Geology, Published Online on 30 June 2014 As Doi:10.1130/G35673.1
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Geology, published online on 30 June 2014 as doi:10.1130/G35673.1 Geology Orogeny forced terrestrial climate variation during the late Eocene−early Oligocene in Europe László Kocsis, Péter Ozsvárt, Damien Becker, Reinhard Ziegler, Laureline Scherler and Vlad Codrea Geology published online 30 June 2014; doi: 10.1130/G35673.1 Email alerting services click www.gsapubs.org/cgi/alerts to receive free e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article Subscribe click www.gsapubs.org/subscriptions/ to subscribe to Geology Permission request click http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/copyrt.htm#gsa to contact GSA Copyright not claimed on content prepared wholly by U.S. government employees within scope of their employment. 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Citations to Advance online articles must include the digital object identifier (DOIs) and date of initial publication. © Geological Society of America Geology, published online on 30 June 2014 as doi:10.1130/G35673.1 Orogeny forced terrestrial climate variation during the late Eocene– early Oligocene in Europe László Kocsis1, Péter Ozsvárt2, Damien Becker 3,5, Reinhard Ziegler4, Laureline Scherler5, and Vlad Codrea6 1Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, UNIL-Geopolis, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland 2MTA-MTM-ELTE Research Group for Paleontology, PO Box-137, 1431 Budapest, Hungary 3Jurassica Muséum, Route de Fontenais 21, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland 4Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany 5Paléontologie A16, Office de la Culture, République et Canton du Jura, Hôtel des Halles, 2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland 6Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, 1, Kogalniceanu Strasse 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania ABSTRACT characteristics render enamel the most resistant Terrestrial climatic data reflect variable and often conflicting responses to the global bioapatite archive to late diagenetic and bacterial cooling event at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (ca. 34 Ma). Stable isotopic compositions alteration. It is therefore the most suitable ma- of the tooth enamel of large, water-dependent, herbivorous terrestrial mammals are inves- terial to obtain an in vivo isotopic signal (e.g., tigated here to better understand the European continental climate during the late Eocene– Kohn and Cerling, 2002). The oxygen isotopic early Oligocene. High 18O and 13C values reflect a semiarid climate and ecosystem in the composition of teeth and bones of water-depen- d PO4 d late Eocene. In the west-southwest region of Europe, these conditions prevailed until at least dent herbivorous animals strongly depends on 33 Ma, after which it became more humid. A similar change was recorded north of the Alpine the isotopic composition of drinking water (e.g., 18 thrust, but it occurred 2 m.y. earlier. The north and west-southwest regions show a significant local meteoric water: d OMW and/or other water offset in 18O composition between 35 and 31 Ma, indicating the influence of different air sources) (Luz et al., 1984; Kohn and Cerling, d PO4 trajectories with different moisture sources (Atlantic versus Tethys). This also marks the pres- 2002) and correlates weakly with relative humid- 18 ence of an orographic height in central Europe from the latest Eocene. After 31 Ma, a large ity (e.g., Kohn, 1996). The d OMW reflects the drop in 18O is registered, explained by altitude-induced fractionation on meteoric water isotopic composition of the moisture source and d PO4 isotopic composition. The related paleoaltitude change is estimated to be 1200 m, and the alteration during transport (e.g., latitude, altitude, uplift could have taken place along the Alpine-Dinaridic orogenic system. continental effect, amount of precipitation), but it also shows significant correlation with mean INTRODUCTION Grimes et al., 2005; Zanazzi et al., 2007; Hren annual temperature (MAT) at middle and high The early Cenozoic climate has been inten- et al., 2013). We investigated the stable isotopic latitudes (e.g., Fricke and O’Neil, 1999). The sively studied, and compilations of paleoclimatic compositions of tooth enamel of large ground- carbon isotopic composition of the teeth reflects data have revealed that Earth’s climate changed dwelling herbivorous mammals from Eocene and the diet of the animals (Kohn and Cerling, 2002) dramatically during this era (Zachos et al., 2001). Oligocene localities. A major Eocene–Oligocene and in herbivores indirectly reflects the composi- In the Paleogene, the warm greenhouse world faunal turnover that corresponds to the extinc- tion of the paleoflora. In the Eocene–Oligocene, gradually changed to icehouse conditions, with tion and origination event called the “Grande the paleoflora was dominated by 3C plants, as the permanent ice sheets on Antarctica. The major Coupure” is recorded in Europe (Stehlin, 1909). C4 photosynthetic carbon fixation was not yet shift between the two climate modes is placed at Many endemic European Eocene mammals be- widespread (e.g., Kohn, 2010). Therefore, any 13 the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT, 34 Ma), came extinct (e.g., Lophiodontidae) and gave variation in the d C of C3 plants can be linked to when rapid step-wise shifts toward higher d18O way to new Asian immigrant groups (e.g., Rhino- environmental changes (e.g., water stress, arid- values occurred in the marine oxygen isotopic re- cerotidae) (Hooker et al., 2004). ity, canopy effect; Farquhar et al., 1989). cord (Katz et al., 2008). The terrestrial responses Mammalian tooth enamel is composed to this climatic change show strong spatial het- of bioapatite [Ca5(PO4, CO3)3(CO3, OH)] with METHODS AND RESULTS erogeneity, and the implications of the reported greater crystal size and lower organic and car- We studied fossils from 24 localities across paleoclimatic records are often debated (e.g., bonate contents than bone or dentine. These Europe’s middle latitudes (40º–50ºN; Fig. 1) Figure 1. Study fossil sites in Europe. 1—Csordakút; 2— Mormont: Eclépens-A and Station (Mammal Paleogene Reference Level MP16) and Eclépens-C and Entreroche (MP19); 3—St. Mamert du Gard; 4—Euzet-les-Bains; 5—La Débruge; 6—Gösgen-Canal; 7—Radaia; 8—Bu- dapest-MTM; 9—Liptingen 5 and 13A; 10—Neuhausen; 11—Mähringen; 12—Frohnstetten; 13—Monteviale; 14— Ronzon; 15—Möhren-13 (MP21) and Möhren-19 (MP22); 16—Cluj (MP22 and MP23–24); 17—Villebramar; 18— Kleinblauen; 19—Budapest-A (MP23+) and Budapest-B (MP23–24); 20—Aghires; 21—Csákberény; 22—Poillat; 23—Tatabánya; 24—Bumbach. Details in Tables DR1 and DR2 (see footnote 1). The map is derived from the Na- tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database (http://www.noaa.gov/). Rectangles indicate re- gions referred in the text as (a) west-southwest, (b) north, and (c) east-southeast. Note that among the eastern sites, some had a rather southern position during the late Eocene (cf. Fig. 3). GEOLOGY, August 2014; v. 42; no. 8; p. 1–4; Data Repository item 2014270 | doi:10.1130/G35673.1 | Published online XX Month 2014 GEOLOGY© 2014 Geological | August Society 2014 of | America.www.gsapubs.org For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or [email protected]. 1 Geology, published online on 30 June 2014 as doi:10.1130/G35673.1 covering a biostratigraphic range from MP15 ate [CO 2– → d13C and d18O ]. Sampling tech- little role in the isotope variances, and there is 3 CO3 to MP25 (European Mammal Paleogene Refer- niques, processing protocols of the teeth, and no obvious pattern between the two orders (Ta- ence Levels). These levels are used for our age data are reported in the Data Repository, and the ble DR3; Fig. 2C). In contrast, few subgroups model according to the geological time scale d18O and d13C values are plotted in Figure 2. (from species to families) yielded significant PO4 of Gradstein et al. (2012). Sites with well-con- The strong correlation between the two oxygen offsets; however, it is difficult to resolve whether 2– 3– 2 strained MP ages and available fauna were sam- isotopic compositions (CO3 versus PO4 ; R = these truly reflect different water dependencies pled, together with localities recording sporadic 0.78; p < 0.05) supports good preservation of or are simply due to mixed fauna assemblages occurrences of mammals, in order to expand our the tooth enamel with no considerable alteration (i.e., seasonal migration). However, if the aver- data set in both time and space (Fig. 2; see the of their isotopic compositions (see Fig. DR1). age isotopic compositions are taken for all the GSA Data Repository1 and Table DR1 therein). localities, a clear geographical variation ap- Tooth enamel was sampled along the vertical Testing Physiological and Habitat Effects pears (Fig. 2D). The interpretation here is that axis to average any possible seasonal variation The physiological controls on oxygen iso- the environmental factors had more important that can be recorded in a single tooth.