by Kenneth G. Miller, Tali Lea Babila, Morgan F. Schaller, Marlow J. Cramwinckel

Latest Paleocene to early Eocene hyperthermals, especially the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), provide the clearest geological examples of massive carbon releases and global warming analogous to anthropogenic release, but understating of these analogs is limited in thin deep-sea sections. We propose to drill expanded sections in the mid-Atlantic U.S. Coastal Plain targeting thick (>10 m) sections of PETM and subsequent Eocene hyperthermals, building on drilling in New Jersey (NJ) during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 174AX and in Maryland-Virginia by the USGS. Previous drilling has sampled across the paleoshelf and provided important constraints on the PETM, but existing cores are either depleted or contain stratigraphic gaps due to the patchwork distribution of the successions, updip dissolution, diagenesis, and the discontinuous nature of coastal zone sedimentation, which can be addressed with new cores. We plan to core the sections of interest at ten sites sampling the PETM, targeting the underlying normal shelf deposit including the pre-onset excursion (POE), a transitional interval containing the Carbon Isotopic Excursion (CIE) onset that is expanded in updip sections, and the rapidly deposited Marlboro Clay that records a very thick CIE body. Though truncated at the top, the PETM sections in this region are greatly expanded relative to the deep sea (>10 m versus <1 m in the deep-sea). We will also sample other Paleogene hyperthermals and the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary at these sites. This project will be an international collaboration with the cores archived by IODP & DGS, publication by IODP, and with local drilling and logistical support provided by the USGS and U.S. state surveys. We plan extensive outreach efforts through government agencies, universities and museums through social media and press releases to local and regional outlets (including along the high-profile NYC to Washington, DC, corridor), extensive training of Early Career Researchers via our School of Rock and to scientists throughout the globe studying these intriguing geological events.

• New material will address the following objectives:
• 1) utilize the high sedimentation rates of the Marlboro Clay to evaluate the rapidity of the onset and lead-lag relationships of carbon injection, temperature rise, and sedimentation changes;
• 2) evaluate the relationships between extraterrestrial impact and climate;
• 3) evaluate biotic effects of the PETM on the paleoshelf, with a postulated major deoxygenation in thermocline and bottom waters, a eukaryote surface-water “blackout” due to excessive temperatures, and the development of an unusual planktonic assemblage suggestive of photic zone acidification. Our team will reconstruct stable isotopes (d18O, d13C, d11B), trace metals (Mg/Ca, Ba/Ca, I/Ca), organic paleothermometers (TEX86), and micropaleontological (foraminiferal, nannofossil, dinoflagellate cyst, sporomorph, pollen data) and sedimentological (% CaCO3, organic carbon, grain size, % charcoal, spherule distribution) data across 3 areas (NJ, Delaware-Maryland, Virginia) that will yield well-resolved marine records of the initiation and early portion of the PETM and other hyperthermal events.

Carbon Injection, Global Warming, Petm

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