Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP): a continental perspective on early Paleogene hyperthermals
W. C. Clyde
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, 56 College Rd., Durham, NH 03824, USA
P. D. Gingerich
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
S. L. Wing
Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany
T. Westerhold
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
K. Johnson
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA
A. A. Baczynski
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
A. Diefendorf
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
F. McInerney
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide 5005, Australia
D. Schnurrenberger
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, 56 College Rd., Durham, NH 03824, USA
LacCore, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
K. Brady
LacCore, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
the BBCP Science Team
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Clim. Past, 18, 681–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-681-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-681-2022, 2022
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New stable isotope records from pedogenic carbonates through the ETM2, H2, and possibly I1 hyperthermals from the Bighorn Basin highlight significant spatial variability in the preservation and magnitude of these global climate events in paleosol records. These data also provide important climate context for the extensive early Eocene mammal fossil record from the southern Bighorn Basin and support previous hypotheses that pulses in mammal turnover corresponded to the ETM2 and H2 hyperthermals.
Thomas Westerhold, Ursula Röhl, Roy H. Wilkens, Philip D. Gingerich, William C. Clyde, Scott L. Wing, Gabriel J. Bowen, and Mary J. Kraus
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Here we present a high-resolution timescale synchronization of continental and marine deposits for one of the most pronounced global warming events, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, which occurred 56 million years ago. New high-resolution age models for the Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP) drill cores help to improve age models for climate records from deep-sea drill cores and for the first time point to a concurrent major change in marine and terrestrial biota 54.25 million years ago.
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Marci M. Robinson, Kenneth G. Miller, Tali L. Babila, Timothy J. Bralower, James V. Browning, Marlow J. Cramwinckel, Monika Doubrawa, Gavin L. Foster, Megan K. Fung, Sean Kinney, Maria Makarova, Peter P. McLaughlin, Paul N. Pearson, Ursula Röhl, Morgan F. Schaller, Jean M. Self-Trail, Appy Sluijs, Thomas Westerhold, James D. Wright, and James C. Zachos
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Jonathan Obrist-Farner, Andreas Eckert, Peter M. J. Douglas, Liseth Perez, Alex Correa-Metrio, Bronwen L. Konecky, Thorsten Bauersachs, Susan Zimmerman, Stephanie Scheidt, Mark Brenner, Steffen Kutterolf, Jeremy Maurer, Omar Flores, Caroline M. Burberry, Anders Noren, Amy Myrbo, Matthew Lachniet, Nigel Wattrus, Derek Gibson, and the LIBRE scientific team
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3409–3433, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3409-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3409-2023, 2023
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Anna Joy Drury, Diederik Liebrand, Thomas Westerhold, Helen M. Beddow, David A. Hodell, Nina Rohlfs, Roy H. Wilkens, Mitchell Lyle, David B. Bell, Dick Kroon, Heiko Pälike, and Lucas J. Lourens
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Annie L. Putman and Gabriel J. Bowen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4389–4396, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4389-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4389-2019, 2019
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Mitchell Lyle, Anna Joy Drury, Jun Tian, Roy Wilkens, and Thomas Westerhold
Clim. Past, 15, 1715–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1715-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1715-2019, 2019
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Ocean sediment records document changes in Earth’s carbon cycle and ocean productivity. We present 8 Myr CaCO3 and bulk sediment records from seven eastern Pacific scientific drill sites to identify intervals of excess CaCO3 dissolution (high carbon storage in the oceans) and excess burial of plankton hard parts indicating high productivity. We define the regional extent of production intervals and explore the impact of the closure of the Atlantic–Pacific Panama connection on CaCO3 burial.
Christopher J. Hollis, Tom Dunkley Jones, Eleni Anagnostou, Peter K. Bijl, Marlow Julius Cramwinckel, Ying Cui, Gerald R. Dickens, Kirsty M. Edgar, Yvette Eley, David Evans, Gavin L. Foster, Joost Frieling, Gordon N. Inglis, Elizabeth M. Kennedy, Reinhard Kozdon, Vittoria Lauretano, Caroline H. Lear, Kate Littler, Lucas Lourens, A. Nele Meckler, B. David A. Naafs, Heiko Pälike, Richard D. Pancost, Paul N. Pearson, Ursula Röhl, Dana L. Royer, Ulrich Salzmann, Brian A. Schubert, Hannu Seebeck, Appy Sluijs, Robert P. Speijer, Peter Stassen, Jessica Tierney, Aradhna Tripati, Bridget Wade, Thomas Westerhold, Caitlyn Witkowski, James C. Zachos, Yi Ge Zhang, Matthew Huber, and Daniel J. Lunt
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3149–3206, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3149-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3149-2019, 2019
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The Deep-Time Model Intercomparison Project (DeepMIP) is a model–data intercomparison of the early Eocene (around 55 million years ago), the last time that Earth's atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeded 1000 ppm. Previously, we outlined the experimental design for climate model simulations. Here, we outline the methods used for compilation and analysis of climate proxy data. The resulting climate
atlaswill provide insights into the mechanisms that control past warm climate states.
Yusuf Jameel, Simon Brewer, Richard P. Fiorella, Brett J. Tipple, Shazelle Terry, and Gabriel J. Bowen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6109–6125, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6109-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6109-2018, 2018
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Public water supply systems (PWSSs) are important infrastructure susceptible to contamination and physical disruption. In general, PWSSs are analyzed using hydrodynamic models, which requires detailed supply infrastructure information. In this paper, we have shown that stable isotope mixing models can also provide useful information on PWSSs. The method developed here can be useful in studying decentralized PWSSs, validating hydrodynamic models and solving water right issues.
Paul E. Olsen, John W. Geissman, Dennis V. Kent, George E. Gehrels, Roland Mundil, Randall B. Irmis, Christopher Lepre, Cornelia Rasmussen, Dominique Giesler, William G. Parker, Natalia Zakharova, Wolfram M. Kürschner, Charlotte Miller, Viktoria Baranyi, Morgan F. Schaller, Jessica H. Whiteside, Douglas Schnurrenberger, Anders Noren, Kristina Brady Shannon, Ryan O'Grady, Matthew W. Colbert, Jessie Maisano, David Edey, Sean T. Kinney, Roberto Molina-Garza, Gerhard H. Bachman, Jingeng Sha, and the CPCD team
Sci. Dril., 24, 15–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-15-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-15-2018, 2018
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The Colorado Plateau Coring Project-1 recovered ~ 850 m of core in three holes at two sites in the Triassic fluvial strata of Petrified Forest National Park, AZ, USA. The cores have abundant zircon, U-Pb dateable layers (210–241 Ma) that along with magnetic polarity stratigraphy, validate the eastern US-based Newark-Hartford astrochronology and timescale, while also providing temporal and environmental context for the vast geological archives of the Triassic of western North America.
Tom Dunkley Jones, Hayley R. Manners, Murray Hoggett, Sandra Kirtland Turner, Thomas Westerhold, Melanie J. Leng, Richard D. Pancost, Andy Ridgwell, Laia Alegret, Rob Duller, and Stephen T. Grimes
Clim. Past, 14, 1035–1049, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1035-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1035-2018, 2018
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The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is a transient global warming event associated with a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Here we document a major increase in sediment accumulation rates on a subtropical continental margin during the PETM, likely due to marked changes in hydro-climates and sediment transport. These high sedimentation rates persist through the event and may play a key role in the removal of carbon from the atmosphere by the burial of organic carbon.
Ariadna Salabarnada, Carlota Escutia, Ursula Röhl, C. Hans Nelson, Robert McKay, Francisco J. Jiménez-Espejo, Peter K. Bijl, Julian D. Hartman, Stephanie L. Strother, Ulrich Salzmann, Dimitris Evangelinos, Adrián López-Quirós, José Abel Flores, Francesca Sangiorgi, Minoru Ikehara, and Henk Brinkhuis
Clim. Past, 14, 991–1014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-991-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-991-2018, 2018
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Here we reconstruct ice sheet and paleoceanographic configurations in the East Antarctic Wilkes Land margin based on a multi-proxy study conducted in late Oligocene (26–25 Ma) sediments from IODP Site U1356. The new obliquity-forced glacial–interglacial sedimentary model shows that, under the high CO2 values of the late Oligocene, ice sheets had mostly retreated to their terrestrial margins and the ocean was very dynamic with shifting positions of the polar fronts and associated water masses.
Richard P. Fiorella, Ryan Bares, John C. Lin, James R. Ehleringer, and Gabriel J. Bowen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8529–8547, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018, 2018
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Fossil fuel combustion produces water; where fossil fuel combustion is concentrated in urban areas, this humidity source may represent ~ 10 % of total humidity. In turn, this water vapor addition may alter urban meteorology, though the contribution of combustion vapor is difficult to measure. Using stable water isotopes, we estimate that up to 16 % of urban humidity may arise from combustion when the atmosphere is stable during winter, and develop recommendations for application in other cities.
Thomas Westerhold, Ursula Röhl, Roy H. Wilkens, Philip D. Gingerich, William C. Clyde, Scott L. Wing, Gabriel J. Bowen, and Mary J. Kraus
Clim. Past, 14, 303–319, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-303-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-303-2018, 2018
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Here we present a high-resolution timescale synchronization of continental and marine deposits for one of the most pronounced global warming events, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, which occurred 56 million years ago. New high-resolution age models for the Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP) drill cores help to improve age models for climate records from deep-sea drill cores and for the first time point to a concurrent major change in marine and terrestrial biota 54.25 million years ago.
Anna Joy Drury, Thomas Westerhold, David Hodell, and Ursula Röhl
Clim. Past, 14, 321–338, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-321-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-321-2018, 2018
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North Atlantic Site 982 is key to our understanding of climate evolution over the past 12 million years. However, the stratigraphy and age model are unverified. We verify the composite splice using XRF core scanning data and establish a revised benthic foraminiferal stable isotope astrochronology from 8.0–4.5 million years ago. Our new stratigraphy accurately correlates the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and suggests a connection between late Miocene cooling and dynamic ice sheet expansion.
Joost Frieling, Gert-Jan Reichart, Jack J. Middelburg, Ursula Röhl, Thomas Westerhold, Steven M. Bohaty, and Appy Sluijs
Clim. Past, 14, 39–55, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-39-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-39-2018, 2018
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Past periods of rapid global warming such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum are used to study biotic response to climate change. We show that very high peak PETM temperatures in the tropical Atlantic (~ 37 ºC) caused heat stress in several marine plankton groups. However, only slightly cooler temperatures afterwards allowed highly diverse plankton communities to bloom. This shows that tropical plankton communities may be susceptible to extreme warming, but may also recover rapidly.
Thomas Westerhold, Ursula Röhl, Thomas Frederichs, Claudia Agnini, Isabella Raffi, James C. Zachos, and Roy H. Wilkens
Clim. Past, 13, 1129–1152, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1129-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-1129-2017, 2017
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We assembled a very accurate geological timescale from the interval 47.8 to 56.0 million years ago, also known as the Ypresian stage. We used cyclic variations in the data caused by periodic changes in Earthäs orbit around the sun as a metronome for timescale construction. Our new data compilation provides the first geological evidence for chaos in the long-term behavior of planetary orbits in the solar system, as postulated almost 30 years ago, and a possible link to plate tectonics events.
Erik Oerter, Molly Malone, Annie Putman, Dina Drits-Esser, Louisa Stark, and Gabriel Bowen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3799–3810, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3799-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3799-2017, 2017
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Fruits take up soil water as they grow, and thus the fruit water is related to the rain or irrigation the crop receives. We used a novel sampling system to measure the stable isotopes of H and O in the fruit water to determine its geographic origin by comparing it to maps of isotopes in rain. We used this approach to teach an audience of science students and teachers about water cycle concepts and how humans may modify the water cycle through agriculture and irrigation water diversions.
Roy H. Wilkens, Thomas Westerhold, Anna J. Drury, Mitchell Lyle, Thomas Gorgas, and Jun Tian
Clim. Past, 13, 779–793, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-779-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-779-2017, 2017
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Here we introduce the Code for Ocean Drilling Data (CODD), a unified and consistent system for integrating disparate data streams such as micropaleontology, physical properties, core images, geochemistry, and borehole logging. As a test case, data from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 154 (Ceara Rise – western equatorial Atlantic) were assembled into a new regional composite benthic stable isotope record covering the last 5 million years.
Daniel J. Lunt, Matthew Huber, Eleni Anagnostou, Michiel L. J. Baatsen, Rodrigo Caballero, Rob DeConto, Henk A. Dijkstra, Yannick Donnadieu, David Evans, Ran Feng, Gavin L. Foster, Ed Gasson, Anna S. von der Heydt, Chris J. Hollis, Gordon N. Inglis, Stephen M. Jones, Jeff Kiehl, Sandy Kirtland Turner, Robert L. Korty, Reinhardt Kozdon, Srinath Krishnan, Jean-Baptiste Ladant, Petra Langebroek, Caroline H. Lear, Allegra N. LeGrande, Kate Littler, Paul Markwick, Bette Otto-Bliesner, Paul Pearson, Christopher J. Poulsen, Ulrich Salzmann, Christine Shields, Kathryn Snell, Michael Stärz, James Super, Clay Tabor, Jessica E. Tierney, Gregory J. L. Tourte, Aradhna Tripati, Garland R. Upchurch, Bridget S. Wade, Scott L. Wing, Arne M. E. Winguth, Nicky M. Wright, James C. Zachos, and Richard E. Zeebe
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 889–901, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-889-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-889-2017, 2017
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In this paper we describe the experimental design for a set of simulations which will be carried out by a range of climate models, all investigating the climate of the Eocene, about 50 million years ago. The intercomparison of model results is called 'DeepMIP', and we anticipate that we will contribute to the next IPCC report through an analysis of these simulations and the geological data to which we will compare them.
James M. Russell, Satria Bijaksana, Hendrik Vogel, Martin Melles, Jens Kallmeyer, Daniel Ariztegui, Sean Crowe, Silvia Fajar, Abdul Hafidz, Doug Haffner, Ascelina Hasberg, Sarah Ivory, Christopher Kelly, John King, Kartika Kirana, Marina Morlock, Anders Noren, Ryan O'Grady, Luis Ordonez, Janelle Stevenson, Thomas von Rintelen, Aurele Vuillemin, Ian Watkinson, Nigel Wattrus, Satrio Wicaksono, Thomas Wonik, Kohen Bauer, Alan Deino, André Friese, Cynthia Henny, Imran, Ristiyanti Marwoto, La Ode Ngkoimani, Sulung Nomosatryo, La Ode Safiuddin, Rachel Simister, and Gerald Tamuntuan
Sci. Dril., 21, 29–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-29-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-29-2016, 2016
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The Towuti Drilling Project seeks to understand the long-term environmental and climatic history of the tropical western Pacific and to discover the unique microbes that live in metal-rich sediments. To accomplish these goals, in 2015 we carried out a scientific drilling project on Lake Towuti, located in central Indonesia. We recovered over 1000 m of core, and our deepest core extended 175 m below the lake floor and gives us a complete record of the lake.
Oliver Friedrich, Sietske J. Batenburg, Kazuyoshi Moriya, Silke Voigt, Cécile Cournède, Iris Möbius, Peter Blum, André Bornemann, Jens Fiebig, Takashi Hasegawa, Pincelli M. Hull, Richard D. Norris, Ursula Röhl, Thomas Westerhold, Paul A. Wilson, and IODP Expedition
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-51, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-51, 2016
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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A lack of knowledge on the timing of Late Cretaceous climatic change inhibits our understanding of underlying causal mechanisms. Therefore, we used an expanded deep ocean record from the North Atlantic that shows distinct sedimentary cyclicity suggesting orbital forcing. A high-resolution carbon-isotope record from bulk carbonates allows to identify global trends in the carbon cycle. Our new carbon isotope record and the established cyclostratigraphy may serve as a future reference site.
Hemmo A. Abels, Vittoria Lauretano, Anna E. van Yperen, Tarek Hopman, James C. Zachos, Lucas J. Lourens, Philip D. Gingerich, and Gabriel J. Bowen
Clim. Past, 12, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1151-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1151-2016, 2016
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Ancient greenhouse warming episodes are studied in river floodplain sediments in the western interior of the USA. Paleohydrological changes of four smaller warming episodes are revealed to be the opposite of those of the largest, most-studied event. Carbon cycle tracers are used to ascertain whether the largest event was a similar event but proportional to the smaller ones or whether this event was distinct in size as well as in carbon sourcing, a question the current work cannot answer.
A. Cohen, C. Campisano, R. Arrowsmith, A. Asrat, A. K. Behrensmeyer, A. Deino, C. Feibel, A. Hill, R. Johnson, J. Kingston, H. Lamb, T. Lowenstein, A. Noren, D. Olago, R. B. Owen, R. Potts, K. Reed, R. Renaut, F. Schäbitz, J.-J. Tiercelin, M. H. Trauth, J. Wynn, S. Ivory, K. Brady, R. O'Grady, J. Rodysill, J. Githiri, J. Russell, V. Foerster, R. Dommain, S. Rucina, D. Deocampo, J. Russell, A. Billingsley, C. Beck, G. Dorenbeck, L. Dullo, D. Feary, D. Garello, R. Gromig, T. Johnson, A. Junginger, M. Karanja, E. Kimburi, A. Mbuthia, T. McCartney, E. McNulty, V. Muiruri, E. Nambiro, E. W. Negash, D. Njagi, J. N. Wilson, N. Rabideaux, T. Raub, M. J. Sier, P. Smith, J. Urban, M. Warren, M. Yadeta, C. Yost, and B. Zinaye
Sci. Dril., 21, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-1-2016, 2016
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An initial description of the scientific rationale, drilling and core handling, and initial core description activities of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP). HSPDP is a large international consortium whose objective is to collect cores from lakebeds in proximity to important fossil early human fossil sites in eastern Africa, to better understand the environmental and climatic context of human evolution.
P. A. Baker, S. C. Fritz, C. G. Silva, C. A. Rigsby, M. L. Absy, R. P. Almeida, M. Caputo, C. M. Chiessi, F. W. Cruz, C. W. Dick, S. J. Feakins, J. Figueiredo, K. H. Freeman, C. Hoorn, C. Jaramillo, A. K. Kern, E. M. Latrubesse, M. P. Ledru, A. Marzoli, A. Myrbo, A. Noren, W. E. Piller, M. I. F. Ramos, C. C. Ribas, R. Trnadade, A. J. West, I. Wahnfried, and D. A. Willard
Sci. Dril., 20, 41–49, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, 2015
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We report on a planned Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP) that will continuously sample Late Cretaceous to modern sediment in a transect along the equatorial Amazon of Brazil, from the Andean foreland to the Atlantic Ocean. The TADP will document the evolution of the Neotropical forest and will link biotic diversification to changes in the physical environment, including climate, tectonism, and landscape. We will also sample the ca. 200Ma basaltic sills that underlie much of the Amazon.
T. Westerhold, U. Röhl, T. Frederichs, S. M. Bohaty, and J. C. Zachos
Clim. Past, 11, 1181–1195, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1181-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1181-2015, 2015
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Testing hypotheses for mechanisms and dynamics of past climate change relies on the accuracy of geological dating. Development of a highly accurate geological timescale for the Cenozoic Era has previously been hampered by discrepancies between radioisotopic and astronomical dating methods, as well as a stratigraphic gap in the middle Eocene. We close this gap and provide a fundamental advance in establishing a reliable and highly accurate geological timescale for the last 66 million years.
T. Westerhold, U. Röhl, H. Pälike, R. Wilkens, P. A. Wilson, and G. Acton
Clim. Past, 10, 955–973, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-955-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-955-2014, 2014
J. A. Collins, A. Govin, S. Mulitza, D. Heslop, M. Zabel, J. Hartmann, U. Röhl, and G. Wefer
Clim. Past, 9, 1181–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1181-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1181-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Location/Setting: Instrumentation and observatories | Subject: Geology | Geoprocesses: Global climate change
SCIMPI: a new borehole observatory
T. Lado-Insua, K. Moran, I. Kulin, S. Farrington, and J. B. Newman
Sci. Dril., 16, 57–61, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-57-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-57-2013, 2013
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