Continental temperatures from the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in the Big Horn Basin, WY from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry

Abstract

We used carbonate clumped isotope thermometry to constrain growth temperatures of paleosol carbonates and fossil unionid bivalves collected from the Big Horn Basin (Wyoming) from sections that span the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Long-term global warming of ~10°C occurred from the Late Paleocene to the Early Eocene. The Paleocene- Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is an extreme thermal event of short duration (< 200 ky) superimposed on the longterm warming trend, and has been identified globally in the ocean sediment record and on the continents in sedimentary basins. The Big Horn Basin is one such basin that has been extensively studied with multiple climatic and biotic proxies in an attempt to characterize the PETM. Therefore, it is an ideal case study for the new paleothermometry technique we use here.

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