Increasing opal productivity in the Late Eocene Southern Ocean: Evidence for increased carbon export preceding the Eocene-Oligocene glaciation

Abstract

The Eocene/Oligocene Transition represents a period of profound changes in diatom productivity and evolutionary history within the Cenozoic era. Unraveling how these changes correlate with climatic shifts during this transition is crucial for understanding the potential role of diatoms in the cooling trends observed at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (∼ 33.9 Ma). Current research predominantly relies on bulk opal accumulation measurements to assess productivity dynamics, which fails to distinguish the contribution of different biosiliceous (e.g., diatom versus radiolarian) plankton to total biogenic silica productivity. Furthermore, despite the fundamental role of community composition and diversity in diatom productivity and carbon sequestration, these factors are often not incorporated in existing studies focusing on the late Paleogene diatom productivity. The main objective of our work is to explore the potential roles of diatom communities in the Late Eocene climatic changes by focusing on diatom- and radiolarian-specific productivity across multiple Southern Ocean sites, rather than bulk opal measurements, and by incorporating total diatom abundance into the analysis of diatom diversity evolution throughout the Eocene/Oligocene transition. By quantifying diatom and radiolarian abundances across four Southern Ocean sites in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean sectors, and analyzing diatom productivity through recent reconstructions of diatom diversity from approximately 40–30 Ma interval, our findings reveal a significant increase in diatom abundance coupled with notable shifts in community diversity. These changes suggest a potential ecological shift, likely associated with the development of stronger circum-Antarctic currents in the Late Eocene. Such shifts could have influenced the efficiency of the biological carbon pump by enhancing organic carbon export to the deep ocean and thus potentially contributing to reduced atmospheric CO2 levels. While our findings indicate that the expansion of diatoms may have been a part of the mechanisms underlying the Late Eocene cooling, they also highlight the importance of integrating diatom diversity and community evolution into diatom productivity research. Furthermore, our results offer valuable insights into the complex relationship between diatom abundance and diversity in the geological record, reflecting the intricate interplay of environmental and climatic factors.