T174 Foraminiferal Signals of Major Events in Mesozoic–Cenozoic Earth History

Tuesday, 12 October 2021
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Portland Ballroom 254 (Hybrid Room)

THE ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF PLANKTON TO MAJOR MESOZOIC AND CENOZOIC CLIMATE EVENTS

Paper number: T174-12
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 4:05 PM – 4:25 PM

Authors

Abstract

Anthropogenic disruptions including climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, etc. are causing extreme pressure on the biosphere, which has the potential to cause a major extinction event if we do not take corrective action soon. Earth history contains numerous examples of extinctions caused by severe climatic and environmental changes which can help us contextualize modern change. However, it also contains numerous examples of severe climatic and environmental changes which did not lead to significant extinction, or which only caused extinctions of certain groups. By comparing the biotic response of individual groups of organisms during different paleoceanographic events we can build an understanding of what types of changes affected the diversity of those groups in the past, and thus which groups might be at risk from changes occurring today. Here, we examine the species-level diversity of planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton from the Mesozoic to the present across a number of major events, including the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (T-J), Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs), the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT). We find that, with the exception of the T-J and the K-Pg, plankton extinction is decoupled from the overall marine extinction. Extinction in the plankton appears to be primarily caused by changes in water column stratification, upper water column temperature, and perhaps, chemistry. Changes which cause extinction in other marine groups, like anoxia and acidification, have little effect on the plankton or are associated with speciation.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 53, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-369174

© Copyright 2021 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.