A better-ventilated ocean triggered by Late Cretaceous changes in continental configuration

Yannick Donnadieu (), Emmanuelle Pucéat, Mathieu Moiroud, François Guillocheau and Jean- François Deconinck
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Yannick Donnadieu: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE-IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
Emmanuelle Pucéat: Biogéosciences Dijon, Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, UMR CNRS 6282
Mathieu Moiroud: Biogéosciences Dijon, Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, UMR CNRS 6282
François Guillocheau: Géosciences Rennes, Université de Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118
Jean- François Deconinck: Biogéosciences Dijon, Université Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, UMR CNRS 6282

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are large-scale events of oxygen depletion in the deep ocean that happened during pre-Cenozoic periods of extreme warmth. Here, to assess the role of major continental configuration changes occurring during the Late Cretaceous on oceanic circulation modes, which in turn influence the oxygenation level of the deep ocean, we use a coupled ocean atmosphere climate model. We simulate ocean dynamics during two different time slices and compare these with existing neodymium isotope data (ɛNd). Although deep-water production in the North Pacific is continuous, the simulations at 94 and 71 Ma show a shift in southern deep-water production sites from South Pacific to South Atlantic and Indian Ocean locations. Our modelling results support the hypothesis that an intensification of southern Atlantic deep-water production and a reversal of deep-water fluxes through the Caribbean Seaway were the main causes of the decrease in ɛNd values recorded in the Atlantic and Indian deep waters during the Late Cretaceous.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10316

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