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Li M, Bralower TJ, Kump LR, Self-Trail JM, Zachos JC, Rush WD, Robinson MM. Astrochronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5618. [PMID: 36153313 PMCID: PMC9509358 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33390-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractThe chronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~56 Ma) remains disputed, hampering complete understanding of the possible trigger mechanisms of this event. Here we present an astrochronology for the PETM carbon isotope excursion from Howards Tract, Maryland a paleoshelf environment, on the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Statistical evaluation of variations in calcium content and magnetic susceptibility indicates astronomical forcing was involved and the PETM onset lasted about 6 kyr. The astrochronology and Earth system modeling suggest that the PETM onset occurred at an extreme in precession during a maximum in eccentricity, thus favoring high temperatures, indicating that astronomical forcing could have played a role in triggering the event. Ca content data on the paleo-shelf, along with other marine records, support the notion that a carbonate saturation overshoot followed global ocean acidification during the PETM.
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Kenny GG, Hyde WR, Storey M, Garde AA, Whitehouse MJ, Beck P, Johansson L, Søndergaard AS, Bjørk AA, MacGregor JA, Khan SA, Mouginot J, Johnson BC, Silber EA, Wielandt DKP, Kjær KH, Larsen NK. A Late Paleocene age for Greenland's Hiawatha impact structure. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm2434. [PMID: 35263140 PMCID: PMC8906741 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm2434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The ~31-km-wide Hiawatha structure, located beneath Hiawatha Glacier in northwestern Greenland, has been proposed as an impact structure that may have formed after the Pleistocene inception of the Greenland Ice Sheet. To date the structure, we conducted 40Ar/39Ar analyses on glaciofluvial sand and U-Pb analyses on zircon separated from glaciofluvial pebbles of impact melt rock, all sampled immediately downstream of Hiawatha Glacier. Unshocked zircon in the impact melt rocks dates to ~1915 million years (Ma), consistent with felsic intrusions found in local bedrock. The 40Ar/39Ar data indicate Late Paleocene resetting and shocked zircon dates to 57.99 ± 0.54 Ma, which we interpret as the impact age. Consequently, the Hiawatha impact structure far predates Pleistocene glaciation and is unrelated to either the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or flood basalt volcanism in east Greenland. However, it was contemporaneous with the Paleocene Carbon Isotope Maximum, although the impact's exact paleoenvironmental and climatic significance awaits further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin G. Kenny
- Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - William R. Hyde
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Michael Storey
- Quadlab, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Adam A. Garde
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Martin J. Whitehouse
- Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Pierre Beck
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Leif Johansson
- Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
| | - Anne Sofie Søndergaard
- Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Høegh Guldbergs Gade 2, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
- Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Anders A. Bjørk
- Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Joseph A. MacGregor
- Cryospheric Sciences Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
| | - Shfaqat A. Khan
- Department of Geodesy, National Space Institute, Technical University
| | - Jérémie Mouginot
- of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
| | - Brandon C. Johnson
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Elizabeth A. Silber
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Department of Earth Sciences, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Daniel K. P. Wielandt
- Quadlab, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Kurt H. Kjær
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
| | - Nicolaj K. Larsen
- Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
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Schmieder M, Kring DA. Earth's Impact Events Through Geologic Time: A List of Recommended Ages for Terrestrial Impact Structures and Deposits. ASTROBIOLOGY 2020; 20:91-141. [PMID: 31880475 PMCID: PMC6987741 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2019.2085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
This article presents a current (as of September 2019) list of recommended ages for proven terrestrial impact structures (n = 200) and deposits (n = 46) sourced from the primary literature. High-precision impact ages can be used to (1) reconstruct and quantify the impact flux in the inner Solar System and, in particular, the Earth-Moon system, thereby placing constraints on the delivery of extraterrestrial mass accreted on Earth through geologic time; (2) utilize impact ejecta as event markers in the stratigraphic record and to refine bio- and magneto-stratigraphy; (3) test models and hypotheses of synchronous double or multiple impact events in the terrestrial record; (4) assess the potential link between large impacts, mass extinctions, and diversification events in the biosphere; and (5) constrain the duration of melt sheet crystallization in large impact basins and the lifetime of hydrothermal systems in cooling impact craters, which may have served as habitats for microbial life on the early Earth and, possibly, Mars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Schmieder
- Lunar and Planetary Institute—USRA, Houston, Texas
- NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)
- Address correspondence to: Martin Schmieder, Lunar and Planetary Institute—USRA, 3600 Bay Area Blvd, Houston, TX 77058
| | - David A. Kring
- Lunar and Planetary Institute—USRA, Houston, Texas
- NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)
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Foster GL, Hull P, Lunt DJ, Zachos JC. Placing our current 'hyperthermal' in the context of rapid climate change in our geological past. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2018; 376:rsta.2017.0086. [PMID: 30177567 PMCID: PMC6127387 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
'…there are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.' Donald Rumsfeld 12th February 2002.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Hyperthermals: rapid and extreme global warming in our geological past'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin L Foster
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK
| | - Pincelli Hull
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
| | - Daniel J Lunt
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK
| | - James C Zachos
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
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