Palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic changes during the Campanian - mineralogical and geochemical approach

• Main Author: Chenot, Elise
• Other Authors: Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Jean-François Deconinck, Emmanuelle Pucéat
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: Campanian; Palaeoclimatology; Palaeoceanography; Geochemistry; Mineralogy; Campanien; Paléoclimatologie; Paléocéanographie; Géochimie; Minéralogie; [SDU.OTHER]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Other; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-02934582; https://theses.hal.science/tel-02934582/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-02934582/file/78747_CHENOT_2018_archivage.pdf

The origin of the Late Cretaceous (~100 – 65 Ma) global cooling is not yet well understood. The evolution of sea surface and bottom temperatures shows an acceleration of the cooling during the Campanian stage (~84 Ma). The main goal of this study was to explore the processes driving this cooling, focusing on Campanian sediments from the Tethyan, Boreal and Atlantic realms.The clay mineralogical assemblages of several (hemi)pelagic sites, selected along a S-N transect, from 5° to 45°N, reveal an increase in continental weathering during the Campanian, expressed by enhanced kaolinite inputs. The detrital input related to the uplift of new continental areas seems to evolve from south to north. This propagation is likely linked to the anticlockwise rotation of the African plate and the progressive closure to the Tethys Ocean. Enhanced continental weathering seems also linked to more hydrolysing conditions in the studied regions, resulting in bauxite development.The Campanian stage was characterised by major palaeogeographic changes, such as the widening of south and north Atlantic oceans and the closure of the Tethyan realm. The motion of continental plates is likely responsible for a major reorganization of the oceanic currents. During the Late Cretaceous, the so called “Tethyan Circumglobal Current” (TCC) current flows latitudinally through the Tethyan Ocean to the Caribbean gateway, from east to west, and seems to intensify during the Campanian stage. Thus, we tried to reconstruct the evolution of the deep oceanic circulation within the TCC pathway during the Late Cretaceous, based on a geochemical approach using the neodymium (Nd) isotopes. The evolution of ɛNd of local bottom water of three (hemi)pelagic sites located on the possible pathway of this current has been analysed on the carbonate fraction of the sediments : the Shahneshin section located at the main entrance of the Tethyan passage (Zagros basin, Iran), the Gubbio – la Bottaccione section located at the centre of the Tethys (Umbria – Marche basin, ...