A mechanism for brief glacial episodes in the Mesozoic greenhouse

[1] The Mesozoic, perhaps the longest period of warmth during the Phanerozoic Earth history, has been repeatedly affected by short-lived cold interludes lasting about one million years. While the origin of these cold snaps has been classically attributed to a temporary atmospheric CO2 drawdown, quantified mechanisms explaining these instabilities of the carbon cycle are still lacking. Based on a climate carbon cycle model, we show that the general demise of carbonate platforms accompanying these short-lived cold interludes is a powerful mechanism capable of generating a fast atmospheric CO2 decrease and a moderate sea level drop associated with ice sheet buildup. The temporary nature of the…

Impact of storms on mixed carbonate and siliciclastic shelves: insights from combined diffusive and fluid-flow transport stratigraphic forward model

Abstract A quantitative stratigraphic model of mixed carbonate/siliciclastic continental shelves is presented to investigate the relationships between depositional processes and stratigraphic responses at long‐term, large spatial scales. A diffusion model is combined with a fluid‐flow approach to simulate both long‐term factors, i.e. the processes controlling large‐scale architecture, and short‐term processes, i.e. sediment redistribution by storms. Any net sediment accumulation is the result of the succession of a storm and a fair‐weather period. Sediments are mobilized by waves and advected by low‐frequency currents during storm events. Sediments are then reworked and redistributed downsl…

One My scale subsidence of carbonate sedimentary bodies and the viscosity of the lower crust

Abstract The possibility of flow of the lower crust under the load produced by carbonate sedimentary accumulations is investigated through the example of the Paris basin during the Middle Jurassic (i.e. Bathonian). Depositional geometries, water depths and sedimentary environments have been estimated and correlated for 164 sites spread over a surface of 380 per 220 km for three successive periods lasting each less than 0.8 My. A signal of relative vertical displacement has been extracted from water-depth and sedimentary thickness. Data have then been interpolated to produce maps of velocity of vertical displacement, sedimentation rate, water depth, and water-depth variation between two peri…

Evolution tectonique méso-cénozoïque du bassin de Paris: contraintes stratigraphiques 3D

Abstract 3D stratigraphic geometries of the intracratonic Meso-Cenozoic Paris Basin were obtained by sequence stratigraphic correlations of around 1 100 wells (well-logs). The basin records the major tectonic events of the western part of the Eurasian Plate, i.e. opening and closure of the Tethys and opening of the Atlantic. From earlier Triassic to Late Jurassic, the Paris Basin was a broad subsiding area in an extensional framework, with a larger size than the present-day basin. During the Aalenian time, the subsidence pattern changes drastically (early stage of the central Atlantic opening). Further steps of the opening of the Ligurian Tethys (base Hettangian, late Pliensbachian;...) and…

Rare earth element contents of Jurassic fish and reptile teeth and their potential relation to seawater composition (Anglo-Paris Basin, France and England)

The rare earth element (REE) chemistry of Jurassic shelf seawater from western Europe (Anglo-Paris Basin) was investigated by analyzing the fish and reptile teeth deposited in shallow to deeper water (<200 m) environments. REE patterns in apatites are controlled by the host sediments. Vertebrate teeth sampled from the siliciclastic sediments (calcareous sandstones and shales) show flat shale-normalized REE patterns that reflect the dominant influence of the continental source from which the REE were derived. Carbonate deposits, protected from the clastic sources, contain fish and reptile teeth whose REE patterns reflect more accurately the REE composition of the overlying water column. The …

Ice age at the Middle–Late Jurassic transition?

A detailed record of sea surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere based on migration of marine invertebrate fauna (ammonites) and isotopic thermometry (δ18O values of shark tooth enamel) indicates a severe cooling at the Middle–Late Jurassic transition (MLJT), about 160 Ma ago. The magnitude of refrigeration (1–3°C for lower middle latitudes) and its coincidence in time with an abrupt global-scale fall of sea level documented through sequence stratigraphy are both suggestive of continental ice formation at this time. Ice sheets may have developed over the high-latitude mountainous regions of Far-East Russia. The drastic cooling just post-dated the Middle–Late Callovian widespread dep…

Palynofacies and calcareous nannofossils in the Upper Kimmeridgian, southeastern Paris basin (France)

AbstractThe Upper Kimmeridgian Members “Calcaires blancs supérieurs” and the “Marnes à exogyres supérieures” of the southeastern Paris basin were investigated for their palynofacies and calcareous nannofossils. These members display alternating limestone-marl lithotypes and represent shallow marine palaeoenvironments. The lower carbonate member is interpreted as a proximal palaeoenvironment (palaeobathymetry = 5 to 10 m), where storm and swell deposits were prevalent and the salinity was occasionally weak. The relative richness of brown phytoclasts in this part is favoured by good preservation related to restricted conditions. These conditions would explain the dominance of the nannofoss…

Jurassic evolution of the Arabian carbonate platform edge in the central Oman Mountains

International audience; The Jurassic Sahtan Group exposed in northern Oman was deposited in shallow marine environments at the edge of the Arabian Platform facing the Neo-Tethys (Hamrat Duru Basin). The upper Sahtan Group is made up of a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate unit overlain by pure carbonate deposits, assigned to a Bathonian and Early Callovian age on the basis of brachiopods and foraminifers. These carbonate depositional systems were composed of outer oolitic shoals that underwent subaerial exposure, and a deeper, somewhat restricted, gently dipping shelf interior. Oolitic material was shed off the platform edge into the deep-sea depositional complex of the Guweyza Formation. The Sa…

Thermal evolution of Tethyan surface waters during the Middle-Late Jurassic: Evidence from δ18O values of marine fish teeth

[1] Oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate from vertebrate tooth enamel were measured to determine the evolution of tropical sea surface ( 0‰ owing to limited growth of continental ice during the early middle Oxfordian. The resulting sea level fall is estimated to be at least 50 m and is compatible with a global regression stage. The middle Oxfordian thermal minimum is followed by a new warming stage of 3–4°C from the middle to the late Oxfordian.

Environmental control on granular clinoforms of ancient carbonate shelves

The purpose of this paper is to document the influence of depositional environments on shallow-water, low-relief clinoforms from the description of five ancient carbonate platforms: the Neoproterozoic (Namibia), Middle Jurassic (France), Lower Cretaceous (France), Upper Cretaceous (Oman) and Miocene (Turkey). These examples have been investigated on the basis of field observations. The clinoforms are described with reference to geometric and compositional attributes: declivity, shape, height, sedimentary structures, sediment fabric and components. The results show great variability in stratal geometry, declivity and facies distribution: (1) depositional profiles vary from exponential, to si…

Vertical movements of the Paris Basin (Triassic-Pleistocene): from 3D stratigraphic database to numerical models