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www.solid-earth.net/2/245/2011/
doi:10.5194/se-2-245-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
An open ocean record of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event
1Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
2Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Ehime University, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan
3Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
4Christian-Albrechts-University–Kiel, Institute for Geosciences, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 10, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Abstract. Oceanic anoxic events were time intervals in the Mesozoic characterized by widespread distribution of marine organic matter-rich sediments (black shales) and significant perturbations in the global carbon cycle. These perturbations are globally recorded in sediments as carbon isotope excursions irrespective of lithology and depositional environment. During the early Toarcian, black shales were deposited on the epi- and pericontinental shelves of Pangaea, and these sedimentary rocks are associated with a pronounced (ca. 7 ‰) negative (organic) carbon isotope excursion (CIE) which is thought to be the result of a major perturbation in the global carbon cycle. For this reason, the lower Toarcian is thought to represent an oceanic anoxic event (the T-OAE). If the T-OAE was indeed a global event, an isotopic expression of this event should be found beyond the epi- and pericontinental Pangaean localities. To address this issue, the carbon isotope composition of organic matter (δ13Corg of lower Toarcian organic matter-rich cherts from Japan, deposited in the open Panthalassa Ocean, was analysed. The results show the presence of a major (>6 ‰) negative excursion in δ13Corg that, based on radiolarian biostratigraphy, is a correlative of the lower Toarcian negative CIE known from Pangaean epi- and pericontinental strata. A smaller negative excursion in δ13Corg (ca. 2 ‰) is recognized lower in the studied succession. This excursion may, within the current biostratigraphic resolution, represent the excursion recorded in European epicontinental successions close to the Pliensbachian/Toarcian boundary. These results from the open ocean realm suggest, in conjunction with other previously published datasets, that these Early Jurassic carbon cycle perturbations affected the active global reservoirs of the exchangeable carbon cycle (deep marine, shallow marine, atmospheric).
Final Revised Paper (PDF, 15925 KB) Discussion Paper (SED) Special Issue
Citation: Gröcke, D. R., Hori, R. S., Trabucho-Alexandre, J., Kemp, D. B., and Schwark, L.: An open ocean record of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event, Solid Earth, 2, 245-257, doi:10.5194/se-2-245-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
