@article{4, author = {Gangyi Lu and Gerta Keller and Thierry Adatte and Nieves Ortiz and Eustoquio Molina}, title = {Long-term (105) or short-term (103) c13C excursion near the Palaeocene-Eocene transition: evidence from the Tethys}, abstract = {
Expanded sedimentary records from the Tethys reveal unique faunal and isotopic changes across the Palaeocene-Eocene (P-E) transition. Unlike in the open oceans, the Tethys exhibits a gradual decrease of 1.5\% in δ13C values prior to the rapid δ13C excursion. Associated with the 613C excursion is a decrease in calcite burial, increase in detrital content and appearance of a unique opportunistic planktic foraminifera1 assemblage (e.g. compressed acarininids). The existence of a prelude decrease in δ13C values in the Tethys suggests that the P-E δ13C excursion may have occurred in two steps and over a few hundred thousand years, rather than as one step over a few thousand years as previously suggested. This slower excursion rate is readily explained by changing organic carbon weathering or burial rates and avoids the need of invoking ad hoc scenarios.
}, year = {1996}, journal = {Terra Nova}, volume = {8}, chapter = {347}, pages = {347 - 355}, month = {Jan-07-1996}, issn = {0954-4879}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3121.1996.tb00567.x/abstract}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-3121.1996.tb00567.x}, language = {eng}, }