, Paola Petrosino, Anna C. Tangari, and Brian R. Jicha
Solid Earth, 13, 553–582, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-553-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-13-553-2022, 2022
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We studied the Gioia Sannitica normal fault (GF) within the southern Matese fault system (SMF) in southern Apennines (Italy). It is a fault with a long slip history that has experienced recent reactivation or acceleration. Present activity has resulted in late Quaternary fault scarps and Holocene surface faulting. The maximum slip rate is ~ 0.5 mm/yr. Activation of the 11.5 km GF or the entire 30 km SMF can produce up to M 6.2 or M 6.8 earthquakes, respectively.
Fabrizio Marra, Alison Pereira, Brian Jicha, Sebastien Nomade, Italo Biddittu, Fabio Florindo, Giovanni Muttoni, Elizabeth Niespolo, Paul Renne, and Vincent Scao
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-161, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-161, 2021
Publication in CP not foreseen
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We demonstrate that coarse gravel deposition in the catchment basins of the major rivers of central Italy is a direct proxy of global deglaciation events associated with meltwater pulses. By precise 40Ar/39Ar dating of the sedimentary deposits we show that emplacement of these gravel beds is closely coincident with discrete events of sea-level rise, with peaks of the Ice-rafted debris (IRD) curve, and with particularly mild (warmer) minima of mean summer insolation at 65° N.
Ethan G. Hyland, Katharine W. Huntington, Nathan D. Sheldon, and Tammo Reichgelt
Clim. Past, 14, 1391–1404, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1391-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1391-2018, 2018
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Climate equability is a paradox in paleoclimate research, but modeling suggests that strong seasonality should be a feature of greenhouse Earth periods too. Records of temperature from floral assemblages, paleosol geochemistry, clumped isotope thermometry, and downscaled models during the early Eocene show that the mean annual range of temperature was high, and may have increased during warming events. This has implications for predicting future seasonal climate impacts in continental regions.
Related subject area
Subject: Continental Surface Processes | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Cenozoic
Climatic and tectonic controls on shallow-marine and freshwater diatomite deposition throughout the Palaeogene
Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) and its imprint in the continental Escanilla Formation, Spain
Fluvio-deltaic record of increased sediment transport during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), Southern Pyrenees, Spain
Terrestrial carbon isotope stratigraphy and mammal turnover during post-PETM hyperthermals in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA
Palaeo-environmental evolution of Central Asia during the Cenozoic: new insights from the continental sedimentary archive of the Valley of Lakes (Mongolia)
Terrestrial responses of low-latitude Asia to the Eocene–Oligocene climate transition revealed by integrated chronostratigraphy
Mammal faunal change in the zone of the Paleogene hyperthermals ETM2 and H2
Pliocene to Pleistocene climate and environmental history of Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic, based on high-resolution inorganic geochemistry data
A re-evaluation of the palaeoclimatic significance of phosphorus variability in speleothems revealed by high-resolution synchrotron micro XRF mapping
Cécile Figus, Or M. Bialik, Andrey Y. Gladenkov, Tatyana V. Oreshkina, Johan Renaudie, Pavel Smirnov, and Jakub Witkowski
Clim. Past, 20, 2629–2644, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2629-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2629-2024, 2024
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A global-scale compilation of Palaeogene diatomite occurrences shows how palaeogeographic and palaeoceanographic changes impacted diatom accumulation, especially in the middle Eocene. Diatomite deposition dropped in epicontinental seas between ~ 46 and ~ 44 Ma, while diatom accumulation began around 43.5 Ma in open-ocean settings. The compilation also shows an indirect correlation between Palaeogene climate fluctuations and diatomite deposition in shallow-marine and freshwater environments.
Nikhil Sharma, Jorge E. Spangenberg, Thierry Adatte, Torsten Vennemann, László Kocsis, Jean Vérité, Luis Valero, and Sébastien Castelltort
Clim. Past, 20, 935–949, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-935-2024, 2024
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The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) is an enigmatic global warming event with scarce terrestrial records. To contribute, this study presents a new comprehensive geochemical record of the MECO in the fluvial Escanilla Formation, Spain. In addition to identifying the regional preservation of the MECO, results demonstrate continental sedimentary successions, as key archives of past climate and stable isotopes, to be a powerful tool in correlating difficult-to-date fluvial successions.
Sabí Peris Cabré, Luis Valero, Jorge E. Spangenberg, Andreu Vinyoles, Jean Verité, Thierry Adatte, Maxime Tremblin, Stephen Watkins, Nikhil Sharma, Miguel Garcés, Cai Puigdefàbregas, and Sébastien Castelltort
Clim. Past, 19, 533–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-533-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-533-2023, 2023
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The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) was a global warming event that took place 40 Myr ago and lasted ca. 500 kyr, inducing physical, chemical, and biotic changes on the Earth. We use stable isotopes to identify the MECO in the Eocene deltaic deposits of the Southern Pyrenees. Our findings reveal enhanced deltaic progradation during the MECO, pointing to the important impact of global warming on fluvial sediment transport with implications for the consequences of current climate change.
Sarah J. Widlansky, Ross Secord, Kathryn E. Snell, Amy E. Chew, and William C. Clyde
Clim. Past, 18, 681–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-681-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-681-2022, 2022
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New stable isotope records from pedogenic carbonates through the ETM2, H2, and possibly I1 hyperthermals from the Bighorn Basin highlight significant spatial variability in the preservation and magnitude of these global climate events in paleosol records. These data also provide important climate context for the extensive early Eocene mammal fossil record from the southern Bighorn Basin and support previous hypotheses that pulses in mammal turnover corresponded to the ETM2 and H2 hyperthermals.
Andre Baldermann, Oliver Wasser, Elshan Abdullayev, Stefano Bernasconi, Stefan Löhr, Klaus Wemmer, Werner E. Piller, Maxim Rudmin, and Sylvain Richoz
Clim. Past, 17, 1955–1972, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1955-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1955-2021, 2021
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We identified the provenance, (post)depositional history, weathering conditions and hydroclimate that formed the detrital and authigenic silicates and soil carbonates of the Valley of Lakes sediments in Central Asia during the Cenozoic (~34 to 21 Ma). Aridification pulses in continental Central Asia coincide with marine glaciation events and are caused by Cenozoic climate forcing and the exhumation of the Tian Shan, Hangay and Altai mountains, which reduced the moisture influx by westerly winds.
Y. X. Li, W. J. Jiao, Z. H. Liu, J. H. Jin, D. H. Wang, Y. X. He, and C. Quan
Clim. Past, 12, 255–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-255-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-255-2016, 2016
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An integrated litho-, bio-, cyclo-, and magnetostratigraphy constrains the onset of a depositional environmental change from a lacustrine to a deltaic environment in the Maoming Basin, China, at 33.88 Ma. This coincides with the global cooling during the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) at ~ 33.7–33.9 Ma. This change represents terrestrial responses of low-latitude Asia to the EOT. The greatly refined chronology permits detailed examination of the late Paleogene climate change in southeast Asia.
A. E. Chew
Clim. Past, 11, 1223–1237, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1223-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1223-2015, 2015
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This project describes mammal faunal response in the zone of the ETM2 and H2 hyperthermals (rapid global warming events) of the early Paleogene in the south-central Bighorn Basin, WY. The response includes changes in faunal structure and species relative body size. Comparative analysis suggests that environmental moisture and rate of change are important moderators of response.
V. Wennrich, P. S. Minyuk, V. Borkhodoev, A. Francke, B. Ritter, N. R. Nowaczyk, M. A. Sauerbrey, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 10, 1381–1399, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1381-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1381-2014, 2014
S. Frisia, A. Borsato, R. N. Drysdale, B. Paul, A. Greig, and M. Cotte
Clim. Past, 8, 2039–2051, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-2039-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-2039-2012, 2012
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Short summary
Modern climate change drives us to look to the past to understand how well prior life adapted to warm periods. In the early Eocene, a warm period approximately 50 million years ago, southwestern Wyoming was covered by a giant lake. This lake and surrounding environments made for excellent preservation of ancient soils, plant fossils, and more. Using geochemical tools and plant fossils, we determine the region was a warm, wet forest and that elevated temperatures were maintained by volcanoes.
Modern climate change drives us to look to the past to understand how well prior life adapted to...