Silicate weathering in the semi-arid Southern Pyrenees during the PETM: lithium isotope evidence

Jaimes-Gutierrez, Rocio; Prieur, Marine; Wilson, David J.; Pogge von Strandmann, Philip A. E.; Pucéat, Emmanuelle; Adatte, Thierry; Spangenberg, Jorge E.; Castelltort, Sébastien

doi:10.5194/cp-22-709-2026

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-709-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-709-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

Research article

|

31 Mar 2026

Research article |

| 31 Mar 2026

Silicate weathering in the semi-arid Southern Pyrenees during the PETM: lithium isotope evidence

Rocio Jaimes-Gutierrez, Marine Prieur, David J. Wilson, Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann, Emmanuelle Pucéat, Thierry Adatte, Jorge E. Spangenberg, and Sébastien Castelltort

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-709-2026-supplement

Data sets

Supplementary Material: "Silicate weathering in the semi-arid Southern Pyrenees during the PETM: lithium isotope evidence" R. Jaimes-Gutierrez et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18877422

Short summary

How do semi-arid landscapes respond to rapid global warming? During the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum – an extreme warming event 56 Ma ago – global lithium isotope records show a negative δ⁷Li excursion, suggesting an increase in weathering fluxes. In the Southern Pyrenees, we find the opposite behaviour: clay δ⁷Li values became ~1‰ heavier, indicating enhanced clay formation. These results suggest that regional hydroclimatic conditions can decouple regional signals from global averages.