0000000000764164

AUTHOR

Yannick Donnadieu

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…

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Evolution of the neodymium isotopic signature of neritic seawater on a northwestern Pacific margin: new constrains on possible end-members for the composition of deep-water masses in the Late Cretaceous ocean.

11 pages; International audience; The Neodymium(Nd) isotope composition of fish remains has beenwidely used to track past changes in oceanic circulation. Although the number of published Nd isotope data for the Cretaceous has markedly increased in the last years, no consensus has been reached on the structure of the oceanic circulation and its evolution during the Late Cretaceous. Yet this period is characterised bymajor geodynamical and climatic changes andmarked by the disappearance of global oceanic anoxic events inwhich changes in oceanic circulation modesmay have played a significant role. In this study we present the first record of Nd isotopic composition of fish remains from contine…

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Le cycle du carbone à l’échelle des temps géologiques.

2 pages; National audience

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Numerical evidence for thermohaline circulation reversals during the Maastrichtian

[1] The sensitivity of the Maastrichtian thermohaline circulation to the opening/closing of marine communications between the Arctic and North Pacific oceans is investigated through a set of numerical experiments using the model CLIMBER-2 (Earth Model of Intermediate Complexity). We show here that the opening or closing of an Arctic-Pacific marine gateway induces transitions between different equilibrium states of the thermohaline circulation. Sensitivity tests of the inferred modes of thermohaline circulation to atmospheric CO2 level changes have also been explored. An abrupt switch in deep convection from high northern to high southern latitudes, a change consistent with isotopic evidence…

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Late Cretaceous changes in continental configuration: toward a better-ventilated ocean?

International audience; Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are large-scale events of oxygen depletion in the deep ocean that happened dur-ing pre-Cenozoic periods of extreme warmth. Last global OAE occurred at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary(OAE2) prior to the Late Cretaceous long term cooling. Ever since, and despite the occurrence of warming events,Earth no more experienced such large-scale anoxic conditions. Here we explore the role of major continentalconfiguration changes occurring during the Late Cretaceous on oceanic circulation modes through numerical sim-ulations using a General Circulation Model (GCM), that we confront to existing neodymium isotope data ("Nd).Except from a continuous d…

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Le climat de la Terre à l’échelle des temps géologiques.

2 pages; National audience

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Evolution of neodymium isotopic signature of seawater during the Late Cretaceous: implications for intermediate and deep circulation.

20 pages; International audience; Neodymium isotopic compositions (εNd) have been largely used for the last fifty years as a tracer of past ocean circulation, and more intensively during the last decade to investigate ocean circulation during the Cretaceous period. Despite a growing set of data, circulation patterns still remain unclear during this period. In particular, the identification of the deep-water masses and their spatial extension within the different oceanic basins are poorly constrained. In this study we present new deep-water εNd data inferred from the Nd isotope composition of fish remains and Fe–Mn oxyhydroxide coatings on foraminifera tests, along with new εNd data of resid…

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