Evidence for Global Biogeochemical Changes During the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event

Abstract:

The global versus regional nature of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE; ~183 million years ago) has been heavily debated over the course of the last decade. Several lines of geochemical evidence support a significant perturbation to the carbon cycle and redox-sensitive elemental cycles across this interval. It is thought that these represent feedbacks to the emplacement of the Karoo-Ferrar large igneous province. These include: elevated atmospheric pCO₂, an enhanced greenhouse effect and hydrologic cycle leading to increased weathering rates, dissociation of biogenic methane clathrates, and widespread ocean anoxia. Despite evidence for these global phenomena, the overwhelming majority of stratigraphic successions studied are located in Europe. The global magnitude of these biogeochemical perturbations has been challenged, with some considering that this event was regional to Europe, and others suggesting that the carbon isotope excursion (CIE) itself is not a reliable stratigraphic marker. In order to test these competing hypotheses, we have generated a geochemical dataset to reconstruct paleoceanographic and paleoclimatological changes across the T-OAE from western North America.

The Toarcian strata in western Alberta consist primarily of organic-rich calcareous siltstones and shales. These deposits represent ideal sedimentary facies to reconstruct environmental changes through the use of geochemical proxy data, especially those that use redox-sensitive transition metals. Ammonite biostratigraphy suggests a nearly continuous sequence from the late Pliensbachian to middle Toarcian. The organic carbon isotopes show the prominent negative CIE interpreted to relate to the release of isotopically depleted carbon at the onset of the T-OAE. Pyrite sulfur weight percentages increase across the CIE and remain elevated, and iron speciation data suggest the development of anoxic conditions. Initial osmium isotope compositions become more radiogenic during the CIE, relative to the more unradiogenic values pre- and post-CIE. Taken together, these geochemical data from western North America support the hypothesis that many of the changes to biogeochemical cycles observed from European strata are in fact a global phenomenon.