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Journal of the Geological Society

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Latest Danian carbon isotope anomaly and associated environmental change in the southern Tethys (Nile Basin, Egypt)

¹ Institut für Geophysik und Geologie, Universität Leipzig, Talstraße 35, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
² GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Universität Erlangen–Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany
³ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁴ Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
⁵ Geology Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, 83523 Qena, Egypt

*Corresponding author (e-mail: a.bornemann{at}uni-leipzig.de)

During the Palaeocene and Eocene Epochs (65.5–33.9 Ma) the Earth experienced the warmest conditions of the Cenozoic. This Palaeogene greenhouse episode is characterized by several short-lived negative carbon isotope (¹³C) excursions, which are usually interpreted as transient warming events (‘hyperthermals') as indicated by rising temperatures of surface and bottom waters, and accompanied carbonate dissolution in deep-sea settings. Among these events, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, c. 55.5 Ma) is globally the best documented and most prominent. Further negative ¹³C anomalies have recently been identified in the Eocene, but the early to middle Palaeocene has mostly been neglected. Here, benthic foraminiferal ¹³C records are presented from four upper Danian–lower Selandian sections in the Nile Basin (eastern Egypt). All records show a negative ¹³C shift with an amplitude of up to 2 at the base of planktonic foraminiferal subzone P3b (c. 61 Ma). The supra-regional nature of this event is emphasized by correlation with a well-dated, similar ¹³C record from Zumaia (Spain). Lithological changes, the ¹³C signature and biotic responses strongly resemble those of the PETM in Egypt, which leads to the hypothesis that this ‘Latest Danian Event' (LDE) may represent another early Palaeocene hyperthermal.