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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1996; v. 101; p. 381-399;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1996.101.01.19
© 1996 Geological Society of London

Global Perspective: Geochronology and the Oceanic Record

Global {delta}13C changes across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary: criteria for terrestrial-marine correlations

Lowell D. Stott1, Ashish Sinha1, Medard Thiry2, Marie-Pierre Aubry3 & William A. Berggren4

1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740, USA
2 Ecole des Mines de Paris, Centre d’Information Géologique, 35 rue Saint-Honoré 77305 Fontainbleau cedex, France
3 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
4 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA

The early Cenozoic marine carbon isotopic record is marked by a long-term shift from high {delta}13C values in the late Paleocene to values that are 2 to 3 lower in the early Eocene. The shift is recorded in fossil carbonates from each ocean basin and represents a large change in the distribution of 12C between the ocean and other carbon reservoirs. Superimposed upon this long-term shift are several distinct carbon isotopic negative excursions that are also recorded globally. These carbon isotopic ‘events’ near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary provide stratigraphic information that can facilitate intersite correlations between marine and non-marine sequences.

Here we present a detailed marine carbon isotopic stratigraphy across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary that is constrained by calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminifera biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy. We show that several distinct carbon isotopic changes are recorded in uppermost Paleocene and lowermost Eocene marine biogenic carbonate sediments. At least one of these isotopic changes in the ocean’s carbon isotopic composition was transmitted to terrestrial carbon reservoirs, including plant biomass via atmospheric CO2. As a consequence of this exchange of 12C between the ocean and terrestrial carbon reservoirs, it is possible to use carbon isotope stratigraphy to correlate the uppermost Paleocene and lowermost Eocene non-fossiliferous terrestrial sediments of the Paris Basin with marine sequences.