Archaeal lipid biomarker constraints on the Paleocene-Eocene carbon isotope excursion

Felix J. Elling (), Julia Gottschalk, Katiana D. Doeana, Stephanie Kusch, Sarah J. Hurley and Ann Pearson
Additional contact information
Felix J. Elling: Harvard University
Julia Gottschalk: Columbia University of the City of New York
Katiana D. Doeana: Harvard University
Stephanie Kusch: Harvard University
Sarah J. Hurley: Harvard University
Ann Pearson: Harvard University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract A negative carbon isotope excursion recorded in terrestrial and marine archives reflects massive carbon emissions into the exogenic carbon reservoir during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Yet, discrepancies in carbon isotope excursion estimates from different sample types lead to substantial uncertainties in the source, scale, and timing of carbon emissions. Here we show that membrane lipids of marine planktonic archaea reliably record both the carbon isotope excursion and surface ocean warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Novel records of the isotopic composition of crenarchaeol constrain the global carbon isotope excursion magnitude to −4.0 ± 0.4‰, consistent with emission of >3000 Pg C from methane hydrate dissociation or >4400 Pg C for scenarios involving emissions from geothermal heating or oxidation of sedimentary organic matter. A pre-onset excursion in the isotopic composition of crenarchaeol and ocean temperature highlights the susceptibility of the late Paleocene carbon cycle to perturbations and suggests that climate instability preceded the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12553-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12553-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12553-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().