Late Paleocene to middle Eocene carbon isotope stratigraphy of the Northern Negev, Southern Israel: potential for paleoclimate reconstructions

Chris D. Fokkema, Sophie Buijs, Or M. Bialik, Aaron Meilijson, Nicolas D. Waldmann, Yizhaq Makovsky, Joost Frieling, Gerald R. Dickens, Appy Sluijs

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Sedimentary records depicting significant variability in climate and carbon cycling across the early Paleogene have emerged over the last two decades. Continuous, long-term, high-resolution records mostly derive from deep-sea drill cores, and only few derive from continental margin locations. Here we examine lower Paleogene marls and chalks collected from a core (RH-323) in the Northern Negev Desert (Southern Israel). The studied sediments accumulated on a continental slope of the southern Tethys at ~500–700 m paleodepth and did not undergo deep burial. We analyzed bulk carbonate stable carbon and oxygen isotopes and bulk magnetic susceptibility. The resulting records can be aligned with those from elsewhere and include the Paleocene Carbon Isotope Maximum (PCIM), Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). An obvious realization is a concurrence between local lithological variations and major climate and carbon cycle changes. This has been highlighted for sedimentary sequences elsewhere, but the relations differ in the Negev, such that carbonate rich intervals mark the PCIM and PETM, and a transition from marl to chalk initiates the EECO. Overall, the relatively pristine and immature sediment records in southern Israel likely provide potential for high-resolution paleoclimate and carbon cycle reconstructions during a crucial time interval and in a crucial part of the world.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)361-384
Number of pages24
JournalNewsletters on Stratigraphy
Volume55
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. We thank the European Research Council for Consolidator Grant 771497 awarded to AS, funded under Horizon 2020 program, and Arnold van Dijk and Maxim Krasnoperov (Utrecht University) for technical support. GD and JF received support for travel and field-work through a Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC) Sabbatical Grant.

Funding Information:
We thank the European Research Council for Consolidator Grant 771497 awarded to AS, funded under Horizon 2020 program, and Arnold van Dijk and Maxim Krasnoperov (Utrecht University) for technical support. GD and JF received support for travel and fieldwork through a Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC) Sabbatical Grant.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors.

Keywords

  • Early Paleogene
  • Northern Negev
  • Revivim Valley
  • Southern Tethys margin
  • bulk carbonate
  • carbon isotope stratigraphy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geology
  • Stratigraphy

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