Carbon-isotope events during the Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) on the African and European margins of the NW Tethyan Realm

Abstract

Early Jurassic palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates, based on chemostratigraphy, have been extensively studied for the northern Tethyan margin. For the first time, high-resolution chemostratigraphy for the entire Pliensbachian is proposed for the African Tethyan margin (Morocco), and compared with new sections from the European Tethyan margin (France). Precise ammonite determinations, completed by calcareous nannofossil distribution, provide an accurate biostratigraphic framework from the Upper Sinemurian to the Upper Pliensbachian. Bulk inorganic carbon (δ13Ccarb) and organic carbon (δ13Corg) isotope signals are used to characterise and compare carbon-cycle trends in the Central High Atlas Basin (Amellago-Ikis section, Morocco), the Paris Basin (Montcornet borehole, France), and the Subalpine Basin (Serre-Poncon section, France). Comparison of this new dataset with previously published geochemical data from European basins confirms the existence of five distinct carbon-isotope events, synchronous at the scale of the NW Tethyan Realm: (1) a clear –2‰ negative excursion of δ13Ccarb and δ13Corg, corresponding to the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian Boundary Event (SPBE), probably associated with a massive release of light carbon by volcanism and hydrothermalism during the breakup of Pangea; (2) a positive excursion (+1 to +1.5‰) in the Valdani and Luridum subzones (Ibex Zone), reflecting increased organic matter storage under warm climate conditions; (3) a broadly negative event from the Davoei Zone to the lower part of the Margaritatus Zone, associated with major oceanographic reorganisation in a transgressive context, and possible enhanced hydrothermalism related to the opening of the Hispanic corridor; (4) a positive carbon excursion (+2‰) during the Subnodosus and Gibbosus subzones (Margaritatus Zone), corresponding to the Late Pliensbachian Event (LPE), associated with organic matter storage; (5) an end-Margaritatus–Spinatum negative excursion, associated with sea-level fall, probably driven by glacio-eustasy. This new high-resolution carbon-isotope dataset highlights the synchroneity of carbon-cycle trends throughout the NW Tethyan Realm. Several major isotopic events, prior to those of the Toarcian, must therefore have occurred at a supra-regional to global scale during the Pliensbachian, involving significant internal and external geodynamic mechanisms.