Abstract
ABSTRACT Assessments of global Pliocene climate using conventional proxies indicate prevalent warmth at mid- to high latitudes. How this climate change was manifested on a regional basis and on annual timescales remains poorly understood. Oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) of fossil Mercenaria spp. (bivalve) shells enable reconstruction of growth temperature to estimate sea surface temperature (SST) at seasonal resolution. Comparing growth characteristics of fossil and modern populations potentially provides independent SST constraints. Fossil shells were selected from the Rushmere Member of the Yorktown Formation (Pliocene, early Piacenzian, ∼3.3–3.0 Ma, warm interval) and the Chowan River Formation (Pleistocene, Gelasian, 2.4–1.8 Ma, subsequent cooling) of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain (MACP). The coldest winter temperatures recorded in the Yorktown Formation shells averaged 17 ± 2 °C and the warmest summer temperatures averaged 25 ± 2 °C. Chowan River Formation shells recorded the coldest winter temper...
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