Cycles of humid‐dry climate conditions around the P/E boundary: new stable isotope data from terrestrial organic matter in Vasterival section (NW France)

Abstract

Terra Nova, 24, 114–122, 2012 Abstract The Palaeocene/Eocene boundary (P/EB) and the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (55.8 Ma) are defined stratigraphically based on carbon isotope ratios of various materials. Here, the position of the P/EB is refined in the terrestrial–lacustrine and swampy Vasterival section (Upper Normandy coast, France) by using carbon isotopes measured on dispersed organic matter (δ 13 C org ). Moreover, nitrogen isotopes on dispersed organic matter (δ 15 N org ) are, for the first time in the Palaeogene record, associated with carbon isotope and lithological data to constrain palaeoclimatic and environmental changes around the P/EB in a terrestrial environment. Humid‐dry fluctuations before and during this key interval in Earth history are suggested.