Correlation of the Thanetian-Ilerdian turnover of larger foraminifera and the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: confirming evidence from the Campo area (Pyrenees, Spain)

V. PUJALTE; B. SCHMITZ; J.I. BACETA CABALLERO; X. ORUE-ECHEBARRÍA; G. BERNAOLA BILBAO; J. DINARÈS-TURELL; A. PAYROS AGIRRE; E. APELLANIZ INGUNZA; F. CABALLERO SANTAMARIA

doi:10.1344/105.000000276

Authors

V. PUJALTE Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
B. SCHMITZ Department of Geology, University of LundSölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden.
J.I. BACETA CABALLERO Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
X. ORUE-ECHEBARRÍA Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
G. BERNAOLA BILBAO Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
J. DINARÈS-TURELL stituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia. Via di Vigna Murata, 605, I-00143 Rome, Italy.
A. PAYROS AGIRRE Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
E. APELLANIZ INGUNZA Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
F. CABALLERO SANTAMARIA Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country. P.O. Box 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000276

Keywords:

PETM, Paleocene-Eocene boundary, Larger foraminifera, Isotopes, Campo section

Abstract

It has long been known that a major larger foraminifera turnover (LFT) occurred at the boundary between the Thanetian and Ilerdian stages, but its possible correlation with the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) was unsuspected until the work of Baceta (1996), and has been controversial ever since. After summarizing the history of this controversy, we present information from three new sections that conclusively resolve the issue, all of them placed less than 2 km to the east of the classical Campo section in the southern Pyrenees. In these three sections, an up to 7 meter-thick intercalation of continental deposits rich in pedogenic carbonate nodules is sandwiched between uppermost Thanetian and lowermost Ilerdian shallow marine carbonates. The d¹³C composition of 42 pedogenic nodules collected from two of these sections (San Martín and La Cinglera) ranges between –11.4 and -14.3‰ and averages –12.9‰, values that conclusively represent the PETM and for the first time are recorded in sections where the LFT is clearly represented. Further, a high-resolution lithological correlation between Campo and the three new sections across the P-E interval unquestionably demonstrates that the lowermost marine beds with autochthonous specimens of Alveolina vredenburgi (a tell-tale of the LFT) are laterally interfingered –and are therefore coeval- with the nodule-bearing PETM continental deposits. On the basis of the new evidence, the temporal coincidence of the PETM and the LFT can no longer be doubted.

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Correlation of the Thanetian-Ilerdian turnover of larger foraminifera and the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: confirming evidence from the Campo area (Pyrenees, Spain)

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