Paleocene-Eocene Boundary, Wilson Lake, NJ

Objectives:

The overarching goal of this study is to establish how the PETM impacted coastal ocean environments.  In particular, we are interested in how the temperature, salinity, and chemistry of coastal waters changed, and how these changes influenced the ecology of the biota, particularly the microplankton.  To this end, we are studying a core recovered by Thomas Gibson, USGS, near Wilson Lake, NJ.  The core contains the Paleocene-Eocene boundary and relatively expanded excursion layer that is rich in clay.  A number of studies are currently being conducted on this core including rock magnetic, stable isotope and trace metal analyses, as well as studies of coccolith and dinoflaggelate assemblages.

Participants:

UCSC
James Zachos
Thomas Quattlebaum
Steven Bohaty
Peter Lippert
Linda Anderson

PSU
Tim Bralower
Samantha Gibbs

Utrecht Univ.
Henk Brinkhuis
Appy Sluijs

Yale University
Mark Pagani

Initial Results:

Figure 1.  Isotope and trace element data (Quattlebaum, MS Thesis 2004)