Collaborative Research: Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP) - Targeted Continental Drilling of Paleogene Hyperthermals

Bighorn 盆地取芯项目 (BBCP)W。新罕布什尔大学首席研究员 Clyde 摘要 Bighorn 盆地取芯项目将从怀俄明州 Bighorn 盆地的三个地点（Polecat Bench、Gilmore Hill、盆地变电站）收集约 200 米的岩心，以更好地限制古近纪高温事件的原因和影响。高温是突然的、大规模的全球变暖事件，与地球碳循环的极端扰动有关。我们将特别针对两个事件——古新世-始新世最热事件（PETM、ETM1）和埃尔莫（ETM2）事件。 PETM 是记录最详尽的超高温现象，在不到 1 万年 (ky) 的时间内从未知储层释放出 2,000-6,800 吉吨 (Gt) 的碳，导致地球在 100-200 ky 的时间内变暖 5-9°C。相比之下，当今地球上的整个化石燃料资源基础估计约为 5,000 Gt。 Elmo 是一个较小幅度的事件，发生在海洋记录中的 PETM 之后、略低于 Chron C24N/C24R 极性反转的位置，但在大陆剖面中的记录仍然很少。通过对所提出的岩心应用各种沉积学、地球化学和孢粉学方法，我们希望更好地了解导致这些事件的原因，研究在这些事件期间发生的生物地球化学和生态反馈，并准确揭示它们如何影响大陆环境。大角盆地保存着迄今为止最广泛的 PETM 和 Elmo 地层记录，因此这些岩心将为以前所未有的分辨率研究高温地层提供机会。

Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP)W. Clyde, Lead PI, University of New HampshireAbstractThe Bighorn Basin Coring Project will collect ~200 meters of core from each of three sites (Polecat Bench, Gilmore Hill, Basin Substation) in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming to better constrain the causes and effects of Paleogene hyperthermal events. Hyperthermals are abrupt, large-magnitude global warming events associated with extreme perturbations to the Earth's carbon cycle. Two events in particular will be targeted - the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ETM1) and the Elmo (ETM2) event. The PETM is the best documented hyperthermal and involved the release of 2,000-6,800 gigatons (Gt) of carbon from an unknown reservoir over less than 10 thousand years (ky) causing the earth to warm by 5-9ºC for a period of 100-200 ky. For comparison, the entire fossil fuel resource base on earth today is estimated to be ~5,000 Gt. Elmo is a smaller amplitude event that occurs after the PETM and just below the Chron C24N/C24R polarity reversal in marine records but remains poorly documented in continental sections. By applying a variety of sedimentological, geochemical, and palynological methods to the proposed cores we hope to better understand what caused these events, study the biogeochemical and ecological feedbacks that operated during them, and reveal precisely how they impacted continental environments. The Bighorn Basin preserves the most expanded stratigraphic records of the PETM and Elmo yet known, so these cores will provide an opportunity to study hyperthermals at unprecedented resolution.