Description: Until now, the duration of the Frasnian Stage has remained very poorly constrained, hampering a detailed understanding of sedimentation processes and environmental and evolutionary change. In this study, time-series analyses of high-resolution (10–20 k.y.) magnetic susceptibility data identify sixteen 405 k.y. eccentricity cycles in the magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy of the Frasnian (Late Devonian), derived from carbonate-platform and surrounding slope and basin deposits in western Alberta, Canada. Previous studies demonstrated the generally consistent pattern of magnetic susceptibility change across the Alberta basin and thus demonstrated the utility of magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy as a refined regional correlation tool compared to biostratigraphy. In the present study, we show that the magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy of the Frasnian interval in western Alberta has been significantly influenced by astronomical forcing. Using the sixteen 405 k.y. eccentricity cycles as a geochronometer, we constructed a Frasnian astronomical time scale. This time scale indicates a duration of 6.5 ± 0.4 m.y. for the Frasnian. Calibrating this duration to the best available Devonian chronology, the absolute age of the Givetian-Frasnian boundary is recalculated to 383.6 ± 3.0 Ma, and the age of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary is recalculated to 376.7 ± 3.0 Ma. These new absolute ages take into account the astronomically derived duration of the Frasnian, but they also yield a narrowing of the error margins of the absolute ages by several hundreds of thousands of years.

Description: This file contains benthic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotopes for IODP Expedition 356 Site U1463. The data were used to construct the age model for the site for the Plio-Pleistocene. Therefore the file also contains depth within core section, and at CSF-A and CCSF (= composite mcd) scales, and the ages for the respective samples.

Description: The Late Devonian envelops one of Earth's big five mass extinction events at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary (374 Ma). Environmental change across the extinction severely affected Devonian reef-builders, besides many other forms of marine life. Yet, cause-and-effect chains leading to the extinction remain poorly constrained as Late Devonian stratigraphy is poorly resolved, compared to younger cataclysmic intervals. In this study we present a global orbitally calibrated chronology across this momentous interval, applying cyclostratigraphic techniques. Our timescale stipulates that 600 kyr separate the lower and upper Kellwasser positive d13C excursions. The latter excursion is paced by obliquity and is therein similar to Mesozoic intervals of environmental upheaval, like the Cretaceous Ocean-Anoxic-Event-2 (OAE-2). This obliquity signature implies coincidence with a minimum of the 2.4 Myr eccentricity cycle, during which obliquity prevails over precession, and highlights the decisive role of astronomically forced "Milankovitch" climate change in timing and pacing the Late Devonian mass extinction.

Description: North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) currently redistributes heat and salt between Earth's ocean basins, and plays a vital role in the ocean-atmosphere CO2 exchange. Despite its crucial role in today's climate system, vigorous debate remains as to when deep-water formation in the North Atlantic started. Here, we present datasets from carbonate-rich middle Eocene sediments from the Newfoundland Ridge, revealing a unique archive of paleoceanographic change from the progressively cooling climate of the middle Eocene. Well-defined lithologic alternations between calcareous ooze and clay-rich intervals occur at the ~41-kyr beat of axial obliquity. Hence, we identify obliquity as the driver of middle Eocene (43.5-46 Ma) Northern Component Water (NCW, the predecessor of modern NADW) variability. High-resolution benthic foraminiferal d18O and d13C suggest that obliquity minima correspond to cold, nutrient-depleted, western North Atlantic deep waters. We thus link stronger NCW formation with obliquity minima. In contrast, during obliquity maxima, Deep Western Boundary Currents were weaker and warmer, while abyssal nutrients were more abundant. These aspects reflect a more sluggish NCW formation. This obliquity-paced paleoceanographic regime is in excellent agreement with results from an Earth system model, in which obliquity minima configurations enhance NCW formation.

Description: Here we publish simulated early-middle Eocene annual mean ocean temperature, salinity, density, mixed layer depth and current velocities (at the depth of ~1500 m) with different gateways configurations in the North Atlantic region. The details of original paleogeography, compiled by GETECH, are provided in Vahlenkamp et al. [2018, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.016]. The CO2 level is set to 840 ppm, while the obliquity to a minimum value. All data are averaged over the period of 100 years. All simulations were run with COSMOS (ECHAM5/MPIOM/OASIS3). The atmosphere component ECHAM5 was run in the resolution of T31/L19, while the ocean model MPIOM has a formal resolution of ~3.0°x1.8°. OASIS3 is a coupler between the atmosphere and ocean components. The gateway alterations with respect to original paleogeography include an opening of the Arctic and Tethyan Seaways, as well as changing the depth of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge to 50 m and 200 m [Vahlenkamp et al., 2018, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.06.031]. We publish also one experiment with higher, 1000 ppm CO2 level. In order to compare our simulated temperatures with the data, we have collected 30 Eocene temperature reconstructions from literature. We compared these reconstructions with the zonal surface air temperatures as well as zonal surface ocean temperatures (annual, boreal winter and summer) from our base simulation. All data used are provided in this dataset.

Description: Recent advances in radiometric dating result in significant improvements in the geological timescale and provide better insight into the timing of various processes and evolutions within the Earth's system. However, no radiometric ages are contained within the Givetian. Consequently, the absolute ages of the Givetian Stage boundaries, as well as the stage's duration, remain poorly constrained. As an alternative, the analysis of sedimentary cycles allows for the estimation of the duration of this stage. We examined the high-resolution magnetic susceptibility signals of four Givetian outcrops in the Givet area for a possible astronomical imprint, to fully understand the rates of evolutionary and environmental change. All four sections are firmly correlated and wavelet analyses of the magnetic susceptibility signals reveal the imprint of astronomical eccentricity forcing. The highly stable 405 kyr cycles constrain the duration of the Givetian Stage at 4.35±0.45 Myr, which is in good agreement with the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (5.0 Myr). The studied sections also exhibit an imprint of obliquity, suggesting a climatic teleconnection between low and high latitudes. The corresponding microfacies curves demonstrate similar astronomical imprint, and thereby indicate that the observed 10**5 year-scale cyclicity is the result of climatic and environmental change.

Description: We studied a high-resolution multiproxy data set, including magnetic susceptibility (MS), CaCO3 content, and stable isotopes (d18O and d13C), from the stratigraphic interval covering the uppermost Maastrichtian and the lower Danian, represented by the pelagic limestones of the Scaglia Rossa Formation continuously exposed in the classic sections of the Bottaccione Gorge and the Contessa Highway near Gubbio, Italy. Variations in all the proxy series are periodic and reflect astronomically forced climate changes (i.e., Milankovitch cycles). In particular, the MS proxy reflects variations in the terrigenous dust input in this pelagic, deep-marine environment. We speculate that the dust is mainly eolian in origin and that the availability and transport of dust are influenced by variations in the vegetation cover on the Maastrichtian-Paleocene African or Asian zone, which were respectively located at tropical to subtropical latitudes to the south or far to the east of the western Tethyan Umbria-Marche Basin, and were characterized by monsoonal circulation. The dynamics of monsoonal circulation are known to be strongly dependent on precession-driven and obliquity-driven changes in insolation. We propose that a threshold mechanism in the vegetation coverage may explain eccentricity-related periodicities in the terrigenous eolian dust input. Other mechanisms, both oceanic and terrestrial, that depend on the precession amplitude modulated by eccentricity, can be evoked together with the variation of dust influx in the western Tethys to explain the detected eccentricity periodicity in the d13C record. Our interpretations of the d18O and MS records suggest a warming event ~400 k.y. prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, and a period of climatic and environmental instability in the earliest Danian. Based on these multiproxy phase relationships, we propose an astronomical tuning for these sections; this leads us to an estimate of the timing and duration of several late Maastrichtian and Danian biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events.

Description: Pre-Quaternary paleoclimate studies in Australia mainly focus on terrestrial records from the southeastern part of the continent. IODP Expedition 356 drilled on the northwestern Australian shelf, yielding Miocene-Pleistocene paleoclimate records in an area where climate archives are scarce. Post-expedition research revealed a dry-to–humid transition across the latest Miocene and early Pliocene (start of the “Humid Interval”). However, the complex tectonic history of the area makes these interpretations challenging. Here, we investigate late Miocene to early Pliocene sediment cores from two sites that are only 100 km apart, but situated in two adjacent basins (Northern Carnarvon and Roebuck Basins). Combining lithofacies study, time-series analysis of NGR potassium content (K wt%), calcareous nannofossil abundance counts (N/g) and accumulation rates (N/cm2/kyr), as well as benthic foraminifera δ¹⁸O, this work disentangles the complex interplay between basin evolution and climate change between 6.1-4 million years ago (Ma).