|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543-1541, USA
2 Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
3 Southampton Oceanography Centre, School of Ocean and Earth Science, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
Modern open-ocean sea-surface temperatures rarely exceed 
28–29 °C, and the same has been thought to represent a rough maximum for past tropical climates. However, new isotopic estimates from the uppermost Cenomanian in the tropical western North Atlantic suggest that mixed-layer temperatures reached 33–34 °C (± 2 °C) during the middle Cretaceous hothouse. Uppermost Cenomanian tropical sea-surface temperatures may have been as much as 4–7 °C warmer than the highest modern mean annual temperatures. Such extreme conditions suggest that warm tropical oceans could have driven substantially intensified atmospheric heat transport near the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary. The tropical "thermostat" was set higher than today, challenging the hypothesis of tropical climate stability.
Key Words: temperature • Cretaceous • planktonic foraminifera • stable isotopes • Atlantic
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  N. Bardet, A. Houssaye, J.-C. Rage, and X. Pereda Suberbiola The Cenomanian-Turonian (late Cretaceous) radiation of marine squamates (Reptilia): the role of the Mediterranean Tethys Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, November 1, 2008; 179(6): 605 - 622. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Forster, S. Schouten, M. Baas, and J. S. Sinninghe Damste Mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Santonian) sea surface temperature record of the tropical Atlantic Ocean Geology, October 1, 2007; 35(10): 919 - 922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Moriya, P. A. Wilson, O. Friedrich, J. Erbacher, and H. Kawahata Testing for ice sheets during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse using glassy foraminiferal calcite from the mid-Cenomanian tropics on Demerara Rise Geology, July 1, 2007; 35(7): 615 - 618. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Puceat, C. Lecuyer, Y. Donnadieu, P. Naveau, H. Cappetta, G. Ramstein, B. T. Huber, and J. Kriwet Fish tooth {delta}18O revising Late Cretaceous meridional upper ocean water temperature gradients Geology, February 1, 2007; 35(2): 107 - 110. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Dumitrescu, S. C. Brassell, S. Schouten, E. C. Hopmans, and J. S. S. Damste Instability in tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures during the early Aptian Geology, October 1, 2006; 34(10): 833 - 836. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Sandler Estimates of atmospheric CO2 levels during the mid-Turonian derived from stable isotope composition of paleosol calcite from Israel Geological Society of America Special Papers, January 1, 2006; 416(0): 75 - 88. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. WILLIAMS, A. M. HAYWOOD, C.-D. HILLENBRAND, and I. P. WILKINSON Efficacy of {delta}18O data from Pliocene planktonic foraminifer calcite for spatial sea surface temperature reconstruction: comparison with a fully coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM and fossil assemblage data for the mid-Pliocene Geological Magazine, July 1, 2005; 142(4): 399 - 417. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. G. MacLeod, B. T. Huber, and C. Isaza-Londono North Atlantic warming during global cooling at the end of the Cretaceous Geology, June 1, 2005; 33(6): 437 - 440. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Millennial- to Centennial-Scale Interruptions of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1b (Early Albian, mid-Cretaceous) Inferred from Benthic Foraminiferal Repopulation Events Palaios, February 1, 2005; 20(1): 64 - 77.
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Schouten, E. C. Hopmans, A. Forster, Y. van Breugel, M. M.M. Kuypers, and J. S. S. Damste Extremely high sea-surface temperatures at low latitudes during the middle Cretaceous as revealed by archaeal membrane lipids Geology, December 1, 2003; 31(12): 1069 - 1072. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Hofmann, T. Wagner, and B. Beckmann Millennial- to centennial-scale record of African climate variability and organic carbon accumulation in the Coniacian-Santonian eastern tropical Atlantic (Ocean Drilling Program Site 959, off Ivory Coast and Ghana) Geology, February 1, 2003; 31(2): 135 - 138. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. A. Wilson, R. D. Norris, and M. J. Cooper Testing the Cretaceous greenhouse hypothesis using glassy foraminiferal calcite from the core of the Turonian tropics on Demerara Rise Geology, July 1, 2002; 30(7): 607 - 610. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
