Baltic Perspective on Early to early Late Ordovician δ13C and δ18O
Records and its Paleoenvironmental Significance
Abstract
The current study presents new bed-by-bed brachiopod
δ13C and δ18O
records from Öland, Sweden, which together with previously published
data from the East Baltic region, constitutes a high-resolution paired
brachiopod and bulk rock carbon and oxygen isotope archive through the
Lower to Upper Ordovician of Baltoscandia. This new dataset refines the
temporal control on the global Ordovician δ18O-trend
considerably, improving paleoenvironmental reconstructions through the
main phase of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). The
new brachiopod carbon and oxygen isotope records from Öland display
strong similarity with the East Baltic records, elucidating the regional
consistency as well as global correlation utility of the ensuing
composite Baltoscandian Early to Middle Ordovician carbon and oxygen
isotope record. The carbon isotope record from Öland indicates that
prominent carbon cycle perturbations are recorded in both brachiopods
and bulk carbonates, most notably the MDICE (Mid-Darriwilian Carbon
Isotope Excursion). The oxygen isotope record reveals a long-term Early
to Late Ordovician trend of increasingly heavier brachiopod
δ18O values, with a pronounced increase during the
Middle Ordovician Darriwilian Age. We interpret this trend as dominantly
reflecting a paleotemperature signal indicating progressively cooler
Early to Middle Ordovician climate with glacio-eustasy. Our Baltic
δ18O values are therefore consistent with postulations
that the biotic radiations during the GOBE and climatic cooling during
the Darriwilian were strongly linked.