The Cenozoic palaeoenvironment of the Arctic Ocean

Kathryn Moran (), Jan Backman, Henk Brinkhuis, Steven C. Clemens, Thomas Cronin, Gerald R. Dickens, Frédérique Eynaud, Jérôme Gattacceca, Martin Jakobsson, Richard W. Jordan, Michael Kaminski, John King, Nalan Koc, Alexey Krylov, Nahysa Martinez, Jens Matthiessen, David McInroy, Theodore C. Moore, Jonaotaro Onodera, Matthew O'Regan, Heiko Pälike, Brice Rea, Domenico Rio, Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, David C. Smith, Ruediger Stein, Kristen St John, Itsuki Suto, Noritoshi Suzuki, Kozo Takahashi, Mahito Watanabe, Masanobu Yamamoto, John Farrell, Martin Frank, Peter Kubik, Wilfried Jokat and Yngve Kristoffersen
Additional contact information
Kathryn Moran: University of Rhode Island
Jan Backman: Stockholm University
Henk Brinkhuis: Utrecht University
Steven C. Clemens: Brown University
Thomas Cronin: US Geological Survey
Gerald R. Dickens: Rice University
Frédérique Eynaud: Université Bordeaux
Jérôme Gattacceca: CEREGE (CNRS)
Martin Jakobsson: Stockholm University
Richard W. Jordan: Yamagata University
Michael Kaminski: University College London
Nalan Koc: Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental Center
Alexey Krylov: VNIIOkeangeologia
Nahysa Martinez: Earth Sciences, Boston University
Jens Matthiessen: Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research
David McInroy: British Geological Survey
Theodore C. Moore: Geological Sciences, University of Michigan
Jonaotaro Onodera: Kyushu University
Matthew O'Regan: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
Heiko Pälike: National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton
Brice Rea: University of Aberdeen
Domenico Rio: Paleontology & Geophysics, University of Padova
Tatsuhiko Sakamoto: Institute for Research on Earth Evolution (IFREE), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
David C. Smith: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
Ruediger Stein: Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research
Kristen St John: James Madison University
Itsuki Suto: Nagoya University
Noritoshi Suzuki: Institute of Geology & Paleontology, Tohoku University
Kozo Takahashi: Kyushu University
Mahito Watanabe: Institute of Geoscience, Geological Survey of Japan
Masanobu Yamamoto: Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University
John Farrell: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
Martin Frank: Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR
Peter Kubik: Paul Scherrer Institute, ETH-Hönggerberg
Wilfried Jokat: Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research
Yngve Kristoffersen: University of Bergen

Nature, 2006, vol. 441, issue 7093, 601-605

Abstract: Abstract The history of the Arctic Ocean during the Cenozoic era (0–65 million years ago) is largely unknown from direct evidence. Here we present a Cenozoic palaeoceanographic record constructed from >400 m of sediment core from a recent drilling expedition to the Lomonosov ridge in the Arctic Ocean. Our record shows a palaeoenvironmental transition from a warm ‘greenhouse’ world, during the late Palaeocene and early Eocene epochs, to a colder ‘icehouse’ world influenced by sea ice and icebergs from the middle Eocene epoch to the present. For the most recent ∼14 Myr, we find sedimentation rates of 1–2 cm per thousand years, in stark contrast to the substantially lower rates proposed in earlier studies; this record of the Neogene reveals cooling of the Arctic that was synchronous with the expansion of Greenland ice (∼3.2 Myr ago) and East Antarctic ice (∼14 Myr ago). We find evidence for the first occurrence of ice-rafted debris in the middle Eocene epoch (∼45 Myr ago), some 35 Myr earlier than previously thought; fresh surface waters were present at ∼49 Myr ago, before the onset of ice-rafted debris. Also, the temperatures of surface waters during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum (∼55 Myr ago) appear to have been substantially warmer than previously estimated. The revised timing of the earliest Arctic cooling events coincides with those from Antarctica, supporting arguments for bipolar symmetry in climate change.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04800

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