Cenomanian-Turonian carbon isotope events recorded in terrestrial organic matter from northern Japan

Abstract

Carbon isotopic fluctuations recorded in terrestrial organic matter from the Upper Cretaceous Cenomanian-Turonian succession of Hokkaido, Japan show a remarkably similar pattern to isotopic fluctuation in carbonate carbon reported from southern England and the Italian Apennines. Chronological correlation for the Cenomanian-Turonian section of Japan is based on planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy with some additional data from macrofossils, allowing a detailed comparison of isotope stratigraphies for Japan and Europe. Three distinct features of the isotope profile, namely a positive spike near the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary, a shoulder in the lower-middle Turonian and a level segment in the middle-upper Turonian are observed in Japan. These features are biostratigraphically comparable and correlative with isotope profiles reported from Europe. The single factor influencing isotopic composition of both terrestrial organic carbon and marine carbonate carbon is isotopic change in the global CO2 reservoir of the ocean-atmosphere system. If these three carbon isotope features are synchronous, they may be inferred as having been caused by global phenomena and as providing global high-resolution chemo-stratigraphic markers. Carbon isotope stratigraphy could be an important bridge between terrestrial inland sequences and marine sequences.