Stable isotope stratigraphy and paleoclimatology of the Paleogene Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, USA)

Abstract

Abstract Climatic warming from the late Paleocene into the early Eocene had profound effects on atmospheric and marine circulation, marine thermal gradients, and benthic biota. In addition, marine carbon isotope values decreased substantially in both surface and deep waters. Because carbon is rapidly exchanged between reservoirs at the earth's surface, such as marine surface water, the atmosphere, land plants, and materials that obtain carbon from plants (e.g., soil minerals and herbivores), carbon isotope fluctuations provide time lines linking the marine and continental records. We analyzed the carbon isotope composition of paleosol carbonates and mammalian tooth enamel from stratigraphic sections in northwestern Wyoming. Carbon isotope correlation demonstrates that a short interval of extreme high-latitude warming coincided precisely with the first appearance of several important modern mammalian orders. In addition, oxygen isotope analyses of fossils and paleosol carbonates provide information about climatic conditions on land in the Paleogene. We reconstructed the oxygen isotope composition of local meteoric water using biogenic minerals. Paleocene-Eocene meteoric water was significantly 18 O-depleted, indicating substantial loss of water vapor during its transport to the region. Soil temperature was calculated as a proxy for mean annual temperature, assuming oxygen isotope equilibrium between soil carbonate and meteoric water. Calculated temperatures were plausible (≈10–25°C), but highly variable, prohibiting high-resolution analysis of local temperature variations in response to global climatic warming.