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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Organic carbon deposition and phosphorus accumulation during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 in Tarfaya, Morocco
    (2008)
    Mort, Haydon P.
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Keller, Gerta
    ;
    Bartels, David
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Steinmann, Philipp
    ;
    Berner, Zsolt
    ;
    Chellai, E.H.
    With a multi-proxy approach, an attempt was made to constrain productivity and bottom-water redox conditions and their effects on the phosphorus accumulation rate at the Mohammed Plage section on the Tarfaya coast, Morocco, during the Cenomanian-Turonian Anoxic Event (OAE 2). A distinct δ13Corg isotope excursion of +2.5‰ occurs close to the top of the section. The unusually abrupt shift of the isotope excursion and disappearance of several planktonic foraminiferal species (e.g. Rotalipora cushmani and Rotalipora greenhornensis) in this level suggests a hiatus of between 40–60 kyrs at the excursion onset. Nevertheless, it was possible to determine both the long-term environmental history as well as the processes that took place immediately prior to and during OAE 2. TOC% values increase gradually from the base of the section to the top (from ~ 2.5% to ~ 10%). This is interpreted as the consequence of a long-term eustatic sea-level rise and subsidence causing the encroachment of less oxic waters into the Tarfaya Basin. Similarly a reduction in the mineralogically constructed ‘detrital index’ can be explained by the decrease in the continental flux of terrigenous material due to a relative sea-level rise. A speciation of phosphorus in the upper part of the section, which spans the start and mid-stages of OAE 2, shows overall higher abundances of Preactive mass accumulation rates before the isotope excursion onset and lower values during the plateau. Due to the probable short hiatus, the onset of the decrease in phosphorus content relative to the isotope excursion is uncertain, although the excursion plateau already contains lower concentrations. The Corg/Ptotal and V/Al ratios suggest that this reduction was mostly likely caused by a decrease in the available bottom oxygen content (probably as a result of higher productivity) and a corresponding fall in the phosphorus retention ability of the sediment. Productivity appears to have remained high during the isotope plateau possibly due to a combination of ocean-surface fertilisation via increased aridity (increased K/Al and Ti/Al ratios) and/or higher dissolved inorganic phosphorus content in the water column as a result of the decrease in sediment P retention. The evidence for decreased P-burial has been observed in many other palaeoenvironments during OAE 2. Tarfaya's unique upwelling paleosituation provides strong evidence that the nutrient recycling was a global phenomenon and therefore a critical factor in starting and sustaining OAE 2.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Platform-induced clay-mineral fractionation along a northern Tethyan basin-platform transect: implications for the interpretation of Early Cretaceous climate change (Late Hauterivian-Early Aptian)
    (2008)
    Godet, Alexis
    ;
    Bodin, Stéphane
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    High-resolution clay-mineral analyses were performed on upper Hauterivian to lower Aptian sediments along a platform-to-basin transect through the northern Tethyan margin from the Neuchâtel area (Switzerland), to the Vocontian Trough (France) in order to investigate links between climate change, carbonate platform evolution, and fractionation patterns in clay minerals during their transport.
    During the Hauterivian, the northern Tethyan carbonate platform developed in a heterozoan mode, and the associated ramp-like topography facilitated the export of detrital material into the adjacent basin, where clay-mineral assemblages are dominated by smectite and kaolinite is almost absent, thereby suggesting dry-seasonal conditions. During the Late Hauterivian Balearites balearis ammonite zone, a change to a more humid climate is documented by the appearance of kaolinite, which reaches up to 30% of the clay fraction in sediments in the Vocontian Trough. This prominent change just preceded the Faraoni Oceanic Anoxic Event and the onset of the demise of the Helvetic Carbonate Platform, which lasted to the late early Barremian.
    From the Late Barremian onwards, the renewed growth of the northern Tethyan carbonate platform in a photozoan mode and the associated development of a marginally confined platform topography fractionated the clay-mineral assemblages exported into hemipelagic settings: kaolinite particles were preferentially retained in proximal, platform settings, due to their size and their relatively high specific weight. In the inner platform environment preserved in the Swiss Jura, an average of 32% of kaolinite in the clay fraction is observed during the latest Barremian–earliest Aptian, whereas clay-mineral assemblages of coeval sediments from deeper depositional settings are dominated by smectite and show only minor amounts of kaolinite.
    This signifies that besides palaeoclimate conditions, the morphology and ecology of the carbonate platform had a significant effect on the distribution and composition of clay assemblages during the Late Hauterivian–Early Aptian along the northern Tethyan margin.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Phosphorus and the roles of productivity and nutrient recycling during oceanic anoxic event 2
    (2007)
    Mort, Haydon P.
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Keller, Gerta
    ;
    Steinmann, Philipp
    ;
    Matera, Virginie
    ;
    Berner, Zsolt
    ;
    Stüben, Doris
    Four sections documenting the impact of the late Cenomanian oceanic anoxic event (OAE 2) were studied in basins with different paleoenvironmental regimes. Accumulation rates of phosphorus (P) bound to iron, organic matter, and authigenic phosphate are shown to rise and arrive at a distinct maximum at the onset of OAE 2, with an associated increase in δ13C values. Accumulation rates of P return to pre-excursion values in the interval where the δ13C record reaches its first maximum. An offset in time between the maximum in P accumulation and peaks in organic carbon burial, hydrogen indices, and Corg/Preact molar ratios is explained by the evolution of OAE 2 in the following steps. (1) An increase in productivity increased the flux of organic matter and P into the sediments; the preservation of organic matter was low and its oxidation released P, which was predominantly mineralized. (2) Enhanced productivity and oxidation of organic matter created dysoxic bottom waters; the preservation potential for organic matter increased, whereas the sediment retention potential for P decreased. (3) The latter effect sustained high primary productivity, which led to an increase in the abundance of free oxygen in the ocean and atmosphere system. After the sequestration of CO2 in the form of black shales, this oxygen helped push the ocean back into equilibrium, terminating black shale deposition and removing bioavailable P from the water column.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    The Cenomanian/Turonian anoxic event at the Bonarelli Level in Italy and Spain: enhanced productivity and/or better preservation?
    (2007)
    Mort, Haydon
    ;
    Jacquat, Olivier
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Steinmann, Philip
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Matera, Virginie
    ;
    Berner, Zsolt
    ;
    Stüben, Doris
    The upper Cenomanian pelagic sediments of Furlo in the northern Apennines, Italy, are characterized by a 1.5-m-thick organic-rich stratigraphic horizon called the Bonarelli Level, which represents the second major oceanic anoxic event in the Cretaceous (OAE 2). The Bonarelli Level is depleted in carbonates and consists essentially of biogenic quartz, phyllosilicates, and organic matter, with values of TOC reaching 18%. The age of the Furlo section is constrained by correlating its δ13C curve with that of the well-dated Pueblo (USA) and Eastbourne (UK) sections. The presence of all the planktonic foraminiferid zones and details of the OAE 2 δ13C excursion indicates a relatively continuous but reduced sedimentation rate across the Cenomanian/Turonian (C/T) boundary. Sediment and TOC mass accumulation rates have been calculated and suggest a sedimentation break in the upper Bonarelli Level. This may be an artifact of the diachronous FAD of the planktonic foraminiferid Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica and suggests that in some sections the δ13C curve may provide more reliable age control for dating the C/T boundary. In order quantitatively to explain the carbon isotope curve and the measured TOC mass accumulation rate, a simple dynamic model of the isotope effects of organic versus inorganic carbon burial was developed. In order to verify the consistency of the model we correlated the modeled output of the Furlo section with that of the Manilva section, in southeast Spain. The modeling shows that increasing productivity only partially explains the measured δ13C excursion and is not the only factor relevant to black shales deposition. Preservation may play a central role, especially in the later stages of OAE 2. Phosphorus and TOC accumulation patterns in the Bonarelli Level in both Furlo and Manilva suggest a similar process although other factors may also be involved.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Enrichment of redox-sensitive trace metals (U, V, Mo, As) associated with the late Hauterivian Faraoni oceanic anoxic event
    (2007)
    Bodin, Stéphane
    ;
    Godet, Alexis
    ;
    Matera, Virginie
    ;
    Steinmann, Philipp
    ;
    Vermeulen, Jean
    ;
    Gardin, Silvia
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Coccioni, Rodolfo
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    The Faraoni Level is a short-lived oxygen-deficient event that took place during the latest Hauterivian. In order to improve our understanding of the palaeoenvironmental conditions that occurred during this event, we have analysed the contents of several redox-sensitive trace elements (U, V, Mo, As, Co, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr) from bulk limestone samples of late Hauterivian–early Barremian age from three reference sections. U, V, Mo and As show consistent and significant enrichments during the Faraoni event whereas the other redox-sensitive trace elements analysed here are not systematically enriched. In order to explain this discrepant behaviour, we propose that the Faraoni Level was deposited during a period of anoxic conditions near the sediment–water interface. The distinctive peaks in U, V, Mo and As contents are traceable throughout the three studied sections and represent a good correlation tool which helps to identify the Faraoni Level and its equivalents in the western Tethyan realm and outside of the Tethys. For example, a peak in U contents in upper Hauterivian sediments of the northwestern Pacific realm (ODP leg 185, site 1149) may well be an expression of the Faraoni event in this particular basin.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Evolution of the marine stable carbon-isotope record during the early Cretaceous : A focus on the late Hauterivian and Barremian in the Tethyan realm
    (2006-02-28)
    Godet, Alexis
    ;
    Bodin, Stéphane
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Vermeulen, Jean
    ;
    Gardin, Silvia
    ;
    Fiet, Nicolas
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Berner, Zsolt
    ;
    Stüben, Doris
    ;
    Van de Schootbrugge, Bas
    In order to improve our understanding of the relationships between the late Hauterivian oceanic anoxic Faraoni event, contemporaneous platform drowning along the northern Tethyan margin and global environmental change in general, we established high-resolution δ13C and δ18O curves for the late Hauterivian and the entire Barremian stage. These data were obtained from whole-rock carbonate samples from the Veveyse de Châtel-Saint-Denis section (Switzerland), the Fiume-Bosso section and the nearby Gorgo a Cerbara section (central Italy), and the Angles section (Barremian stratotype, France). We observe an increase of 0.3‰ in mean δ13C values within sediments from the middle Hauterivian Subsaynella sayni ammonite zone to the Hauterivian–Barremian boundary; δ13C values remain essentially stable during the early Barremian. During the latest early Barremian and most of the late Barremian, δ13C values increase slowly (until the Imerites giraudi zone) and the latest Barremian is characterized by a negative trend in δ13C values, with minimal values at the Barremian–Aptian boundary. During the earliest Aptian, δ13C mean values start to rise again and attain + 2.25‰. We interpret the evolution of the δ13C record as resulting from the interaction between changes in the carbon cycle in the Tethyan basin and the adjacent platforms and continents. In particular, changes towards warmer and more humid conditions on the continent and coeval phases of platform drowning along the northern Tethyan margin may have contributed to enhance the oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir which may have pushed the δ13C record towards more negative values and exerted a general attenuation on the δ13C record. From this may have come the general change from a heterozoan to a photozoan carbonate platform community, which influenced the evolution in δ13C values by increasing the export of aragonite and diminishing export of dissolved organic carbon into the basins.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    The late Hauterivian Faraoni oceanic anoxic event in the western Tethys: Evidence from phosphorus burial rates
    (2006)
    Bodin, Stéphane
    ;
    Godet, Alexis
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Vermeulen, Jean
    ;
    Arnaud, Hubert
    ;
    Strasser, André
    ;
    Fiet, Nicolas
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    In the uppermost Hauterivian sediments of the western Tethys, a short-lived anoxic event (Faraoni event) is documented both in the form of an interval enriched in organic matter (pelagic realm) and in a condensed interval enriched in glauconite and phosphate (shelf realm). This latter interval represents the onset of a drowning episode on the Helvetic carbonate platform along the northern tethyan margin that lasted throughout the early Barremian. This drowning episode marks a turning point in the way the platform carbonate factory functioned: during the Hauterivian carbonate production was dominated by heterozoans, whereas during the late Barremian a photozoan assemblage developed that is preserved in the so-called Urgonian limestone. The late Hauterivian Faraoni oceanic anoxic event is of particular interest because it is not accompanied by a major positive shift in δ13C unlike other oceanic anoxic events during the Cretaceous (Valanginian, early Aptian, Cenomanian–Turonian boundary).

    We have analyzed four (hemi-)pelagic sections with regards to their phosphorus content to better understand the palaeoceanographic conditions related to this anoxic event and the associated changes in the shallow-water carbonate factory. The sections are located in Angles (SE France), Fiume-Bosso and Gorgo a Cerbara (central Italy), and Veveyse de Châtel-St. Denis (west Switzerland). We calculated phosphorus mass accumulation rates by using a cyclostratigraphic approach in order to obtain an adequate age model. We observe a comparable and correlatable long-term trend for the four sections, which suggests that the phosphorus mass accumulation rates and temporal changes therein are representative for the western tethyan pelagic realm. The Faraoni event is marked by a minimum in phosphorus accumulation and a positive shift in the Corg/Ptot ratios, which is interpreted as a reflection of the decreased capacity of storing and preserving phosphorus in oxygen-depleted sediments. Moreover, the onset in the decrease in phosphorus accumulation coincides with a sea level rise, while the Faraoni level itself corresponds to a maximum flooding interval. This phase of sea-level rise may have been important in the establishment of marine connections between the boreal and tethyan realms and, as such, in the exchange of nutrient-enriched waters. The model for the origin of the Faraoni oceanic anoxic event proposed here incorporates these aspects together with a positive feedback loop generated by phosphorus regeneration and a negative feedback loop related to changes in the ocean oxygen cycle.

    The subsequent long-term changes in phosphorus burial rates during the Barremian suggest that the Faraoni event marks the onset of a long period of environmental instability with regards to platform growth, leading to periodic phases of eutrophication and drowning of the northern tethyan carbonate platform. This environmental crisis ended during the late Barremian with the onset of the deposition of the Urgonian limestone under oligotrophic conditions.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Phosphogenesis and organic-carbon preservation in the Miocene Monterey Formation at Naples Beach, California—The Monterey hypothesis revisited
    (2005)
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    ;
    Badertscher, Christophe
    ;
    de Kaenel, Eric
    ;
    Stille, Peter
    ;
    John, Cédric M.
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Steinmann, Philipp
    The middle part of the Miocene Monterey Formation at Naples Beach, west of Santa Barbara, California, is predominantly composed of organic-rich mudstone interstratified with phosphatic laminae. Minor lithologies include volcanic ash, dolomite, porcelanite and chert, and condensed phosphatic beds. Sediments dated as 14.3–13.5 Ma have average total organic carbon (TOC) values around 8.5 wt%, and organic carbon (OC) accumulation rates are around 565 mg/cm2/k.y. Sediments dated as 13.5–13 Ma are characterized by average TOC values of 12.6 wt% and OC accumulation rates of around 1130 mg/cm2/ k.y. The interval between 13 and 10.6 Ma is marked by condensation; average TOC values are around 8.6 wt%, and OC accumulation rates diminished to around 55 mg/cm2/k.y. The last interval studied is dated as 10.6–9.4 Ma, and average TOC values are around 6 wt%, whereas OC accumulation rates rose again to 320 mg/cm2/k.y.
    The presence of erosional surfaces, angular unconformities, and reworked clasts and nodules suggests that bottom-current activity and gravity-flow deposition have been instrumental in sediment accumulation. The phosphatic laminae were precipitated at a very early stage of diagenesis during periods of nonsedimentation. They formed less permeable sedimentary lids and may as such have contributed to enhanced OC preservation. Between 13 and 10.6 Ma, the thus-formed phosphatic laminae were frequently subjected to subsequent sediment winnowing and reworking, resulting in the formation of condensed phosphatic beds. Calculated P:C molar ratios suggest that (1) the measured section is highly enriched in phosphorus (P) relative to OC; (2) regeneration of organic P from organic-matter decomposition was negligible; and (3) the source of P was external, likely upwelled bottom water rich in inorganic P.
    In spite of good preservation conditions and correspondingly high TOC contents, the overall OC accumulation rates are moderate in comparison to those of actual high productivity areas, which is mainly due to the episodic character of depositional processes and the intervening long periods of nondeposition and sediment reworking. They preclude this section, and by extrapolation, the Monterey Formation in general from being an important OC sink during the middle Miocene. Alternatively, large OC sinks were probably created on the continent (lignite deposits) and in sedimentary depocenters, which received increasing amounts of detrital sediments due to a combination of climate change, spreading of grasslands, and the increasing importance of mountain chains such as the Himalaya. The associated high nutrient fluxes may have been involved in the backstepping and drowning of carbonate platforms and in the generation of widespread phosphat-rich deposits during the late early and early middle Miocene.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Carbonate and silicate weathering in two presently glaciated, crystalline catchments in the Swiss Alps
    (2004)
    Hosein, Rachel
    ;
    Arn, Kaspar
    ;
    Steinmann, P.
    ;
    Adatte, Thierry 
    ;
    Föllmi, Karl B.
    We present a weathering mass balance of the presently glaciated Rhône and Oberaar catchments, located within the crystalline Aar massif (central Switzerland). Annual chemical and physical weathering fluxes are calculated from the monthly weighted means of meltwater samples taken from July, 1999 to May, 2001 and are corrected for precipitation inputs. The meltwater composition issuing from the Oberaar and Rhône catchments is dominated by calcium, which represents 81% and 55% of the total cation flux respectively (i.e. 555 and 82–96 keq km−2 yr−1). The six to seven times higher Ca2+ denudation flux from the Oberaar catchment is attributed to the presence of a strongly foliated gneissic zone. The gneissic zone has an elevated calcite content (as reflected by the 4.6 times higher calcite content of the suspended sediments from Oberaar compared to Rhône) and a higher mechanical erosion rate (resulting in a higher flux of suspended sediment). The mean flux of suspended calcite of the Oberaar meltwaters during the ablation period is 7 times greater than that of the Rhône meltwaters. Taking the suspended calcite as a proxy for the total (including sub-glacial sediments) weathering calcite surface area, it appears that the available surface area is an important factor in controlling weathering rates. However, we also observe an increased supply of protons for carbonate dissolution in the Oberaar catchment, where the sulphate denudation flux is six times greater. Carbonic acid is the second important source of protons, and we calculate that three times as much atmospheric CO2 is drawn down (short term) in the Oberaar catchment. Silica fluxes from the two catchments are comparable with each other, but are 100 kmol km2 yr−1 lower than fluxes from physically comparable, non-glaciated basins.