Investigating Carbonate System Perturbations across the Cretaceous-Palaeogene Transition using Boron Isotopes in Planktonic Foraminifera.

Abstract:

The interval spanning the latest Maastrichtian to the early Palaeocene has great potential in helping to elucidate the stabilising mechanisms on the Earth’s carbonate system on both long and very short geological timescales, from the geologically-instantaneous production of sulphate-rich aerosols and nitrogen oxides from the K-Pg bolide impact to the relatively more gradual degassing from Deccan volcanism in the latest Maastrichtian. The extent to which ocean pH (and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations) changed in response to these contrasting acidification pressures, and the timescales of their recovery, may provide unique insight into the efficiency of the Earth’s oceans in buffering greenhouse gas increases (through carbonate dissolution, weathering-derived alkalinity flux, and biological carbon cycling). The boron isotope palaeo-pH proxy in planktic foraminifera is well suited to such investigations, but its application over this interval has been problematic, not least due to a scarcity of sample material and a near-complete turnover of planktonic foraminiferal species across the K-Pg boundary. To attempt to circumvent these issues, we investigate the biological influences on boron isotope signals in Maastrichtian and Danian planktonic foraminifera, with the goal of producing more accurate palaeo-pH reconstructions. With these findings in mind, we present preliminary constraints on ocean pH and carbonate system dynamics across this critical interval of geological time.