Brief introduction to the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event.

Early Jurassic reconstruction (From Wikimedia Commons)

In Earth history there have been relatively brief intervals when a very significant expansion of low-oxygen regions occurred throughout the world’s oceans. In mid-1970s the discovery of black shales at many drill sites from the Atlantic, Indian, and the Pacific Ocean led to the recognition of widespread anoxic conditions in the global ocean spanning limited stratigraphic horizons. In 1976, Schlanger and Jenkyns termed these widespread depositional black shale intervals “Oceanic Anoxic Events” (Takashima et al, 2006). This was one of the greatest achievement of the DSDP (Deep Sea Drilling Project).

The Toarcian OAE, Weissert OAE, OAE 1a, and OAE 2 are global-scale anoxic events associated with prominent positive excursions of δ13C and worldwide distribution of black shales. Two models have been proposed to explain it: the stagnant ocean model (STO model) and the expanded oxygen-minimum layer model (OMZ model). Deep-water warming may have also contributed to a decrease in oxygen solubility in the deep ocean and may have triggered the dissociation of large volumes of methane hydrate buried in sediments of the continental margins.

Time scale [Gradstein et al., 2005] illustrating the stratigraphic position and nomenclature of OAEs (From Jenkyns, 2010).

In the Jurassic and Cretaceous oceans, the calcareous nannoplankton was the most efficient rock-forming group, for that reason the characterization of calcareous nannofloras in OAE intervals are used to improve our understanding of the marine ecosystem and biological processes such as photosynthesis (biological pump) and biomineralisation (carbonate pump) that affect the organic and inorganic carbon cycle, as well as adsorption of atmospheric CO2 in the oceans (Erba, 2013). Calcareous nannoplankton represent a major component of oceanic phytoplankton, ranging in size  from 0.25 to 30 μm. The first records are from the Late Triassic. Their calcareous skeletons can be found in fine-grained pelagic sediments in high concentrations and the biomineralization of coccoliths is a globally significant rock-forming process.

The early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event  (T-OAE; ∼183 mya) in the Jurassic Period is considered as one of the most severe of the Mesozoic era. It’s associated with a major negative carbon isotope excursion, mass extinction, marine transgression and global warming (Huang, 2014, Ullmann et al., 2014). The T-OAE has been extensively studied in the past three decades although there is no general consensus about the causes or triggering mechanisms behind this event. During the peak of the perturbation corresponding to this event, calcareous nannofossils collapsed.

 

Schizosphaerella punctulata (adapted from Clémence, 2014)

Schizosphaerella is a nannofossil of uncertain biological affinities with a large globular test with two interlocking sub-hemispherical valves formed from a geometric arrangement of equidimensional crystallites with an average value of 10.5 μm in the major axis. During the Early Jurassic, suffered a major drop in abundance, and a reduction in size. The average values drastically decrease down to 8.3 μm around the interval corresponding to the T-OAE. This event is know as ‘Schizosphaerellid crisis’, ‘calcareous nannofossil crisis’ or ‘disappearance event’ (Erba 2004, Clémence, 2014). Four main hypotheses have been proposed to account for the nannoplankton biocalcification crisis through the early Toarcian: (1) a strong stratification of the water column and the development of an oxygen-minimum zone; (2) the discharge of low salinity arctic waters through the Laurasian seaway; (3) high values in atmospheric pCO2; and (4) a rapid warming (Clémence, 2014).

Results from the Paris Bassin as in other localities indicates that the increasing greenhouse conditions may have caused acidification in the oceans, hampering carbonate bio-mineralisation, and provoking a dramatical loss in the CO2 storage capacity of the oceans. The CO2 induced changes in seawater chemistry likely affected the calcification potential of both neritic and pelagic systems, as evidenced by drops of platform-derived carbonate accumulation and drastic reductions in size of the main carbonate producer Schizosphaerella.

The better understanding of the Mesozoic ocean-climate system and the formation of OAEs would help us to predict environmental and biotic changes in a future greenhouse world.

References:

Marie-Emilie Clémence: Pattern and timing of the Early Jurassic calcareous nannofossil crisis.  Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2014/doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.06.022.

Elisabetta Erba, Calcareous nannofossils and Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events, Marine Micropaleontology 52 (2004) 85 – 106

Bown, P.R., Lees, J.A., Young, J.R., (2004), Calcareous nannoplankton evolution and diversity through time. In: Thierstein, H.R., Young, J.R. (Eds.), Coccolithophores From Molecular Processes to Global Impact. Springer, Amsterdan, pp. 481–508.

Jenkyns, H. C. (2010), Geochemistry of oceanic anoxic events, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 11, Q03004, doi:10.1029/2009GC002788.