0000000000648168
AUTHOR
Noémie Breillat
Unravelling the PETM record in the Sparnacian facies of NW Europe: new data from the north-eastern Paris Basin
The geological archives record "hyperthermic" crises, along with their consequences on the biota and physical environment. Among these, the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) is considered as the closest analogue to the current climate crisis due to its global character and the speeds at which the CO2 rate and average temperatures increased. Some 55.8 Ma ago (Aubry et al., 2007), it affected the Earth for a period of almost 200,000 years; the terrestrial and marine paleoenvironments were marked by a negative δ13C anomaly (or Carbon Isotopic Excursion, CIE) coinciding with a negative δ18O anomaly indicative of a drastic temperature rise (+ 3 to + 8 °C). The causes envisaged to explain t…
The PETM record revealed by a new integrated high-resolution dinoflagellate cyst and geochemical data from the "Sparnacian" sediments in the Paris and adjacent basins
International audience; The Paris Basin represents an historical cradle of the Paleogene stratigraphy, where the Paleocene Epoch and the "Sparnacian Stage" have been erected (Schimper, 1874; Dollfus, 1880). As highlighted by Aubry et al. (2005), whereas the chronostratigraphic connotation of the Sparnacian Stage occurred to be controversial since its definition, modern studies of the Late Paleocene - Early Eocene interval have revealed that the so-called "Sparnacian" deposits encompass a remarkable and short (~170 kyr) episode in the Cenozoic history, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~55.8-55.6 Ma). However, due to a large development of diverse and laterally variable, predominan…