Precession-paced late Maastrichtian bottom-water dynamics
The long-term global cooling of the Late Cretaceous was interrupted by an intense warming period at ~69 Ma known as the mid-Maastrichtian event. The underlying mechanisms of this climatic event and associated change in the global carbon cycle are, however, strongly debated, including a possible majo...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Communications earth & environment
Year: 2025, Volume: 6, Pages: 1-9 |
| ISSN: | 2662-4435 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43247-025-02219-y |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02219-y Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02219-y 
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| Author Notes: | Alexa Fischer, Sietske J. Batenburg, André Bahr, Silke Voigt, Anne Rheinberger, Sarah Schmickal, Silvia Rheinberger, Markus Greule, Stefan Rheinberger, Oliver Friedrich |
| Summary: | The long-term global cooling of the Late Cretaceous was interrupted by an intense warming period at ~69 Ma known as the mid-Maastrichtian event. The underlying mechanisms of this climatic event and associated change in the global carbon cycle are, however, strongly debated, including a possible major reorganization of deep-ocean circulation patterns. How this reorganization co-varied with climate shifts and global carbon cycling is not known, mainly due to the lack of high-resolution studies. Here, we present new high-resolution stable isotope, Mg/Ca-derived bottom-water temperature, and CaCO3 wt% records from IODP Site U1403 (North Atlantic) to reconstruct the climatic and oceanographic processes associated with the mid-Maastrichtian event. We observe a very dynamic and vigorous deep-ocean circulation that is characterized by precession-paced fluctuations that are proposed to reflect the interplay of different bottom-water source regions. Our results further point towards Large Igneous Province volcanism as a trigger not only for the mid-Maastrichtian event but also for the observed change in deep-water circulation. A clear shift towards the dominance of Northern Component Water bathing the North Atlantic at around 68 Ma signals the end of low-latitude waters in the North Atlantic, a bottom-water source that characterized the Cretaceous oceans for tens of millions of years. |
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| Item Description: | Online veröffentlicht: 27. März 205 Gesehen am 15.10.2025 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2662-4435 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s43247-025-02219-y |