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Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes from brachiopods of southern England and northwestern Germany: estimation of Upper Turonian palaeotemperatures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2001

SILKE VOIGT
SILKE VOIGT
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 49a, D-50674 Cologne, Germany
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Abstract

More than 190 articulate brachiopods from Turonian sections in northwestern Germany and southern England were studied for their stable carbon and oxygen isotopic composition, and some of them for their elemental composition. Most of the brachiopod shells are well preserved, and oxygen isotope composition reflects the temperate conditions of the European epicontinental sea. Upper Turonian mean δ18O values from Lower Saxony and southern England show bottom-water temperatures in the range of 14.2 to 18.2 °C (δ18Ow = −1.5‰ SMOW for an ice-free world). The relative trend of mean brachiopod oxygen and carbon isotopes shows a short-term (200 k.y.) increase in the mid-Upper Turonian horizons that confirms the climate cooling (∼ 2 °C) observed in bulk-rock samples at different sites in Europe. Interbasinal comparisons between England and Germany show similar δ13C values in both basins, whereas oxygen isotopes are heavier in northwestern Germany than in England, suggesting a cool-water influence from the North Sea basin and temperate conditions in the Anglo-Paris basin.

Type
Research Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 137 , Issue 6 , November 2000 , pp. 687 - 703
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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