High-resolution record reveals climate-driven environmental and sedimentary changes in an active rift

Authors

• Lisa C. McNeill, University of Southampton
• Donna J. Shillington, Columbia University
• Gareth D. O. Carter, The Lyell Survey
• Jeremy D. Everest, The Lyell Survey
• Robert L. Gawthorpe, Bergen University
• Clint Miller, Rice University
• Marcie P. Phillips, University of Texas at Austin
• Richard E. Ll. Collier, University of Leeds
• Aleksandra Cvetkoska, Justus Liebig University, Giessen
• Gino De Gelder, Universite Paris Diderot
• Paula Diz, Universidad de Vigo
• Mai-Linh Doan, Université Grenoble Alpes
• Mary Ford, Université de Lorraine
• Maria Geraga, University of Patras
• Jack Gillespie, University of Adelaide
• Romain Hemelsdael, University of Montpellier
• Emilio Herrero-Bervera, University of Hawaii, Manoa
• Mohammad Ismaiel, University of Hyderabad
• Liliane Janikian, Universidade Federal de São Paulo
• Katerina Kouli, University of Athens
• Erwan Le Ber, University of Leicester
• Shunli Li, China University of Geosciences Wuhan
• Marco Maffione, University of Birmingham
• Carol Mahoney, University of Leeds
• Malka L. Machlus, CUNY Kingsborough Community CollegeFollow
• Georgios Michas, Technological Educational Institute of Crete
• Casey W. Nixon, University of Bergen
• Sabire Asli Oflaz, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Abah P. Omale, Louisiana State University
• Kostas Panagiotopoulos, University of Cologne
• Sofia Pechlivanidou, University of Bergen
• Simone Sauer, Centre Bretagne
• Joana Seguin, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel
• Spyros Sergiou, University of Patras
• Natalia V. Zakharova, Central Michigan University
• Sophie Green, The Lyell Centre

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-28-2019

Abstract

Young rifts are shaped by combined tectonic and surface processes and climate, yet few records exist to evaluate the interplay of these processes over an extended period of early rift-basin development. Here, we present the longest and highest resolution record of sediment flux and paleoenvinronmental changes when a young rift connects to the global concerns. New results from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 381 in the Corinth Rift shows 10s-100s of kyr cyclic variations in basin paleoenvironment as eustatic sea level fluctuated with respect to sills bounding this semi-isolated basin, and reveal substantial corresponding changes in the volume and character of sediment delivered into the rift. During interglacials, when the basin was marine, sedimintation rates were lower (excepting the Holocene), and bioturbation and organic carbon concentration higher. During glacials, the basin was isolated from the ocean, and sedimentation rates were higher (~2-7 times those in interglacials). We infer that reduced vegetation cover during glacials drove higher sediment flux from the rift flanks. These orbital-timescale changes in rate and type of basin infill will likely influence early rift sedimentary and faulting processes, potentially including syn-rift stratigraphy, sediment burial rates, and organic carbon flux and preservation on deep continental margins worldwide.

Comments

This article was originally published in Scientific Reports, available at DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40022-w.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.