The Eocene-Oligocene biotic turnover in the North Atlantic and associated palaeoclimatic change

We propose a detailed study of the biotic record (foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) of the Eocene/Oligocene transition in ODP Hole 647 in the Labrador Sea. The sediments in this core constitutes the only continuously-cored high-latitude record of biotic and climatic change available for study in the northern North Atlantic recovered by Ocean Drilling. The record is unique because the sediments contain well-preserved calcareous micro- and nannofossils as well as agglutinated foraminifera (Kaminski et al. 1989, Pearson & Burgess, 2008). We wish to document the nature of faunal change in the deep North Atlantic across this critical interval in Earth's Climate History, and link the record of faunal change to palaeoclimatic proxies in the same core. As a first step in understanding the magnitude, duration, and ultimate cause of faunal changes, we propose to compile a microfaunal record consisting of 57 new samples collected across the Eocene/Oligocene transition in ODP Hole 647A.