Thierry Adatte

University of Lausanne | UNIL · Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTE)

La Fm. Vaca Muerta (Tithoniano-Valanginiano) es una sucesión marina depositada como una rampa carbonática en la Cuenca Neuquina. La misma se compone de una alternancia rítmica de margas y calizas con alto contenido de carbono orgánico total (COT hasta 12 wt%). Es la principal roca madre de hidrocarburos de la cuenca y es considerada el primer play...

This study focuses on the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a hyperthermal event characterized by a rapid increase in global temperature (5–8°C) over 20 ka, in the Southern Pyrenean Foreland Basin. Although there is evidence of increased flood discharge and erosion in the Southern Pyrenees, how paleoclimatic conditions and weathering evolved...

We present an integrated, high-resolution, biostratigraphical, mineralogical, and geochemical characterization of the well-exposed Upper Paleocene - Lower Eocene stratigraphic succession of the Surghar Range (Baroch Nala section, NE Pakistan). The faunal assemblages from the Baroch Nala section, dominated by hyaline benthic foraminifera and green c...

Large evaporite deposits, reaching several hundreds of metres of thickness, occur in many basins of our planet but remain poorly understood due to the absence of modern analogues. The origin of ancient evaporites and their highly variable sedimentation rates are often debated and ambiguous. The Danakil rift basin in northern Afar (Ethiopia) feature...

Sediment supply variations are often overlooked when interpreting depositional sequences, with most studies instead emphasizing changes in accommodation space. Here, we investigated a temporally well-constrained shallow-marine succession in the Tremp Basin to test the control of sediment supply variations on the development of deltaic sequences dur...

Lakes are the most attractive and expressive characteristics of a landscape. Lacustrine sediments provide a historical record of the conditions of the surrounding catchment area. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the Holocene lacustrine evolution of 3 lakes located in Yaoundé, Dizangué and Ngaoundéré regions (Cameroon, SW-Africa) using a mult...

The Early Bartonian Reneiche/Siouf member is one of the primary conventional carbonate oil/gas reservoirs to be assessed in Tunisia that demands detailed evaluation. Accurate zonation and modeling of this reservoir require an integrated approach combining surface and subsurface studies. This research focuses on the depositional, diagenetic, and str...

The Koum Basin is a North Cameroonian intracontinental basin that is part of the upper Benue Trough, notably the Yola arm. The sediments of this basin were examined to determine paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic interpretations, which were based mostly on sedimentology and mineralogical evolution in its central part. The examined materials are d...

Background and Aims An emblematic symptom of climate change is the retreat of glaciers worldwide. As glaciers retreat, new ice-free terrains allow the development of plant communities and soil. However, little is known about how plant–soil relationships change with glacier retreat over space-time. Methods We examined the direct and indirect relati...

The Early Triassic Smithian and Spathian time intervals are characterized by perturbations in the global carbon cycle, fluctuations in sea surface temperature, high turnover rates of marine nekton, and a change in terrestrial vegetation. Despite the importance of this time interval, comprehensive multiproxy investigations from Early Triassic high a...

Pronounced warming negatively impacts ecosystem resilience in modern oceans. To offer a long‐term geological perspective of the calcareous plankton response to global warming, we present an integrated record, from two Tethyan sections (northeastern Italy), of the planktic foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil response to the Eocene Thermal Maxim...

The mechanisms and palaeoenvironmental conditions leading to and occurring through the Coniacian-Santonian Ocean Anoxic Event 3 (OAE3) are poorly known, particularly with regard to the marine phosphorus cycle and the climatic conditions in general. To explore further these issues, two famous locations have been studied: Olazagutia (Spain) and Ten M...

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) is a global warming event mainly recognized in the marine domain and described less in the terrestrial environment. Here we present a comprehensive geochemical record of the MECO from the Escanilla Formation, a fluvial sedimentary succession in the southern Pyrenees, Spain, based on a suite of sampled paleo...

Since the retreat of the Würm ice sheet, numerous glacial paleolakes have formed in the French and Swiss Jura. This project investigates two sites: the Amburnex Valley site (Switzerland) and the Lake Val (France). During the Late Glacial period, both sites were glacial lakes with significant accumulation of lacustrine sediments, providing a complet...

An emblematic symptom of climate change is the retreat of glaciers worldwide. As glaciers retreat, new terrains are exposed to colonization by a variety of organisms, leading to succession in plant communities and changes in soil properties. However, little is known about how the development of novel ecosystems emerging after glacier retreat depend...

The Eocene Kuldana Formation (KF) in the Yadgar area of Pakistan, comprises a diverse range of sedimentary facies, including variegated red beds of shales, mudstones, and sandstones, as well as interbedded limestone and marl. In this study, we conducted an integrated micropaleontologi-cal, sedimentological, mineralogical, and geochemical investigat...

The late Maastrichtian witnessed substantial surges in Deccan volcanism, prompting the hypothesis that these voluminous pulses may have instigated repeated episodes of ocean acidification during this period. The Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K/Pg) boundary at Bidart (France) is preceded by a ∼0.5 m thick interval with geochemical and taphonomic vestiges o...

Water discharge and sediment flux variations are important parameters controlling the morphodynamic behaviour of rivers. Although quantitative estimates for water discharge and sediment flux variability are well-constrained for modern rivers, far fewer assessments of flow and sediment flux intermittency in ancient fluvial systems from the rock reco...

The final 0.5 m of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary at Bidart (France) is characterized by geochemical, taphonomic, and biotic vestiges of an ocean acidification event linked with Deccan volcanism. The larger (>150 μm) planktic foraminifera morphogroups show varying populations (absolute abundance), with lowered abundances within the Deccan...

We investigate the Palaeocene succession of the Hazara Basin (Northern Pakistan) to better understand the impact of climate change on marine carbonate-producing organisms. These shallow-water carbonates, deposited during the Late Palaeocene, before the onset of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, were studied using a quantitative approach to hig...

Mercury (Hg) enrichment recorded in Smithian to Spathian (Olenekian) marine sedimentary successions has been used to link putative renewed Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (STLIP) magmatism to climatic and environmental perturbations during this interval. To assess the potential for massive volcanism as a trigger for marine environmental distu...

Mesozoic strata record numerous negative and positive carbon isotope excursions (CIEs). The Middle Jurassic records a negative ~0.5 ‰ CIE at the Aalenian-Bajocian boundary followed by a positive ~1.5 ‰ CIE covering the entire early Bajocian. Although these CIEs are recorded in northern and southwestern Tethys and may reflect perturbations of the gl...

Rock-Eval® (RE) is a thermal analysis technique increasingly used to characterise soil organic matter. To interpret the results, particularly when investigating differences between samples, it is necessary to know the expected ranges of analytical error associated with the RE measurements. Moreover, the RE analyzer is now at its seventh version (RE...

Defined in the Provence region of France, the rudist-bearing Urgonian Limestone is typical of northern Tethyan shallow-marine carbonate series, and is dated based on benthic fauna and flora, calcareous nannofossils, and ammonites. This contribution reports on recent findings that refine the stratigraphy of the Urgonian Limestone in the western Swis...

We present here new quantitative analyses of planktic and benthic foraminifera to assess the impact of the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO, ~40 Ma) on these biotic groups studied along a shallow-water succession rich in larger benthic foraminifera (Sealza, Liguria, NW Italy). The MECO is one of the major Eocene global warming events, character...

Sediment supply variations are often overlooked when interpreting depositional sequences, which tend to emphasize changes in accommodation. Here, we focus on a temporally well-constrained shallow-marine succession in the South Pyrenean Foreland Basin to test the control of sediment supply on the development of deltaic sequences during the Early Eoc...

The alternating marlstone and chalk of the Lower Cretaceous succession in the Danish Central Graben (DCG) are important for the understanding of the evolution of the larger North Sea Basin. This study focusses on the clay mineral assemblages of the upper Hauterivian – lower Aptian in the DCG and Danish Basin (DB) and their implications. Clay minera...

The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction is probably the most infamous biotic crisis in Earth’s history and has been subject to heated controversy amongst the scientific community for decades. Despite a wide agreement on the main kill mechanism being bolide impact, the contribution of Large Igneous Province volcanism (i.e., the Deccan Traps) to t...

The final 0.5-meter interval preceding the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary at Bidart (France) is critical as it records anomalously low bulk rock magnetic susceptibility and high mercury content indicating acidification linked with ongoing Deccan volcanism. Planktic foraminifera test taphonomy supports this possibility through poor preservatio...

El principal objetivo de este trabajo es explicar las diferencias de madurez de la Fm. Vaca Muerta entre afloramientos de la FPC de Chos Malal y de la región de Huantraico (subsuelo), ubicados en una transecta E-O que involucra perfiles sedimentológicos de las localidades de Chacay Melehue, Puerta Curaco y un pozo petrolero ubicado al este, sobre e...

La Fm. Vaca Muerta es una unidad marina silicoclástica-carbonática de grano fino depositada durante el Jurásico Tardío-Cretácico Temprano en la Cuenca Neuquina. La misma se constituye principalmente de margas con alto contenido orgánico (carbono orgánico total, COT < 12 %) y calizas. Dadas sus excelentes propiedades geológicas, esta unidad actualme...

There is a temporal correlation between the peak activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) and the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), suggesting that the NAIP may have initiated and/or prolonged this extreme warming event. However, corroborating a causal relationship is hampered by a scarcity of expanded sedimentary records that...

The latest significant Cretaceous carbon cycle perturbation occurred during the Coniacian-Santonian interval. Even if the term of OAE3 (Oceanic Anoxic Event) is often used, this event is not a real global oceanic anoxic and not synchronous event, but reflects more a change in local conditions. The mechanisms and palaeoenvironmental conditions leadi...

Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar a mobilização de Hg numa escombreira da exploração de carvão na Bacia Carbonífera do Douro, devida ao processo de autocombustão. Foram determinadas as concentrações de mercúrio em resíduos mineiros não queimados e queimados, colhidos a diferentes profundidades na escombreira de São de Pedro da Cova, e em m...

Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are thought to have played a significant role in all the major extinction events throughout Earth’s history. Immense atmospheric injection of volcanic CO2 and SO2 and volatiles released during thermal metamorphism of crustal rocks were likely responsible for global hyperthermia, anoxia, and extinction. However, establ...

The Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE-2) was one of the major perturbations recorded in the global carbon cycle during the Cretaceous, associated with a worldwide deposition of organic-carbon rich sediments (black shales) in the oceanic basins. Numerous studies have linked large-scale volcanism, associated with large igneous province...

Numerous glacial paleolakes took place in the French and Swiss Jura during the retreat of Würm ice sheet. Two sites were investigated: the Amburnex Valley site (Switzerland) and the Lake Val (France). During the Late Glacial period, both sites were glacial lakes characterized by significant accumulation of lacustrine sediments allowing a better and...

Major faunal and flora extinctions occurred during the Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE). Only few carbonate platforms survived during this crisis like the Guerrero-Morelos carbonate platform (SW Mexico). The δ 13 C curves of the studied sections exhibit the typical OAE2 features including a large positive excursion, which allows a bet...

Water discharge and sediment flux variations are important parameters controlling the morphodynamical behavior of rivers. Although quantitative estimates for discharge and flux variability are well constrained for modern rivers, far fewer assessments of flow and sediment flux intermittency in ancient fluvial systems from the rock record are availab...

Anomalous mercury (Hg) contents recorded near the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) are often linked to Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (STLIP) volcanism and the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction (PTBME). However, mounting evidence indicates that the relation between STLIP volcanism and Hg “anomalies” is not straightforward. This study...

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) is a global warming event mainly described in the marine domain but less in the terrestrial domain. This study presents a comprehensive geochemical record of the MECO from the Escanilla Formation, a fluvial sedimentary succession in the southern Pyrenees, Spain, based on a suite of sampled paleosols, fluvia...

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was identified for the first time in two sections (Bongue and Dibamba) from the Douala sub-basin located in the Gulf of Guinea, Cameroon. This discovery was based on a multidisciplinary approach including benthic and planktic foraminifera, ostracods, major and trace elements, mercury, carbon stable isotop...

The Phanerozoic Geology and Natural Resources of Egypt includes a series of chapters written by highly qualified group of researchers whose expertise is recognized and appreciated not only in Egypt, but also in the world over. The chapters span a wide range of geological subdisciplines including tectonics, paleogeography, stratigraphy, sedimentolog...

The Gabal Ekma section, located in the Sinai desert (Egypt), is characterised by shallow marine deposits of mixed siliciclastic/carbonate sediments of the Matulla Formation which includes the Coniacian and Santonian stages. The section exhibits significant accumulation of organic-rich intervals and phosphatic layers associated with fossiliferous ve...

During the last decades, Egypt became a focal point for studying the climate and paleoenvironmental changes during the late Paleocene early of Eocene that is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). This chapter sheds light on the climatic and paleoenvironmental changes recorded from the Egyptian sedimentary record, based on: biostrati...

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global hyperthermal event during which temperatures increased by 6-8°C within a few thousand years at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, and lasted about 250 ka resulting in ocean acidification, anoxia, and marine extinctions. The PETM coincided with the opening of the North Atlantic and the emplacement...

Ancient fluvial deposits typically display repetitive changes in their depositional architecture such as alternating intervals of coarse-grained highly amalgamated (HA), laterally-stacked, channel bodies, and finer-grained less amalgamated (LA), vertically-stacked, channels encased in floodplain deposits. Such patterns are usually ascribed to slowe...

Anomalous mercury (Hg) contents recorded near the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) are often linked to Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (STLIP) volcanism and the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction (PTBME). However, mounting evidence indicates that the relation between STLIP volcanism and Hg “anomalies” is not straightforward. This study...

Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) have been widely studied over the past decades due to their likely link to mass extinction events. Previous work involving U-Pb zircon dating of the Deccan lava flows indicates that the main phase-2 began 250 Ka before the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction boundary and continued into the early Danian, sugges...

The early Cenozoic marine sedimentary record is punctuated by several brief episodes (<200 kyr) of abrupt global warming, called hyperthermals, that have disturbed ocean life and water physicochemistry. Moreover, recent studies of fluvial–deltaic systems, for instance at the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, revealed that these hyperthermals also...

The start-up, build-up and demise of cold-water coral mounds are governed by environmental changes at global, regional and local scales. Whilst the formation of cold-water coral mounds across the globe is widely documented to follow interglacial-glacial cycles, less is known about their response to local environmental fluctuations during short time...

Anomalous mercury (Hg) contents recorded near the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) are often linked to Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province (STLIP) volcanism and the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction (PTBME). However, mounting evidence indicates that the relation between STLIP volcanism and Hg “anomalies” is not straightforward. This study...

In this study, we present evidence of a Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) record within a 543-m-thick (1780 ft) deep-marine section in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) using organic carbon stable isotopes and biostratigraphic constraints. We suggest that climate and tectonic perturbations in the upstream North American catchments can induce a substan...

Chamosite is a common marine authigenic mineral and microbial involvement has been often assumed during its formation. However, the fossil record of such microbial activity is ambiguous. Chamosite oolitic ironstones widely occur in the Upper Ordovician of the Yangtze Platform, but their origin remains unclear. In this study, detailed sedimentologic...

Increased concentration of mercury, particularly methylmercury, in the environment is a worldwide concern because of its toxicity in severely exposed humans. Although the formation of methylmercury in oxic water columns has been previously suggested, there is no evidence of the presence of microorganisms able to perform this process, using the hgcA...