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

Bighorn盆地取心项目（BBCP）大角盆地取芯项目将从怀俄明州大角盆地的三个地点（Polecat Bench, Gilmore Hill， Basin变电站）各收集约200米的岩心，以更好地约束古近纪高温事件的原因和影响。超热现象是与地球碳循环的极端扰动有关的突然的、大规模的全球变暖事件。两个事件将被特别关注——古新世-始新世热极大期（PETM, ETM1）和埃尔莫（ETM2）事件。PETM是记录最充分的超热期，在不到1万年的时间里，从一个未知的储集层释放了2000 - 6800亿吨碳，导致地球在100-200万年的时间里升温5-9摄氏度。相比之下，今天地球上的整个化石燃料资源基础估计为~5,000 Gt。Elmo是一个较小的振幅事件，发生在PETM之后，在海洋记录中正好低于C24N/C24R极性反转，但在大陆剖面中记录较少。通过将沉积学、地球化学和孢粉学等多种方法应用于这些岩心，我们希望能更好地了解这些事件的成因，研究在这些事件中起作用的生物地球化学和生态反馈，并准确揭示它们是如何影响大陆环境的。大角盆地保存了迄今为止已知的最广泛的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热液提供机会。

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.