Abstract
We propose a detailed study of the biotic record (foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) of the Eocene/Oligocene transition in ODP Hole 647 in the Labrador Sea. The sediments in this core constitutes the only continuously-cored high-latitude record of biotic and climatic change available for study in the northern North Atlantic recovered by Ocean Drilling. The record is unique because the sediments contain well-preserved calcareous micro- and nannofossils as well as agglutinated foraminifera (Kaminski et al. 1989, Pearson & Burgess, 2008). We wish to document the nature of faunal change in the deep North Atlantic across this critical interval in Earth s Climate History, and link the record of faunal change to palaeoclimatic proxies in the same core. As a first step in understanding the magnitude, duration, and ultimate cause of faunal changes, we propose to compile a microfaunal record consisting of 57 new samples collected across the Eocene/Oligocene transition in ODP Hole 647A.
United Kingdom