Carbonate clumped-isotopic constraints on marine temperatures during the Cretaceous
Lead Research Organisation:
Plymouth University
Department Name: Sch of Geog Earth & Environ Sciences
Abstract
A fundamental question we can ask about the Earth's past climate is how does surface temperature respond to external forcing? Evidence suggests that the Earth's climate was warmer and more equable during the Cretaceous Period (circa 146 to 65 million years ago) than it is today - an interpretation based on the distribution of thermophylic (cold intolerant) animals, plants and geochemical proxies.
This warmth during the Cretaceous has been linked to high atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Although most evidence indicates a significantly warmer Earth, with warm polar regions (including carbonate clumped-isotope data, a new tool for reconstructing temperatures), some research has suggested a negative relationship (or decoupling) between temperature and CO2 during this period.
Although the Mesozoic is not a direct analogue for future greenhouse warming such intervals in Earth history provide important insights into processes operating in the climate system. Hence the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and temperature has added significance as we try to place the present climate in the context of predicted future scenarios. Warm polar temperatures during the Cretaceous indeed challenge our understanding of how the ocean-atmosphere system operated as they are significantly warmer than General Circulation Models can reproduce. This has important implications for the prediction of future climates as it implies we may be underestimating future climate change in such regions.
Despite the intensive study of Cretaceous marine temperatures an equator-to-pole temperature profile for the Cretaceous greenhouse world remains poorly constrained. Problems stem from the fact that traditional palaeoproxies like oxygen isotopes requires an estimate of the isotopic composition of seawater - particularly difficult to constrain at high latitudes. A more recent approach has been to sidestep this issue by using the TEX86 palaeothermometer (a temperature proxy), although with respect to the Cretaceous this technique is limited by the distribution of suitably preserved sediments, particularly at high latitudes.
This proposal aims to address this significant gap in knowledge by undertaking the first quantitative and systematic study of early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Hauterivian) marine temperatures obtained from fossil molluscs using the novel clumped-isotope palaeothermometer. These data will be integrated with new temperature data arising from other techniques. In addition to generating marine temperatures for the Cretaceous tropics, temperate and polar regions we will be able to constrain the isotopic composition of seawater and hence will also be able to provide data concerning the debate about what is the most likely mechanisms to increase the transfer of heat from the equator towards the poles. Our novel clumped-isotope derived temperatures are also expected to be of benefit to the wider community of palaeoceanographers and climate modellers by providing extensive, new data against which to test model outputs.
This warmth during the Cretaceous has been linked to high atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Although most evidence indicates a significantly warmer Earth, with warm polar regions (including carbonate clumped-isotope data, a new tool for reconstructing temperatures), some research has suggested a negative relationship (or decoupling) between temperature and CO2 during this period.
Although the Mesozoic is not a direct analogue for future greenhouse warming such intervals in Earth history provide important insights into processes operating in the climate system. Hence the relationship between atmospheric CO2 and temperature has added significance as we try to place the present climate in the context of predicted future scenarios. Warm polar temperatures during the Cretaceous indeed challenge our understanding of how the ocean-atmosphere system operated as they are significantly warmer than General Circulation Models can reproduce. This has important implications for the prediction of future climates as it implies we may be underestimating future climate change in such regions.
Despite the intensive study of Cretaceous marine temperatures an equator-to-pole temperature profile for the Cretaceous greenhouse world remains poorly constrained. Problems stem from the fact that traditional palaeoproxies like oxygen isotopes requires an estimate of the isotopic composition of seawater - particularly difficult to constrain at high latitudes. A more recent approach has been to sidestep this issue by using the TEX86 palaeothermometer (a temperature proxy), although with respect to the Cretaceous this technique is limited by the distribution of suitably preserved sediments, particularly at high latitudes.
This proposal aims to address this significant gap in knowledge by undertaking the first quantitative and systematic study of early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Hauterivian) marine temperatures obtained from fossil molluscs using the novel clumped-isotope palaeothermometer. These data will be integrated with new temperature data arising from other techniques. In addition to generating marine temperatures for the Cretaceous tropics, temperate and polar regions we will be able to constrain the isotopic composition of seawater and hence will also be able to provide data concerning the debate about what is the most likely mechanisms to increase the transfer of heat from the equator towards the poles. Our novel clumped-isotope derived temperatures are also expected to be of benefit to the wider community of palaeoceanographers and climate modellers by providing extensive, new data against which to test model outputs.
Planned Impact
Understanding what processes are responsible for forcing natural climate change is fundamental to our understanding of the whole Earth climate system. Therefore, the principal academic beneficiaries of this proposal will be Earth System scientists, in particular those that are involved in the reconstruction and modelling of past climate events.
It is also anticipated that beneficiaries will include government policy advisors in the Department for Energy and Climate Change and international agencies, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who will develop a greater understanding of the natural climate states the planet has experienced in the past. The results will also help in the modelling and validation of past and future climate scenarios, thus expanding our understanding of these complex systems.
Given the current interest in global warming, ice melting in polar latitudes and our ability to predict future climate scenarios, along with the fact that key parallels have been identified with the Cretaceous and other past greenhouse episodes, our analysis of Cretaceous climate should therefore have a key role to play in promoting the public understanding of climate science and raising awareness of the potential consequences of global environmental change.
Finally, the PDRA assigned to this project will benefit academically from working alongside a PI and Co-I who have extensive research experience and who have an extensive publication record in the field of palaeoclimatology. Undergraduates and Masters level students will also benefit academically from the research informed teaching practices that are routinely adopted by the PI and Co-I.
It is also anticipated that beneficiaries will include government policy advisors in the Department for Energy and Climate Change and international agencies, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who will develop a greater understanding of the natural climate states the planet has experienced in the past. The results will also help in the modelling and validation of past and future climate scenarios, thus expanding our understanding of these complex systems.
Given the current interest in global warming, ice melting in polar latitudes and our ability to predict future climate scenarios, along with the fact that key parallels have been identified with the Cretaceous and other past greenhouse episodes, our analysis of Cretaceous climate should therefore have a key role to play in promoting the public understanding of climate science and raising awareness of the potential consequences of global environmental change.
Finally, the PDRA assigned to this project will benefit academically from working alongside a PI and Co-I who have extensive research experience and who have an extensive publication record in the field of palaeoclimatology. Undergraduates and Masters level students will also benefit academically from the research informed teaching practices that are routinely adopted by the PI and Co-I.
Organisations
- Plymouth University (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Copenhagen (Collaboration)
- European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (Collaboration)
- ETH Zurich (Collaboration)
- National Natural History Museum (Project Partner)
- Johns Hopkins University (Project Partner)
- Hungarian Natural History Museum (Project Partner)
- Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Project Partner)
Publications
Vickers M
(2020)
Unravelling Middle to Late Jurassic palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic signals in the Hebrides Basin using belemnite clumped isotope thermometry
in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Price G
(2018)
A High-Resolution Belemnite Geochemical Analysis of Early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Hauterivian) Environmental and Climatic Perturbations
in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Price G
(2016)
High-resolution carbon cycle and seawater temperature evolution during the E arly J urassic ( S inemurian- E arly P liensbachian)
in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
Vickers M
(2019)
Southern high-latitude warmth during the Jurassic-Cretaceous: New evidence from clumped isotope thermometry
in Geology
Bajnai D
(2020)
Dual clumped isotope thermometry resolves kinetic biases in carbonate formation temperatures.
in Nature communications
Price G
(2020)
Carbonate clumped isotope evidence for latitudinal seawater temperature gradients and the oxygen isotope composition of Early Cretaceous seas
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Vickers ML
(2021)
Marine temperatures underestimated for past greenhouse climate.
in Scientific reports
Boulton S
(2019)
Palaeoenvironmental and tectonic significance of Miocene lacustrine and palustrine carbonates (Aït Kandoula Formation) in the Ouarzazate Foreland Basin, Morocco
in Sedimentary Geology
Description | Our new Cretaceous temperature and belemnite oxygen isotope data imply seawater isotope values that have a remarkably modern character in that they are similar to modern high-latitude seawater. We consider the seawater oxygen isotope values to be plausible and point to unexpected basin- or global-scale hydrologies. This finding is fundamentally different to previous date led ideas. Our work strongly implies that heterogeneous oxygen isotope equilibrium might - for a given T - occur at Kim & O'Neil (1997) plus at least 1 Permil. This is in agreement with the hypothesis of Coplen (2007) and Dietzel et al. (2009) that the equilibrium fractionation between water and calcite is at Kim & O'Neil (1997) plus 1-2Permil. |
Exploitation Route | Our findings are consistent with modelling results that also suggest Cretaceous surface seawater oxygen isotope values are similar in many respects to modern. So our data is of use by others who are interested in reconstructing temperatures of the past and modelling past climates |
Sectors | Environment |
URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/gregory-price |
Description | Isotope variation in Jurassic seas, new data from sampling and analysis of molluscs from Scania, Sweden |
Amount | 1,110 kr (SEK) |
Funding ID | SE-TAF-TA3-001 |
Organisation | Synthesys |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 01/2022 |
End | 02/2022 |
Description | Marie Curie |
Amount | € 282,109 (EUR) |
Funding ID | F00002362 |
Organisation | Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology |
Sector | Public |
Country | Switzerland |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 12/2017 |
Description | NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory |
Amount | £26,100 (GBP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2013 |
End | 06/2014 |
Description | Standard Grant |
Amount | £582,024 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/S002324/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2022 |
Title | Clumped isotope measurements of Early Cretaceous belemnites across latitudes. |
Description | Here, we present the results of the clumped isotope measurements on 20 Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) belemnites. Further, we provide the results of the equilibrated gases and the carbonate reference material that were measured along with the samples. Carbonate digestion at 90 °C and subsequent CO2 purification was performed on an automated line connected to a ThermoFisher MAT 253 isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The data is projected to the Carbon Dioxide Equilibrium Scale (CDES) and presented without an acid fractionation factor applied. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | none yet |
URL | https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.907273 |
Description | Clumped isotope analyses with University of Copenhagen & ETH Zurich |
Organisation | ETH Zurich |
Department | Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Exchange of data and samples |
Collaborator Contribution | The partner has presented new seawater temperature estimates for the Callovian to Kimmerigian interval (Middle to Upper Jurassic), from clumped isotope analyses of pristinely preserved belemnites from Staffin Bay, Isle of Skye, Scotland |
Impact | An abstract at EGU 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Clumped isotopes of the Falklands |
Organisation | University of Copenhagen |
Department | Faculty of Science |
Country | Denmark |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | An investigation of southern high latitude warmth during Jurassic - Cretaceous with new evidence from clumped isotope thermometry |
Collaborator Contribution | clumped isotope thermometry analysis |
Impact | EGU2018-presentation Southern high latitude climate during the Jurassic - Cretaceous: new evidence from clumped isotope thermometry by Madeleine Vickers et al. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Clumped isotopes with Frankfurt |
Organisation | European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A research team collaboration accessing facilities undertaking clumped isotope analyses with Frankfurt University |
Collaborator Contribution | Exchange of data and samples |
Impact | no outputs or outcomes yet |
Start Year | 2015 |