Southern high-latitude warmth during the Jurassic–Cretaceous: New evidence from clumped isotope thermometry

Abstract

Abstract In order to understand the climate dynamics of the Mesozoic greenhouse world, it is vital to determine paleotemperatures from higher latitudes. For the Jurassic and Cretaceous climate, there are significant discrepancies between different proxies and between proxy data and climate models. We determined paleotemperatures from Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous belemnites using the carbonate clumped isotope paleothermometer and compared these values to temperatures derived from TEX86 and other proxies. From our analyses, we infer an average temperature of ∼25 °C for the upper part of the water column of the southern Atlantic Ocean. Our data imply that for mid- to high latitudes, climate models underestimate marine temperatures by >5 °C and, therefore, the amount of warming that would accompany an increase in atmospheric CO2 of more than 4× pre-industrial levels, as is projected for the near future.