Geologica Acta (Dec 2013)
The record of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum in the Ager Basin (Central Pyrenees, Spain)
Abstract
The sedimentary record straddling the Paleocene/Eocene boundary in the Ager Basin (southern Central Pyrenees) was investigated by combining facies analysis, sequence stratigraphy and stable isotope data, within an interval characterized by a great variability of depositional environments. The occurrence of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) climatic anomaly is tentatively constrained by analogy with its stratigraphic range in the adjacent Tremp-Graus Basin. The main body of the carbon isotope excursion associated with the PETM may be recorded by lacustrine carbonates characterized by a ~ -3‰ shift in δ13C with respect to analogous deposits of Thanetian age; a similar shift is recorded between in situ and resedimented pedogenic carbonates, a feature that suggests the partial erosion of the P/E boundary in the Ager Basin.
