Evolution of neodymium isotopic signature of seawater during the Late Cretaceous: implications for intermediate and deep circulation.
20 pages International audience Neodymium isotopic compositions (εNd) have been largely used for the last fifty years as a tracer of past ocean circulation, and more intensively during the last decade to investigate ocean circulation during the Cretaceous period. Despite a growing set of data, circu...
Published in: | Gondwana Research |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2016
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356761 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356761/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356761/file/37502_1.pdf https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2015.08.005 |
Summary: | 20 pages International audience Neodymium isotopic compositions (εNd) have been largely used for the last fifty years as a tracer of past ocean circulation, and more intensively during the last decade to investigate ocean circulation during the Cretaceous period. Despite a growing set of data, circulation patterns still remain unclear during this period. In particular, the identification of the deep-water masses and their spatial extension within the different oceanic basins are poorly constrained. In this study we present new deep-water εNd data inferred from the Nd isotope composition of fish remains and Fe–Mn oxyhydroxide coatings on foraminifera tests, along with new εNd data of residual (partly detrital) fraction recovered from DSDP Sites 152 (Nicaraguan Rise), 258 (Naturaliste Plateau), 323 (Bellinghausen Abyssal Plain), and ODP Sites 690 (Maud Rise) and 700 (East Georgia Basin, South Atlantic). The presence of abundant authigenic minerals in the sediments at Sites 152 and 690 detected by XRD analyses may explain both middle rare earth element enrichments in the spectra of the residual fraction and the evolution of residual fraction εNd that mirror that of the bottom waters at the two sites. The results point towards a close correspondence between the bottom water εNd values of Sites 258 and 700 from the late Turonian to the Santonian. Since the deep-water Nd isotope values at these two sites are also similar to those at other proto-Indian sites, we propose the existence of a common intermediate to deep-water mass as early as the mid-Cretaceous. The water mass would have extended from the central part of the South Atlantic to the eastern part of proto-Indian ocean sites, beyond the Kerguelen Plateau. Furthermore, data from south and north of the Rio Grande Rise–Walvis Ridge complex (Sites 700 and 530) are indistinguishable from the Turonian to Campanian, suggesting a common water mass since the Turonian at least. This view is supported by a reconstruction of the Rio Grande Rise–Walvis Ridge complex ... |
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