Abstract
Sediment routing systems (SRSs) are a critical element of the global response to ongoing climate change. However SRS response to climate forcing is complex, fragmentary, and obscured when viewed over short, human time scales (10(-1)-10(2) yr). Over long time scales (>10(2)-10(3) yr), the aggregated, system-wide response of SRSs to climate forcing can be gleaned with more confidence from the sedimentary record, but the nature and time scales of this aggregated response to abrupt climate change are still poorly understood. Here, we investigate the aggregated temporal response of a SRS in northern Spain to abrupt climate warming at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). Our results show that terrestrial sites in northern Spain record a temporal lag of 16.5 +/- 7.5 k.y. between the onset of the PETM, defined by an abrupt negative excursion in the delta C-13 profile, and the onset of coarse-grained deposition. Within the same SRS at a deep marine site 500 km to the west, we observe a temporal lag of 16.5 +/- 1.5 k.y. using an age model that is independent of that used for the terrestrial sites. These results suggest that the aggregated, system-wide response of SRSs to present-day global warming-if we take the PETM as an appropriate modern-day analogue-may persist for many millennia into the future.
Highlights
The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) is the most informative geological analogue for understanding the impact of rapid (4 °C) warming on global hydrology and sediment routing systems (SRSs) (Haywood et al, 2011; Foreman et al, 2012; Carmichael et al, 2017)
The PETM is associated with a large negative carbon-isotope excursion (CIE) driven by the release of >4000 Pg of isotopically light carbon into the global carbon cycle (Gutjahr et al, 2017)
This elevated value is maintained for 10 k.y. before increasing abruptly to 7 g cm−2 k.y.−1 over a period of
Summary
The Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) is the most informative geological analogue for understanding the impact of rapid (4 °C) warming on global hydrology and sediment routing systems (SRSs) (Haywood et al, 2011; Foreman et al, 2012; Carmichael et al, 2017). The PETM is associated with a large negative carbon-isotope excursion (CIE) driven by the release of >4000 Pg of isotopically light carbon into the global carbon cycle (Gutjahr et al, 2017). This event is recorded in the carbon isotope (δ13C) values of calcium carbonate minerals and organic matter from both terrestrial and marine strata (McInerney and Wing, 2011). In northern Spain, there is a clear association between the CIE and an increase in the amount, and caliber, of detrital material transported to both terrestrial and marine environments (Schmitz and Pujalte, 2003, 2007; Dunkley Jones et al, 2018; Pujalte et al, 2015). The short temporal duration of PETM onset (
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