Peter F. Rawson

Are we now living in the Anthropocene

The term Anthropocene, proposed and increasingly employed to denote the current interval of anthropogenic global environmental change, may be discussed on stratigraphic grounds. A case can be made for its consideration as a formal epoch in that, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, Earth has endured changes sufficient to leave a global stratigraphic signature distinct from that of the Holocene or of previous Pleistocene interglacial phases, encompassing novel biotic, sedimentary, and geochemical change. These changes, although likely only in their initial phases, are sufficiently distinct and robustly established for suggestions of a Holocene–Anthropocene boundary in the recent historical past to be geologically reasonable. The boundary may be defined either via Global Stratigraphic Section and Point (“golden spike”) locations or by adopting a numerical date. Formal adoption of this term in the near future will largely depend on its utility, particularly to earth scientists working on late Holocene successions. This datum, from the perspective of the far future, will most probably approximate a distinctive stratigraphic boundary.

The Cretaceous-Tertiary biotic transition

Mass extinctions are recognized through the study of fossil groups across event horizons, and from analyses of long-term trends in taxonomic richness and diversity. Both approaches have inherent flaws, and data that once seemed reliable can be readily superseded by the discovery of new fossils and/or the application of new analytical techniques. Herein the current state of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) biostratigraphical record is reviewed for most major fossil clades, including: calcareous nannoplankton, dinoflagellates, diatoms, radiolaria, foraminifera, ostracodes, scleractinian corals, bryozoans, brachio-pods, molluscs, echinoderms, fish, amphibians, reptiles and terrestrial plants (macrofossils and palynomorphs). These reviews take account of possible biasing factors in the fossil record in order to extract the most comprehensive picture of the K-T biotic crisis available. Results suggest that many faunal and floral groups (ostracodes, bryozoa, ammonite cephalopods, bivalves, archosaurs) were in decline throughout the latest Maastrichtian while others (diatoms, radiolaria, benthic foraminifera, brachiopods, gastropods, fish, amphibians, lepidosaurs, terrestrial plants) passed through the K-T event horizon with only minor taxonomic richness and/or diversity changes. A few microfossil groups (calcareous nannoplankton, dinoflagellates, planktonic foraminifera) did experience a turnover of varying magnitudes in the latest Maastrichtian-earliest Danian. However, many of these turnovers, along with changes in ecological dominance patterns among benthic foraminifera, began in the latest Maastrichtian. Improved taxonomic estimates of the overall pattern and magnitude of the K-T extinction event must await the development of more reliable systematic and phylogenetic data for all Upper Cretaceous clades.

Stratigraphy of the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene, an informal term used to signal the impact of collective human activity on biological, physical and chemical processes on the Earth system, is assessed using stratigraphic criteria. It is complex in time, space and process, and may be considered in terms of the scale, relative timing, duration and novelty of its various phenomena. The lithostratigraphic signal includes both direct components, such as urban constructions and man-made deposits, and indirect ones, such as sediment flux changes. Already widespread, these are producing a significant ‘event layer’, locally with considerable long-term preservation potential. Chemostratigraphic signals include new organic compounds, but are likely to be dominated by the effects of CO2 release, particularly via acidification in the marine realm, and man-made radionuclides. The sequence stratigraphic signal is negligible to date, but may become geologically significant over centennial/millennial time scales. The rapidly growing biostratigraphic signal includes geologically novel aspects (the scale of globally transferred species) and geologically will have permanent effects.

Purbeck–Wealden (early Cretaceous) climates

A multidisciplinary colligation including new data and analysis of the evidence for the climates of southern Britain during c. 140 Ma. to c. 120 Ma BP (Berriasian-Barremian — ? earliest Aptian). The climate was at first hot, semi-arid and ‘Mediterranean’ (rather than ‘monsoonal’) in type, probably with seasonally opposed winds (E/W). An irregular long-term trend of increasing rainfall in the moister seasons is evident. This was probably associated with establishment of predominant westerlies during the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition and slightly lower average annual temperatures thereafter until Barremian times. Causes proposed are frequent changes in the regional climatic system due to technically induced adjustments of relief under the special conditions of the semi-enclosed Purbeck–Wealden archipelago and increasing proximity of the widening Protoatlantic sea.

A guide to stratigraphical procedure

The continuing development of stratigraphical concepts and the application of new methods has led the Stratigraphy Committee of the Geological Society of London to present a new guide to stratigraphical procedure. Some of the principal types of stratigraphy are outlined and guidelines and recommendations are given on procedure, practice and terminological usage.

Belemnites of Valanginian, Hauterivian and Barremian age: Sr-isotope stratigraphy, composition (87Sr/86Sr, δ13C, δ18O, Na, Sr, Mg), and palaeo-oceanography

We present new data on 87Sr/86Sr, δ13C and δ18O, and elemental compositions of belemnites from 85 m of Valanginian, Hauterivian and Barremian strata at Speeton, Yorkshire, eastern England. The 87Sr/86Sr data provide a global standard for 87Sr/86Sr isotopic dating, and correlation to the biostratigraphic schemes of NW Europe. Values of 87Sr/86Sr increase from 0.707380±0.000003, at the base of the Hauterivian, to 0.707493±0.000004 in the earliest Late Barremian Paracrioceras elegans ammonite Zone before decreasing thereafter towards an Aptian minimum. The downturn in the elegans Zone coincided with the onset of volcanism on the present Ontong Java Plateau. A linear interpretation of the 87Sr/86Sr profile shows that the relative durations of ammonite zones differ by a factor ≤18. The basal Hauterivian unconformably overlies Valanginian strata; the discontinuity in 87Sr/86Sr across this surface represents a gap in sedimentation of 2.0 myr. In our belemnites (mostly of the genera Hibolites, Acroteuthis, and Aulacoteuthis) the absence of a correlation between δ18O and δ13C suggests that strong non-equilibrium fractionation has not affected the isotopic composition of the calcite. Our δ18O values therefore approximate to a valid record of marine palaeo-temperatures. Specimens of the genus Hibolites have δ18O values that are 0.4‰ more positive than those of co-occurring specimens of the genus Acroteuthis. This offset may be explained as resulting from small (0.4‰) departures from equilibrium during precipitation of calcite, different depth habitats, or changing temperature in the Speeton sea in the time that elapsed between deposition of our individual belemnites. The averaged belemnite record of δ18O through the section shows that seawater warmed from around 11°C at the base of the Hauterivian to a maximum around 15°C in the middle of the Hauterivian regale Zone, and returned to a cooler temperature of around 11°C by the middle of the overlying inversum Zone, a temperature that persisted to the basal Barremian. Through the Barremian, temperature increased to a peak of 20°C in the early Late Barremian elegans Zone then, in the same zone, precipitately and temporarily decreased to around 14°C at about the time of onset of volcanism on the Ontong Java Plateau, before they returned to around 16°C in the uppermost part of the section. In specimens of Aulacoteuthis and Acroteuthis, a good correlation between δ18O and the content of Na, Sr, and Mg suggests that incorporation of these trace elements in these genera is largely controlled by temperature. The dependency of concentration on temperature ranges from 7 to 20% per degree Celsius, if equilibrium fractionation of oxygen isotopic composition is assumed, so the Mg, Na and Sr content of these genera may be used as palaeo-temperature proxies. The trace element content of Hibolites shows no relation to stable oxygen isotopic composition and so does not record palaeo-temperature.

The ammonite sequence in the Agrio Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina

The Agrio Formation of the Neuquen Basin, Argentina, contains an extensive sequence of ammonite faunas, most of which are monogeneric. Detailed collecting through 15 sections across the basin has facilitated a major revision of the ammonite zonation. Formerly embracing four broad zones, the Agrio Formation is now divided into nine zones, the lowest four of which are divided into a total of 11 subzones. The new zonation provides a standard against which other South American faunas can be compared. The degree of subdivision now achieved is comparable to that for the ‘standard’ sequences of the West Mediterranean region. Although it is not possible to correlate the two regions in detail, the occurrence of some widely distributed genera ( Olcostephanus , Karakaschiceras , Oosterella , Spitidiscus and Crioceratites ) at well-defined levels in the Neuquen Basin provides some crucial links. Thus the approximate positions of the Lower/Upper Valanginian, Valanginian/Hauterivian and Lower/Upper Hauterivian boundaries can be determined.

Palaeoclimate control on sequence stratigraphic patterns in the late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous, with a case study from Eastern England

Abstract Sediment supply is a fundamental control on the architecture of sedimentary sequences. In clastic depositional environments, the volume of sediment being transported into the basin of deposition is strongly dependent on both the nature of the weathering regime in the hinterlands, and on runoff. During arid, low sea-level phases in the late Jurassic and early-mid-Cretacwous, clastic supply was reduced and long hiatuses became common at sequence boundaries or during maximum flooding. These hiatuses amalgamated where sediment starvation produced strongly condensed (“super-condensed”) sections. In intervening humid, higher sea-level phases, clastic supply was more abundant: hence thick sediment packages separate sequence boundaries, downlnpping surfaces should be apparent on seismic sections, and condensed sections become rare. Where carbonate deposition dominates over clastic, sediment formation is largely intrabasinal and the effects of palaeoclimate on sequence stratigraphy are less obvious. Knowledge of palaeoclimates may lead us to search for certain sequence stratigraphic patterns connected to changes in sediment supply.

Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian-Aptian) biostratigraphy of the Neuquén Basin

Abstract The Berriasian-Aptian succession in the Neuquén Basin is mainly marine in the lower part and non-marine in the upper portion. A detailed ammonite zonation is presented for the Berriasian-?Early Barremian interval. While some ammonite taxa are endemic, others are widely distributed and there are several levels where correlation can be suggested with the ‘standard’ stages and zones of the Tethyan Mediterranean area. Several nannofossil bioevents are recognized, and these provide evidence for correlation with Tethyan areas. Correlations suggested by both groups are reasonably consistent. Berriasian-Aptian palynomorphs include both terrestrial and marine forms. Several terrestrial assemblages can be recognized, but the marine forms are mainly long-ranging taxa, especially in the Agrio Formation.

The Peak Trough – a major control on the geology of the North Yorkshire coast

Although the Mesozoic sediments of the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire) have generally not been strongly faulted, several approximately N–S trending faults have been identified along the coast. New seismic data from adjacent coastal waters has allowed the offshore extension to the fault system to be examined for the first time. The coastal faults from Peak (Ravenscar) to Red Cliff (Cayton Bay) are shown to form part of a linked system defining a narrow graben only some 5 km wide, the Peak Trough . Faulting has been complex, with decollement levels apparently developed in weak layers at various horizons in the Triassic and Permian strata: fault geometries and regional considerations suggest that extension has been dominant. Movement occurred intermittently from Triassic to latest Cretaceous or early Tertiary times.