Volcanism and carbon cycle perturbations in the High Arctic during the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous

Madeleine L. Vickers, Mads E. Jelby, Kasia K. Śliwińska, Lawrence M.E. Percival, Feiyue Wang, Hamed Sanei, Gregory D. Price, Clemens V. Ullmann, Stephen E. Grasby, Lutz Reinhardt, Tamsin A. Mather, Joost Frieling, Christoph Korte, Rhodri M. Jerrett, Morgan T. Jones, Ivar Midtkandal, Jennifer M. Galloway

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Large perturbations in the global carbon cycle recorded as carbon-isotope (δ13C) excursions (CIEs) in both organic carbon and carbonate records have been linked to volcanism during the emplacement of Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs). This link is based primarily on the purported temporal coincidence between CIEs and LIP emplacement. Mercury (Hg) concentration in sedimentary rocks has been used as a regional to global tracer of large-scale volcanic activity, yet few studies have been undertaken on Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sediments from Boreal localities compared to those for Tethyan (northern mid-latitude) successions. This has limited our understanding of the regional-to-global spatial impact of volcanic activity during this period. This study examines the Hg record as a proxy for volcanism, and the δ13C records from organic matter (δ13Corg) of CIEs from the uppermost Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous (Callovian – Aptian) successions from Axel Heiberg and Spitsbergen in the Canadian Arctic and Svalbard archipelagos, respectively. This interval includes three regional- to global CIEs. These sections show no significant variation in the ratio of Hg to total organic carbon (TOC) across the Boreal-wide Volgian negative CIE (Volgian Isotopic Carbon Excursion, “VOICE”), which has not been associated with LIP volcanism. The examined successions spanning this interval all show some influence from changing environmental or post-burial parameters, however, which could have (partially) overprinted a volcanic signal. Despite some problems in stratigraphically constraining the Weissert Event, increased Hg/TOC ratios are observed across this interval, which may be partially driven by volcanism associated with the emplacement of the Paraná-Etendeka Traps. A spike in Hg/TOC is observed immediately prior to the negative peak of the Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE1a) CIE, supporting recent evidence of a pulse of High Arctic Large Igneous Province (HALIP) volcanic activity preceding this oceanic anoxic event.
Original languageEnglish
Article number111412
JournalPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Volume613
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2023
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Funding for fieldwork for this study was provided by a Ph.D. scholarship from the University of Plymouth, U.K. with additional funding to MLV for field campaigns to sample the Lower Cretaceous of Festningen from the Geological Society, London, UK (Gloyne Outdoor Geological Research fund, 2014); to MLV, MEJ and IM from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration grant number CP-038R-17; and to MLV from The British Sedimentological Research Group Gill Harwood Memorial Fund (2015), and an American Association of Petroleum Geologists grant-in-aid (William E. Gipson Named Grant, 2015). We kindly thank Trude Hohle for invaluable field assistance for MLV, MEJ and KKS in the 2018 campaign at Kvalvågen, Spitsbergen, and Dr. Meriel FitzPatrick for field assistance during the 2014 field campaign. Field work to collect samples from the uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous portion of the Festningen section was supported by Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) [Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources] under the Circum-Arctic Structural Events (CASE) program in 2015 (lead Dr. Karsten Piepjohn). Collections were made by JMG with assistance from SG and LR. Canadian field work was supported by the GeoMapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) Program (Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada) with funding to JMG. Collections were made by JMG with support from Dr. Lisa Neville (GSC Calgary), Kyle Sulphur (GSC Calgary), and Pilipoosie Iqaluk (Hamlet of Resolute Bay, NU) in 2015. Dr. Keith Dewing is thanked for HALIP project activity management. Logsitics support for this work was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Program (NRCan) and UHL Helicopters (Pilot Lorne Pike). We are grateful for the staff of the Environment and Climate Change Canada Eureka Weather Station and, in particular, Station Manager André Beauchard, where the work was staged from. Mercury, elemental, and sequential pyrolysis of the samples from the uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous portions of the Festningen section were funded by a AIAS-COFUND II fellowship programme supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions under the European Commission's Horizon 2020 (grant agreement no. 754513) and the Aarhus University Research Foundation to JMG (2019-2020). This grant also financially supported Hg analysis of the Kvalvågen section. Data cited from Galloway et al. 2020 are acknowledged therein. Funding was also provided for this study by the European Commission, Horizon 2020 (ICECAP; grant no. 101024218, to MLV), and from the Research Council of Norway through the Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project number 223272. Further funding was provided by the Danish Council for Independent Research–Natural Sciences (project DFF-7014-00142), to CK.; the Canada Research Chairs program to FW. Mercury analyses at the University of Oxford were supported by the Leverhulme Trust and Natural Environment Research Council Grant NE/G01700X/1 and ERC consolidator Grant (ERC-2018-COG-818717-V-ECHO) (to TAM) and PhD studentship NE/L501530/1 (to LMEP), with geochemical standard material provided by John Farmer and the University of Edinburgh. We thank Andrew Kingston for an internal GSC review. This contribution represents NRCan contribution number / Numéro de contribution de RNCan: 20220228. We would like to thank Kim Senger and one anonymous reviewer for their constructive feedback. Funding for fieldwork for this study was provided by a Ph.D. scholarship from the University of Plymouth, U.K. with additional funding to MLV for field campaigns to sample the Lower Cretaceous of Festningen from the Geological Society, London, UK (Gloyne Outdoor Geological Research fund, 2014); to MLV, MEJ and IM from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration grant number CP-038R-17; and to MLV from The British Sedimentological Research Group Gill Harwood Memorial Fund (2015), and an American Association of Petroleum Geologists grant-in-aid (William E. Gipson Named Grant, 2015). We kindly thank Trude Hohle for invaluable field assistance for MLV, MEJ and KKS in the 2018 campaign at Kvalvågen, Spitsbergen, and Dr. Meriel FitzPatrick for field assistance during the 2014 field campaign. Field work to collect samples from the uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous portion of the Festningen section was supported by Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) [Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources] under the Circum-Arctic Structural Events (CASE) program in 2015 (lead Dr. Karsten Piepjohn). Collections were made by JMG with assistance from SG and LR. Canadian field work was supported by the GeoMapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) Program ( Natural Resources Canada , Geological Survey of Canada) with funding to JMG. Collections were made by JMG with support from Dr. Lisa Neville (GSC Calgary), Kyle Sulphur (GSC Calgary), and Pilipoosie Iqaluk (Hamlet of Resolute Bay, NU) in 2015. Dr. Keith Dewing is thanked for HALIP project activity management. Logsitics support for this work was provided by the Polar Continental Shelf Program (NRCan) and UHL Helicopters (Pilot Lorne Pike). We are grateful for the staff of the Environment and Climate Change Canada Eureka Weather Station and, in particular, Station Manager André Beauchard, where the work was staged from. Mercury, elemental, and sequential pyrolysis of the samples from the uppermost Jurassic-lowermost Cretaceous portions of the Festningen section were funded by a AIAS-COFUND II fellowship programme supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions under the European Commission's Horizon 2020 (grant agreement no. 754513 ) and the Aarhus University Research Foundation to JMG (2019-2020). This grant also financially supported Hg analysis of the Kvalvågen section. Data cited from Galloway et al., 2020 are acknowledged therein. Funding was also provided for this study by the European Commission, Horizon 2020 (ICECAP; grant no. 101024218 , to MLV), and from the Research Council of Norway through the Centres of Excellence funding scheme, project number 223272. Further funding was provided by the Danish Council for Independent Research–Natural Sciences (project DFF-7014-00142 ), to CK.; the Canada Research Chairs program to FW. Mercury analyses at the University of Oxford were supported by the Leverhulme Trust and Natural Environment Research Council Grant NE/G01700X/1 and ERC consolidator Grant ( ERC-2018-COG-818717-V-ECHO ) (to TAM) and PhD studentship NE/L501530/1 (to LMEP), with geochemical standard material provided by John Farmer and the University of Edinburgh . We thank Andrew Kingston for an internal GSC review. This contribution represents NRCan contribution number / Numéro de contribution de RNCan: 20220228. We would like to thank Kim Senger and one anonymous reviewer for their constructive feedback.

FundersFunder number
British Sedimentological Research Group Gill Harwood Memorial Fund
Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe
Circum-Arctic Structural Events
Environment and Climate Change Canada Eureka Weather Station
European Commission's Horizon 2020754513
European Commission, Horizon 2020101024218
GeoMapping for Energy and Minerals
Geological Survey of Canada
National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and ExplorationCP-038R-17
Geological Society of London
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Natural Resources Canada
Natural Environment Research CouncilNE/G01700X/1, ERC-2018-COG-818717-V-ECHO
Leverhulme Trust
University of Edinburgh20220228
Canada Research Chairs
Plymouth University
Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond
Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond
Norges forskningsråd223272
Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems, National Institutes of Natural SciencesDFF-7014-00142

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