Abstract
Carbon isotope and palynological analysis of the fine-grained organic carbon-rich lacustrine sediments that filled the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary-age Boltysh impact crater (Ukraine) preserve a uniquely complete and detailed record of a negative carbon isotope excursion in an expanded section of the early Danian that we estimate lasted as long as similar to 340 k.y. Palynological assemblages recovered through the excursion reflect the increasing dominance of thermophylic Normapolles species, indicating an increasingly warm and dry climate, while those recovered below and above the excursion reflect a cooler and wetter climate. The record of a transient warming event (hyperthermal) in the early Danian at Boltysh has strong similarities with the Dan-C2 hyperthermal event recorded in marine sediments in Tethys and the Atlantic Ocean, and suggests that there were profound environmental changes occurring on a global scale shortly after the K-Pg boundary.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 783-786 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Geology |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Early online date | 16 May 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2013 |
Bibliographical note
The drilling of the Boltysh crater was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant NE/D005043/1. We thank Paul Renne and three anonymous reviewers for constructive reviews that improved the manuscript. Kemp thanks the NERC for the award of an advanced fellowship. We thank Eugene Gurov for provoking our interest in the Boltysh impact crater, and Mr. Bratchuk and Mr. Panachenko of the Geologiska Drilling Company, Ukraine, for their help in recovering a high-quality, almost complete coreKeywords
- cretaceous-paleogene boundary
- paleocene-eocene boundary
- carbon reservoirs
- thermal maximum
- organic-matter
- time scales
- isotope
- impact
- basin
- end
