A rapid hydroclimate change and its influence on the Songliao Basin during the Santonian-Campanian transition as recorded by compound-specific isotopes

Abstract

Reconstruction of the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of the Songliao Basin has important theoretical and practical significance to reveal the regional continental climate characteristics and continental organic matter accumulation under the Cretaceous greenhouse climate conditions. Here, we report the composition of biomarkers and the stable carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions of n-alkanes from Nenjiang Formation sediments in the Songliao Basin, which provide information on the source of organisms, paleoenvironmental conditions, and paleoclimate changes during the Late Cretaceous. Our hydrogen isotope records of n-alkanes displayed a significantly negative shift, indicating that a dramatically wet climate occurred during the Santonian-Campanian transition. A wet climate, such as that during a prolonged rainfall event, had a significant impact on the lake and resulted in the lake level increasing and the salinity decreasing in the surface water during this period. However, the freshwater input increased the salinity difference between the upper and lower water layers, which caused stable water stratification to occur in the lake. In addition, the high total organic carbon (TOC) content indicates high primary productivity because of increased precipitation carrying more terrigenous nutrients into the lake, which resulted in eutrophication during this period. Notably, the increased aryl isoprenoid ratios and the occurrence of isorenieratane indicates that photic zone euxinia (PZE) was enhanced during the Santonian-Campanian transition, which was possibly due to the dramatic change in the hydroclimate. We speculate that the large freshwater input promoted the formation of PZE in the lake. Then, PZE restricted the habitat available for aerobic organisms, which had fatal effects on the lake ecosystem.