ECOSTRATIGRAPHY OF PETM RECORDS, NEW JERSEY COASTAL MARGIN

Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) sections from the New Jersey Coastal Margin have been extensively studied to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes during this time of extreme warmth. However, fundamental issues regarding the stratigraphic completeness and correlations of these PETM deposits relative to deep-sea records remain unresolved. In this study, we emphasize the importance of taxonomy, phylogeny and ecology of foraminifera in addressing these issues. We show that simply lumping planktonic foraminiferal species based on their generic designation can yield mixed results. Instead, a phylogenetic-ecologic based-approach in framing and generating isotopic data indicates new patterns and robust correlation for several PETM sections. We also distinguish two benthic foraminiferal ecologic assemblages, the pre-PETM and stressed-PETM assemblages. This differentiation allows us to recognize the abrupt and gradual nature in δ¹³C_benthic and δ¹⁸O_benthic, respectively, as well as the reworked nature of the δ¹³C_bulk record at the onset of the PETM.