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| Arctic Paleogene | |
|---|---|
| Name | Arctic Paleogene |
| Period | Paleogene |
| Region | Arctic |
| Time span | Paleocene–Eocene |
| Notable formations | Beaufort Formation; Svalbard Group; Knipovich Formation; Hettangian? |
| Major events | Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum; Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 |
Arctic Paleogene The Arctic Paleogene was a Paleogene interval in the high-latitude Arctic Ocean region marked by dramatic climatic, tectonic, and biotic changes during the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. Sedimentary archives in the Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Chukchi Sea, Svalbard, Yukon Territory, Alaska, Nordic Seas, and Canadian Arctic Archipelago preserve signals of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2, and associated faunal turnovers documented by expeditions from institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, the Natural History Museum, London, and the United States Geological Survey. Research by scientists affiliated with University of Oslo, Uppsala University, University of Copenhagen, Geological Survey of Norway, Russian Academy of Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and University of British Columbia integrates biostratigraphy, isotope geochemistry, and seismic stratigraphy to reconstruct Arctic Paleogene environments.
The Arctic Paleogene encompasses sedimentary, paleontological, and geochemical records from regions including the Barents Sea Opening, North Greenland Rift Basin, Lomonosov Ridge, Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge, Yukon Basin, Mackenzie River Delta, and Kara Sea spanning the Danian, Selandian, Thanetian, Ypresian, Lutetian, and Bartonian stages. Key investigators such as J. M. Parham, Nigel Lloyd, Paul Pearson, Steven M. Bohaty, Philip D. Gingerich, and institutions including the Alfred Wegener Institute, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, and Norwegian Polar Institute have tied Arctic records to global events like the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum and the Eocene–Oligocene transition using correlative tools developed in studies of the North Sea Basin, Weddell Sea, and Mediterranean Basin.
Paleogeographic reconstructions place Arctic Paleogene depositional systems across the Eurasian Basin, Amerasian Basin, and marginal basins adjacent to Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia. Plate reconstructions informed by work at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Ocean Drilling Program, and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program show rifting along the Greenland–Iceland–Faeroe Ridge, movement of the North American Plate relative to the Eurasian Plate, and complex opening of the Nordic Seas documented in the Barents Shelf seismic grids used by Equinor and Statoil. Stratigraphic units such as the Tortonian? (note: please consult detailed stratigraphy), the Hordaland Group, and local formations like the Gubik Formation and Albian? successions record transitions from coastal progradation near the Mackenzie River to deepwater deposition along the Lomonosov Ridge influenced by shifts in gateways like the Fram Strait and Davis Strait.
Paleogene Arctic climate signals show extreme warmth during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum with oceanographic consequences captured in cores correlated with sites drilled during IODP Leg and ODP Leg 145 (see specific legs for Arctic). Studies by James Zachos, Michael Huber, Anjali Tripathi, Katrin Meissner, and Gabriel Bowen used oxygen isotope stratigraphy and climate model intercomparisons involving Community Earth System Model and HadCM3 to infer reduced equator-to-pole gradients, diminished sea-ice extent, and altered thermohaline circulation. Paleoceanographic proxies indicate episodes of stratification, high-latitude upwelling, and changes in nutrient cycling analogous to signals recorded in the Tethys Ocean and Pacific Ocean during contemporaneous warming events.
Fossil floras from Spitsbergen, Greenland, Ellesmere Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Banks Island, and the Beaufort Formation reveal mesothermal to megathermal vegetation dominated by taxa correlated with Laurasiatheria-age floras studied by Jack Wolfe and Georg W. Rothwell. Palynological assemblages analyzed by researchers at Utrecht University and the University of Michigan include angiosperm pollen linked to genera found in modern Southeast Asia and North America floras; macrofossils show broadleaf evergreen taxa, ginkgoids, and subtropical elements comparable to deposits in the Bighorn Basin and Williston Basin. Studies by William A. DiMichele and Steven R. Manchester document shifts in forest structure across the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum accompanied by changes in herbivore assemblages recorded in Arctic mammal localities.
Arctic Paleogene marine biota include benthic foraminifera, planktonic foraminifera, dinoflagellate cysts, ostracods, echinoderms, bivalves, gastropods, and early teleost fishes with faunal provinces comparable to contemporaneous assemblages from the North Atlantic, North Pacific, Southern Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. Work by A. W. H. Beu, B. S. Cramer, Mark P. Aubry, and John A. Van Couvering documents foraminiferal turnover across thermal events; paleontologists at the University of Kansas and Royal Ontario Museum have described Arctic cetacean precursors and pinniped occurrences tied to marine transgressions. Microfossil records from cores curated at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the Paleontological Research Institution provide high-resolution biostratigraphic frameworks used alongside magnetostratigraphy from Karolinska Institutet-collaborative studies.
Sedimentologic records in the Barents Shelf, Yukon Basin, Mackenzie Trough, and East Siberian Shelf show interplay between tectonic accommodation, meltwater discharge from high-latitude sources, and sediment supply governed by uplift episodes tied to processes studied by Peter A. Ziegler and Ken McClay. Seismic stratigraphy interpreted by geoscientists at Shell plc and TotalEnergies reveals prograding clinoforms, sequence boundaries, and contourite deposits correlated with basin evolution models developed by Lawrence S. Korn and Christopher R. Scotese. Hydrocarbon source-rock potential and organic-rich intervals have been investigated by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and Canadian Geological Survey with implications for petroleum systems analogous to those in the North Slope, Barents Sea Shelf and Norwegian Sea.
Proxy records include stable isotopes (δ18O, δ13C) from benthic and planktonic foraminifera, clumped isotopes, TEX86 paleothermometry, leaf physiognomy calibrated with methods pioneered by G. J. Retallack and Peter Wilf, and biomarker analyses such as GDGT distributions developed by Heather W. Schouten and Jaap Sinninghe Damsté. Analytical platforms at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, ETH Zurich, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography combine mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction to resolve short-lived excursions associated with the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum and to test hypotheses posed by modelers from NCAR and MPI-Met about Arctic heat transport, sea-ice dynamics, and feedbacks involving methane hydrate destabilization posited in studies linked to the Clathrate Gun Hypothesis.