TY - JOUR
T1 - Mid- to late Pliocene (3.3–2.6 Ma) global sea-level fluctuations recorded on a continental shelf transect, Whanganui Basin, New Zealand
AU - Grant, G. R.
AU - Sefton, J. P.
AU - Patterson, M. O.
AU - Naish, T. R.
AU - Dunbar, G. B.
AU - Hayward, B. W.
AU - Morgans, H. E.G.
AU - Alloway, B. V.
AU - Seward, D.
AU - Tapia, C. A.
AU - Prebble, J. G.
AU - Kamp, P. J.J.
AU - McKay, R.
AU - Ohneiser, C.
AU - Turner, G. M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Royal Society of New Zealand , Marsden Grant 13 VUW 112 , funded this research. The authors would like to acknowledge Webster Drilling and Exploration Ltd for the drilling operations and Alex Pyne and Darcy Mandeno of the Antarctic Research Centre, Science Drilling Office for drilling logistics support. We thank Frank Niessen of the Alfred Wegener Institute who provided the Geotek Multi-Sensor Core Logger, used to obtain the magnetic susceptibility log. Nick Pearce, Department of Geography & Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, UK, is thanked for his assistance in the acquisition of glass shard LA-ICP-MS data.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - We present a ∼900 m-thick, mid- (3.3–3.0 Ma) to late Pliocene (3.0–2.6 Ma), shallow-marine, cyclical sedimentary succession from Whanganui Basin, New Zealand that identifies paleobathymetric changes, during a warmer-than-present interval of Earth history, relevant to future climate change. Our approach applies lithofacies, sequence stratigraphy and benthic foraminiferal analyses to two continuously-cored drillholes integrated with new and existing outcrop studies. We construct a depositional model of orbitally-paced, global sea-level changes on a wave-graded continental shelf. Unlike many previous studies, these shelf sediments were not eroded during sea-level lowstands and thus provide the potential to reconstruct the full amplitude of glacial-interglacial sea-level change. Paleobathymetric interpretations are underpinned by analysis of extant benthic foraminiferal census data and a statistical correlation with the distribution of modern taxa. In general, water depths derived from foraminiferal Modern Analogue Technique (MAT), are consistent with variability recorded by lithofacies. The inferred sea-level cycles co-vary with a qualitative climate record reconstructed from a census of extant pollen and spores, and a modern temperature relationship. A high-resolution age model is established using magnetostratigraphy constrained by biostratigraphy, and the dating and correlation of tephra. This integrated chronostratigraphy allows the recognition of 23 individual sedimentary cycles, that are correlated across the paleo-shelf and a possible “one-to-one” relationship is made to deep-ocean benthic oxygen isotope (δ18O) records. In general water depth changes were paced by ∼20 kyr duration between 3.3 and 3.0 Ma, after which cycle duration is ∼40 kyr during the late Pliocene (3.0–2.6 Ma). This record provides a future opportunity to evaluate the amplitude and frequency of global, Pliocene glacio-eustatic sea-level change, independent of the global benthic δ18O record.
AB - We present a ∼900 m-thick, mid- (3.3–3.0 Ma) to late Pliocene (3.0–2.6 Ma), shallow-marine, cyclical sedimentary succession from Whanganui Basin, New Zealand that identifies paleobathymetric changes, during a warmer-than-present interval of Earth history, relevant to future climate change. Our approach applies lithofacies, sequence stratigraphy and benthic foraminiferal analyses to two continuously-cored drillholes integrated with new and existing outcrop studies. We construct a depositional model of orbitally-paced, global sea-level changes on a wave-graded continental shelf. Unlike many previous studies, these shelf sediments were not eroded during sea-level lowstands and thus provide the potential to reconstruct the full amplitude of glacial-interglacial sea-level change. Paleobathymetric interpretations are underpinned by analysis of extant benthic foraminiferal census data and a statistical correlation with the distribution of modern taxa. In general, water depths derived from foraminiferal Modern Analogue Technique (MAT), are consistent with variability recorded by lithofacies. The inferred sea-level cycles co-vary with a qualitative climate record reconstructed from a census of extant pollen and spores, and a modern temperature relationship. A high-resolution age model is established using magnetostratigraphy constrained by biostratigraphy, and the dating and correlation of tephra. This integrated chronostratigraphy allows the recognition of 23 individual sedimentary cycles, that are correlated across the paleo-shelf and a possible “one-to-one” relationship is made to deep-ocean benthic oxygen isotope (δ18O) records. In general water depth changes were paced by ∼20 kyr duration between 3.3 and 3.0 Ma, after which cycle duration is ∼40 kyr during the late Pliocene (3.0–2.6 Ma). This record provides a future opportunity to evaluate the amplitude and frequency of global, Pliocene glacio-eustatic sea-level change, independent of the global benthic δ18O record.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055341947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.044
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.044
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055341947
SN - 0277-3791
VL - 201
SP - 241
EP - 260
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
ER -