The Eocene Arctic Azolla Bloom: Environmental Conditions, Productivity and Carbon Drawdown
Geobiology (2009), 7, 155–170 DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2009.00195.x TheBlackwell Publishing Ltd Eocene Arctic Azolla bloom: environmental conditions, productivity and carbon drawdown E. N. SPEELMAN,1 M. M. L. VAN KEMPEN,2 J. BARKE,3 H. BRINKHUIS,3 G. J. REICHART,1 A. J. P. SMOLDERS,2 J. G. M. ROELOFS,2 F. SANGIORGI,3 J. W. DE LEEUW,1,3,4 A. F. LOTTER3 AND J. S. SINNINGHE DAMSTÉ1,4 1Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands 2Department of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 3Institute of Environmental Biology, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands 4NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands ABSTRACT Enormous quantities of the free-floating freshwater fern Azolla grew and reproduced in situ in the Arctic Ocean during the middle Eocene, as was demonstrated by microscopic analysis of microlaminated sediments recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 302. The timing of the Azolla phase (~48.5 Ma) coincides with the earliest signs of onset of the transition from a greenhouse towards the modern icehouse Earth. The sustained growth of Azolla, currently ranking among the fastest growing plants on Earth, in a major anoxic oceanic basin may have contributed to decreasing atmospheric pCO2 levels via burial of Azolla-derived organic matter. The consequences of these enormous Azolla blooms for regional and global nutrient and carbon cycles are still largely unknown.
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