Clim. Past, 14, 725–749, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-725-2018 © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. An assessment of latest Cretaceous Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806) shells as records for palaeoseasonality: a multi-proxy investigation Niels J. de Winter1,*, Johan Vellekoop1,2,*, Robin Vorsselmans2, Asefeh Golreihan2, Jeroen Soete2, Sierra V. Petersen3, Kyle W. Meyer3, Silvio Casadio4, Robert P. Speijer2, and Philippe Claeys1 1Analytical, Environmental and Geo-Chemistry (AMGC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium 2Department of Earth and Environmental Science, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 4Escuela de Geología, Paleontología y Enseñanza de las Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, CONICET, General Roca, Argentina *These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence: Niels J. de Winter (
[email protected]) Received: 26 September 2017 – Discussion started: 11 October 2017 Revised: 4 April 2018 – Accepted: 21 May 2018 – Published: 8 June 2018 Abstract. In order to assess the potential of the honey- tiate between well-preserved and diagenetically altered por- comb oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis for the reconstruction tions of the shells and provides an improved methodology for of palaeoseasonality, several specimens recovered from late reconstructing palaeoenvironmental conditions in deep time. Maastrichtian strata in the Neuquén Basin (Argentina) were While establishing a chronology for these shells was compli- subject to a multi-proxy investigation, involving scanning cated by growth cessations and diagenesis, cyclicity in trace techniques and trace element and isotopic analysis. Com- elements and stable isotopes allowed for a tentative interpre- bined CT scanning and light microscopy reveals two cal- tation of the seasonal cycle in late Maastrichtian palaeoen- cite microstructures in P.