Orbitally forced Azolla blooms and Middle Eocene Arctic hydrology: Clues from palynology

Orbitally forced climate changes in the Tasman sector during the Middle Eocene

The Eocene Arctic Azolla bloom: environmental conditions, productivity and carbon drawdown.

Enormous quantities of the free-floating freshwater fern Azolla grew and reproduced in situ in the Arctic Ocean during the middle Eocene, as was demonstrated by microscopic analysis of microlaminated sediments recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 302. The timing of the Azolla phase (approximately 48.5 Ma) coincides with the earliest signs...

Micro-Halocline Enabled Nutrient Recycling May Explain Extreme Azolla Event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean

In order to understand the physicochemical mechanisms that could explain the massive growth of Azolla arctica in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we studied the interacting effects of rain and wind on the development of salinity stratification, both in the presence and in the absence of a dense Azolla cover. Additionally, we carried out a mesocosm experim...

Humidity estimate for the middle Eocene Arctic rain forest

Note: MAT—mean annual temperature; CMM—cold month mean temperature; NLR—nearest living relative analogy; CLAMP—climate–leaf analysis multivariate program. ABSTRACT The exquisite preservation of fossilized Metasequoia trees that grew near 808N latitude during the middle Eocene (ca. 45 Ma) in Nunavut, Canada, allowed for dD and d18O analyses of cellulose, techniques previously restricted to wood ...

Larger benthic foraminifera from the Middle Eocene

Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are common and diverse throughout the Paleogene sediments of southern Tanzania, but have previously been little studied. A recent programme of onshore drilling known as the Tanzania Drilling Project has recovered large proportion of this succession for palaeoclimatic and palaeontological study. The sediment is largely a hemipelagic clay with secondary gravity s...