Bijl, Peter K; Schouten, Stefan; Sluijs, Appy; Reichart, Gert-Jan; Zachos, James C; Brinkhuis, Henk (2009): Sea surface temperture reconstruction for ODP Site 189-1172 [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.769678, Supplement to: Bijl, PK et al. (2009): Early Palaeogene temperature evolution of the southwest Pacific Ocean. Nature, 461, 776-779, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08399
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Abstract:
Relative to the present day, meridional temperature gradients in the Early Eocene age (~56-53 Myr ago) were unusually low, with slightly warmer equatorial regions (Pearson et al., 2007, doi:10.1130/G23175A.1 ) but with much warmer subtropical Arctic (Sluijs et al., 2008, doi:10.1029/2007PA001495) and mid-latitude (Sluijs et al., 2007, doi:10.1038/nature06400) climates. By the end of the Eocene epoch (~34 Myr ago), the first major Antarctic ice sheets had appeared (Zachos et al., 1992, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<0569:EOISEO>2.3.CO;2; Barker et al., 2007, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2007.07.027), suggesting that major cooling had taken place. Yet the global transition into this icehouse climate remains poorly constrained, as only a few temperature records are available portraying the Cenozoic climatic evolution of the high southern latitudes. Here we present a uniquely continuous and chronostratigraphically well-calibrated TEX86 record of sea surface temperature (SST) from an ocean sediment core in the East Tasman Plateau (palaeolatitude ~65° S). We show that southwest Pacific SSTs rose above present-day tropical values (to ~34° C) during the Early Eocene age (~53 Myr ago) and had gradually decreased to about 21° C by the early Late Eocene age (~36 Myr ago). Our results imply that there was almost no latitudinal SST gradient between subequatorial and subpolar regions during the Early Eocene age (55-50 Myr ago). Thereafter, the latitudinal gradient markedly increased. In theory, if Eocene cooling was largely driven by a decrease in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration Zachos et al. (2008, doi:10.1038/nature06588), additional processes are required to explain the relative stability of tropical SSTs given that there was more significant cooling at higher latitudes.
Project(s):
Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)
Coverage:
Median Latitude: -43.959503 * Median Longitude: 149.928434 * South-bound Latitude: -43.959750 * West-bound Longitude: 149.928260 * North-bound Latitude: -43.959230 * East-bound Longitude: 149.928610
Date/Time Start: 2000-04-22T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2000-05-03T21:00:00
Event(s):
189-1172 * Latitude: -43.959517 * Longitude: 149.928433 * Date/Time: 2000-04-22T00:00:00 * Elevation: -2621.9 m * Penetration: 1662.5 m * Recovery: 1100.2 m * Location: Tasman Sea * Campaign: Leg189 * Basis: Joides Resolution * Method/Device: Composite Core (COMPCORE) * Comment: 127 cores; 1193.9 m cored; 468.6 m drilled; 92.1% recovery
189-1172A * Latitude: -43.959750 * Longitude: 149.928260 * Date/Time Start: 2000-04-22T06:45:00 * Date/Time End: 2000-04-26T09:30:00 * Elevation: -2621.9 m * Penetration: 522.6 m * Recovery: 483.72 m * Location: Tasman Sea * Campaign: Leg189 * Basis: Joides Resolution * Method/Device: Drilling/drill rig (DRILL) * Comment: 56 cores; 522.6 m cored; 0 m drilled; 92.6 % recovery
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
2 datasets
Download Data
Datasets listed in this publication series
- Bijl, PK; Schouten, S; Sluijs, A et al. (2009): (Table S1) Age model of ODP Site 189-1172. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.769677
- Bijl, PK; Schouten, S; Sluijs, A et al. (2009): (Table S2) TEX86 index values and sea surface temperture reconstruction for ODP Site 189-1172. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.769676