Late Cretaceous seasonal ocean variability from the Arctic

• Published in: Nature (London) 2009-07, Vol.460 (7252), p.254-258
• Main Authors: Davies, Andrew, Pike, Jennifer, Kemp, Alan E. S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Arctic Regions; Bacillariophyceae; Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide - metabolism; Climate change; Cretaceous; Diatoms - metabolism; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Electron microscopes; Environmental aspects; Evolution; Exact sciences and technology; Fossils; Geologic Sediments - analysis; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Global warming; Greenhouse Effect; History, Ancient; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ice Cover - chemistry; letter; Low temperature; Marine Biology; multidisciplinary; Ocean temperature; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Oceans and Seas; Paleoclimate; Primary production; Sapropels; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sea ice; Seasons; Seawater; Sediments; Stratigraphy; Temperature; Upwelling; Water column
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature08141

The modern Arctic Ocean is regarded as a barometer of global change and amplifier of global warming and therefore records of past Arctic change are critical for palaeoclimate reconstruction. Little is known of the state of the Arctic Ocean in the greenhouse period of the Late Cretaceous epoch (65-99 million years ago), yet records from such times may yield important clues to Arctic Ocean behaviour in near-future warmer climates. Here we present a seasonally resolved Cretaceous sedimentary record from the Alpha ridge of the Arctic Ocean. This palaeo-sediment trap provides new insight into the workings of the Cretaceous marine biological carbon pump. Seasonal primary production was dominated by diatom algae but was not related to upwelling as was previously hypothesized. Rather, production occurred within a stratified water column, involving specially adapted species in blooms resembling those of the modern North Pacific subtropical gyre, or those indicated for the Mediterranean sapropels. With increased CO2 levels and warming currently driving increased stratification in the global ocean, this style of production that is adapted to stratification may become more widespread. Our evidence for seasonal diatom production and flux testify to an ice-free summer, but thin accumulations of terrigenous sediment within the diatom ooze are consistent with the presence of intermittent sea ice in the winter, supporting a wide body of evidence for low temperatures in the Late Cretaceous Arctic Ocean, rather than recent suggestions of a 15 °C mean annual temperature at this time.