Morphometric data for Globigerinoides sacculifer and Globorotalia tumida (size and Fourier coefficients) and temperature proxy reconstructions (UK37' and Tex86H) from samples from ODP sites 165-999/165-1000 and 202-1241 spanning the last 10Ma

Sediment samples from both Site 165-999/165-1000 (Atlantic) and Site 202-1241 (Pacific) were chosen at 1Ma intervals over the period 0.3-9.3Ma. Samples were washed and sieved <150µm. Splits of the sediment fraction were picked completely to obtain, where possible, at least 30 specimens each of planktic foraminifer species Globigerinoides sacculifer and Globorotalia tumida, on which outline analysis (Fourier) was performed. Sea surface and thermocline temperatures were reconstructed from palaeoenvironmental proxies (UK37' and Tex86H respectively).

New data on the Vrancea Nappe (Moldavidian Basin, Outer Carpathian Domain, Romania): paleogeographic and geodynamic reconstructions

A study has been performed on the Cretaceous to Early Miocene succession of the Vrancea Nappe (Outer Carpathians, Romania), based on field reconstruction of the stratigraphic record, mineralogical-petrographic and geochemical analyses. Extra-basinal clastic supply and intra-basinal autochthonous deposits have been differentiated, appearing laterally inter-fingered and/or interbedded. The main clastic petrofacies consist of calcarenites, sub-litharenites, quartzarenites, sub-arkoses, and polygenic conglomerates derived from extra-basinal margins. An alternate internal and external provenance of the different supplies is the result of the paleogeographic re-organization of the basin/margins system due to tectonic activation and exhumation of rising areas. The intra-basinal deposits consist of black shales and siliceous sediments (silexites and cherty beds), evidencing major environmental changes in the Moldavidian Basin. Organic-matter-rich black shales were deposited during anoxic episodes related to sediment starvation and high nutrient influx due to paleogeographic isolation of the basin caused by plate drifting. The black shales display relatively high contents in sub-mature to mature, Type II lipidic organic matter (good oil and gas-prone source rocks) constituting a potentially active petroleum system. The intra-basinal siliceous sediments are related to oxic pelagic or hemipelagic environments under tectonic quiescence conditions although its increase in the Oligocene part of the succession can be correlated with volcanic supplies. The integration of all the data in the “progressive reorientation of convergence direction” Carpathian model, and their consideration in the framework of a foreland basin, led to propose some constrains on the paleogeographic-geodynamic evolutionary model of the Moldavidian Basin from the Late Cretaceous to the Burdigalian.

Miocene palaeoclimate reconstructions from the North Alpine Foreland Basin in Germany

Early- and Middle-Miocene sediments of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB) in Southern Germany contain one of the world richest regional records of silicified wood. Here we analyze over 1,000 identifiable samples, belonging to 80 wood anatomical taxa from 61 stratigraphically well-dated localities using principally the Coexistence Approach. The samples investigated originate from fluvial sediments representing periods of intensified surface runoff in the NAFB and therefore represent and provide information pertaining to the wet end-member of the fluctuating climate system. The dry end of the climate system is represented in the profiles either by hiatuses or palaeosoils. The dataset is split into four xylofloras: (I) the Ortenburg xyloflora (Late Ottnangian; ~17.5 to 17.3 Ma) originating from a paratropical evergreen Carapoxylon (Xylocarpus) forest; (II) the Southern Franconian Alb xyloflora (Late Karpatian; 17.0 to ~16.3 Ma) originating from a subtropical semideciduous limestone forest; (III) the upper Older Series xyloflora (Early Badenian; ~16.3 to ~15.3 Ma) originating from a subtropical oak-laurel forest; and (IV) the upper Middle Series xyloflora (Middle Badenian; 14.3 to ~13.8 Ma) originating from a subtropical dry deciduous forest.

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages and paleoproductivity reconstructions for the last 550 kyr of the Ontong Java Plateau, western equatorial Pacific

We analyzed foraminiferal and nannofossil assemblages and stable isotopes in samples from ODP Hole 807A on the Ontong Java Plateau in order to evaluate productivity and carbonate dissolution cycles over the last 550 kyr (kilo year) in the western equatorial Pacific. Our results indicate that productivity was generally higher in glacials than during interglacials, and gradually increased since MIS 13. Carbonate dissolution was weak in deglacial intervals, but often reached a maximum during interglacial to glacial transitions. Carbonate cycles in the western equatorial Pacific were mainly influenced by changes of deep-water properties rather than by local primary productivity. Fluctuations of the estimated thermocline depth were not related to glacial to interglacial alternations, but changed distinctly at ~280 kyr. Before that time the thermocline was relatively shallow and its depth fluctuated at a comparatively high amplitude and low frequency. After 280 kyr, the thermocline was deeper, and its fluctuations were at lower amplitude and higher frequency. These different patterns in productivity and thermocline variability suggest that thermocline dynamics probably were not a controlling factor of biological productivity in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean. In this region, upwelling, the influx of cool, nutrient-rich waters from the eastern equatorial Pacific or of fresh waters from rivers have probably never been important, and their influence on productivity has been negligible over the studied period. Variations in the inferred productivity in general are well correlated with fluctuations in the eolian flux as recorded in the northwestern Pacific, a proxy for the late Quaternary history of the central East Asian dust flux into the Pacific. Therefore, we suggest that the dust flux from the central East Asian continent may have been an important driver of productivity in the western Pacific.

Sea surface temperature reconstructions of sediment cores from the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean

Late Quaternary summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) have been derived from radiolarian assemblages in the East Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. In the subantarctic and the polar frontal zone, glacial SSTs (oxygen isotope stages 2, 4, 6, and 8) were 3°-5°C cooler than today, indicating northward displacements of the isotherms about 2°-4° of latitudes. During interglacials, SSTs almost reached modern levels (oxygen isotope stages 7 and 9) or exceeded them by 2°-3°C (oxygen isotope stages 1 and 5.5). In the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean, changes in SST and calcium carbonate content of the sediment precede variations in global ice volume in the range of the main Milankovitch frequencies. Comparisons with the timing of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) proxy records suggests that this early response in the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean is not triggered by the flux of NADW to the Southern Ocean.