Nannofossil assemblage shifts in the aftermath of the Miocene Climatic Optimum-a North Atlantic latitudinal transect

摘要

According to marine and terrestrial sedimentary records, the Miocene Climatic Optimum ended between the start of the expansion of the Antarctic ice sheet at 14.5 Ma (e.g., Zachos et al., 2008) and large scale climatic changes recorded in terrestrial records at 13.5 Ma (e.g., Bohme, 2003). We studied nannofossil assemblages in an interval between 16 and 11 Ma in three North Atlantic sites along a meridional transect from equatorial to high latitudes (4o, 42°, and 58°N). Sampling at 100-ky resolution provided insights into successive and evolutionary changes that affected nannoplankton communities during times of global climate change.