Drilling disturbance and constraints on the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene boundary carbon isotope excursion in New Jersey

Pearson, Paul Nicholas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4628-9818 and Thomas, E. 2015. Drilling disturbance and constraints on the onset of the Paleocene/Eocene boundary carbon isotope excursion in New Jersey. Climate of the Past Discussions 10 (4) , pp. 3303-3325. 10.5194/cpd-10-3303-2014

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Abstract

The onset of the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and associated carbon isotope excursion (CIE; about 56 million years ago) was geologically abrupt but it is debated whether it took thousands of years or was effectively instantaneous. A significant new record of the onset of the CIE was published by Wright and Schaller (2013) who claimed that it could be resolved across 13 annual layers in a drill core through the Marlboro Clay at Millville, New Jersey (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 174X). Supporting evidence of similar layering was also reported from another New Jersey drill site, Wilson Lake B, and a photograph of the Marlboro Clay in outcrop. Such a short duration would imply an instantaneous perturbation of the atmosphere and surface ocean, and the impact of a comet or asteroid as the likely cause. However it was suggested by Pearson and Nicholas (2014) from the published photographs that the layers in the Marlboro Clay could be artifacts of drilling disturbance (so-called "biscuiting", wherein the formation is fractured into layers or "biscuits" and drilling mud is injected in between). Here we report new observations on the cores which support that interpretation, including concentric grooves on the surfaces of the biscuits caused by spinning in the bit, micro-fracturing at their edges, and injected drilling mud. We re-interpret the outcrop evidence as showing joints rather than sedimentary layers. We argue that foraminifer concentrations in the sediments are far too high for the layers to be annually deposited in turbid waters at depths of 40–70 m, indicating that the onset of the CIE in the Marlboro Clay likely took on the order of millennia, not years. Re-coring of Millville to minimize drilling disturbance and allow a higher resolution study of the carbon isotope excursion is highly desirable.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Copernicus Publications
ISSN:	1814-9359
Funders:	NERC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	30 July 2014
Last Modified:	07 May 2023 04:55
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/69513

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