Abstract
More than 190 articulate brachiopods from Turonian sections in northwestern Germany and southern England were studied for their stable carbon and oxygen isotopic composition, and some of them for their elemental composition. Most of the brachiopod shells are well preserved, and oxygen isotope composition reflects the temperate conditions of the European epicontinental sea. Upper Turonian mean δ18O values from Lower Saxony and southern England show bottom-water temperatures in the range of 14.2 to 18.2 °C (δ18Ow = −1.5‰ SMOW for an ice-free world). The relative trend of mean brachiopod oxygen and carbon isotopes shows a short-term (200 k.y.) increase in the mid-Upper Turonian horizons that confirms the climate cooling (∼ 2 °C) observed in bulk-rock samples at different sites in Europe. Interbasinal comparisons between England and Germany show similar δ13C values in both basins, whereas oxygen isotopes are heavier in northwestern Germany than in England, suggesting a cool-water influence from the North Sea basin and temperate conditions in the Anglo-Paris basin.
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