147-6 Quantifying Continental Paleocene Weathering Rates and Cyclicity Through Analysis of X-ray Diffraction Data from the Porters Creek and Naheola Formations, Northern Mississippi, USA

Session: Climate, Ocean and Environmental Changes Through Earth History: From Marine and Terrestrial Proxies to Model Assessments (Posters)

Presenting Author:

Authors:

Abstract:

Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic climate change requires insight into how Earth’s paleoclimate responded to previous rapid increases in temperature. Ancient hyperthermals, such as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, can be used as deep time analogs for modeling future climate change. In order to fully understand the magnitude of hyperthermal impacts, however, it is important to establish background conditions prior to the onset of warming. The purpose of this study is to gather and analyze the baseline data that characterizes the environment and paleoclimate during the early Paleocene, focusing on sediment cores from the Mississippi Embayment that contain both the Porters Creek and Naheola formations. Sediment cores are useful for evaluating paleoclimate trends because they provide continuous depositional records that can preserve distinct signatures of conditions before, during, and after hyperthermals. We will use x-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine relative percentages of clay minerals as a proxy for continental weathering intensity. XRD will also be used to determine clay mineralogy of a rhythmically laminated interval, that alternates between a dark gray expansive claystone and a nonexpansive white claystone. Planned work includes biostratigraphy to establish chronostratigraphic context, which will aid in, and a nonexpansive white claystone, distinguishing between allocyclic and autocyclic drivers of sedimentation. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-5929

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