Mercury enrichment indicates volcanic triggering of Valanginian environmental change.

ABSTRACT: The Valanginian stage (Early Cretaceous) includes an episode of significant environmental changes, which are well defined by a positive δ¹³C excursion. This globally recorded excursion indicates important perturbations in the carbon cycle, which has tentatively been associated with a pulse in volcanic activity and the formation of the Paraná-Etendeka large igneous province (LIP). Uncertainties in existing age models preclude, however, its positive identification as a trigger of Valanginian environmental changes. Here we report that in Valanginian sediments recovered from a drill core in Wąwał (Polish Basin, Poland), and from outcrops in the Breggia Gorge (Lombardian Basin, southern Switzerland), and Orpierre and Angles (Vocontian Basin, SE France), intervals at or near the onset

SUBMITTER: Charbonnier G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5247756 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature