Judith Barke

The Eocene Arctic Azolla bloom: environmental conditions, productivity and carbon drawdown

Enormous quantities of the free-floating freshwater fern Azolla grew and reproduced in situ in the Arctic Ocean during the middle Eocene, as was demonstrated by microscopic analysis of microlaminated sediments recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 302. The timing of the Azolla phase (approximately 48.5 Ma) coincides with the earliest signs of onset of the transition from a greenhouse towards the modern icehouse Earth. The sustained growth of Azolla, currently ranking among the fastest growing plants on Earth, in a major anoxic oceanic basin may have contributed to decreasing atmospheric pCO2 levels via burial of Azolla-derived organic matter. The consequences of these enormous Azolla blooms for regional and global nutrient and carbon cycles are still largely unknown. Cultivation experiments have been set up to investigate the influence of elevated pCO2 on Azolla growth, showing a marked increase in Azolla productivity under elevated (760 and 1910 ppm) pCO2 conditions. The combined results of organic carbon, sulphur, nitrogen content and 15N and 13C measurements of sediments from the Azolla interval illustrate the potential contribution of nitrogen fixation in a euxinic stratified Eocene Arctic. Flux calculations were used to quantitatively reconstruct the potential storage of carbon (0.9-3.5 10(18) gC) in the Arctic during the Azolla interval. It is estimated that storing 0.9 10(18) to 3.5 10(18) g carbon would result in a 55 to 470 ppm drawdown of pCO2 under Eocene conditions, indicating that the Arctic Azolla blooms may have had a significant effect on global atmospheric pCO2 levels through enhanced burial of organic matter.

New Observations and Synthesis of Paleogene Heterosporous Water Ferns

Premise of research. Reproductive structures of modern genera of heterosporous water ferns (Marsileaceae and Salviniaceae) are widespread and abundant in plant mesofossil assemblages from the Paleogene. For Salviniaceae, whole fertile fossil plants give a good understanding of morphology. These fossils can be applied in paleoenvironmental analysis and to study water fern origin, evolution, and diversification. Methodology. New specimens were examined by SEM and TEM. Synchrotron x-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM) is evaluated as a nondestructive tool for investigating Azolla Lam. morphology. Pivotal results. Azolla anglica Martin and Salvinia cobhamii Martin (earliest Eocene, United Kingdom) are fully characterized using SEM and TEM. SRXTM enables digital rendering of the float system in Azolla, but individual floats are difficult to distinguish. Modern water fern genera characterize the Paleogene, but extinct sister taxa characterize the Cretaceous. Literature review documents that water ferns are intolerant of salinity over 5 psu. Conclusions. The oldest fully documented Salvinia Séguier sori and spores occur in earliest Eocene deposits at Cobham, United Kingdom, probably linked to warm climates. An unusual co-occurrence of Salvinia with Azolla is preserved at this site. The Azolla species differs from those present in the same region during other Eocene warm-climate intervals. SRXTM offers potential to retrieve taxonomically useful information on internal structures of Azolla. There is a major turnover in water ferns (dominantly extinct to almost entirely modern genera) across the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition. The utility of water ferns as indicator taxa is exemplified by recognition of freshwater ocean surfaces and widespread continental wetlands during the latest Early to earliest Middle Eocene in and around the Arctic and Nordic Seas.

Orbitally forced Azolla blooms And Middle Eocene Arctic hydrology: Clues from palynology

The high abundances and cyclic distribution of remains of the freshwater fern Azolla in early-Middle Eocene sediments from the Arctic Ocean have previously been related to episodic surface-water freshening, which was speculated to be orbitally modulated. Our integrated palynological and cyclostratigraphical analysis of the recovered Azolla interval in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) core 302-M0004A-11X resulted in the recognition of two clear periodicities: a dominant ~1.2 m cyclicity, which we relate to changes in obliquity (~40 k.y.), and a weaker ~0.7 m cyclicity, which we link to precession (~21 k.y.). Cycles in the abundances of Azolla, cysts of freshwater-tolerant dinoflagellates, and swamp-vegetation pollen show covariability in the obliquity domain. This strong correlation suggests periods of enhanced rainfall and runoff during Azolla blooms, presumably linked to increased local summer temperatures during obliquity maxima. Larix and bisaccate conifer pollen covary at the precession frequency, with peak occurrences corresponding to precession minima, possibly as a result of enhanced continental runoff from a more remote source area and a stronger seasonal contrast. Following the sudden demise of Azolla ca. 48.1 Ma, runoff (cycles) continued to influence the central Arctic at decreased intensity. This and a concomitant decline in swamp-vegetation pollen suggest edaphically drier conditions on land and decreased runoff into the Arctic Ocean, causing salinity changes, which might have been fatal for Azolla. Moreover, a sea-level rise, inferred from overall decreasing total terrestrial palynomorph concentrations, possibly facilitated oceanic connections.

Reading the first early Cenozoic central Arctic sediment record: A palynological view

FranCeSCa SanGiorGi1,2, a. SluiJS1, J. barke1 and h. brinkhuiS1 Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Netherlands; f.sangiorgi@uu.nl 2 Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, Netherlands Palynological analyses performed on long sedimentary records from the crest of the Lomonosov Ridge (Arctic Ocean) indicates that the Arctic developed from a warmer-than-expected, semi-isolated, shallow, freshwater dominated, eutrophic basin during the early Paleogene, to a sea-ice and iceberg dominated ocean during most of the Neogene. During the Eocene, the environmental changes were orbitally paced, with a biological response strongly affected by obliquity.