Organic matter variations and links to climate across the early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE) in Toyora area, southwest Japan

Abstract

Marked climate warming during the early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE, ~182 Ma) has been shown to have had a significant effect on the global carbon cycle and biosphere. There is also emerging evidence that a primary short-term consequence of this warming was a marked increase in hydrological cycling. In this study, we have investigated local environmental responses to T-OAE climate change by conducting a palynofacies analysis through an expanded Panthalassic margin record of the event exposed in southwestern Japan (Nishinakayama Formation, Toyora area). Palynomorphs are poorly preserved and rare in the studied interval. A pronounced increase in terrestrial phytoclast abundance coeval with the peak of the T-OAE can be linked to increased fluvial supply driven by enhanced hydrological cycling that occurred in response to early Toarcian warming. Broader scale trends in phytoclast abundance through the studied interval may be linked to longer-term sea-level changes. Nitrogen-isotopes, commonly used to elucidate basin redox changes, are found to correlate with changes in the relative abundance of phytoclasts. In contrast, carbon-isotope data are probably not significantly influenced by changes in organic matter type through the succession. However, thermal maturity indicators demonstrate that the succession is overmature, and this likely suppresses the magnitude of the well-known T-OAE carbon-isotope excursion in this succession.