Biogenic sedimentation in the eocene equatorial Pacific-The stuttering greenhouse and eocene carbonate compensation depth

CaCO₃, C_org, and biogenic SiO₂ were measured in Eocene equatorial Pacific sediments from Sites 1218 and 1219, and bulk oxygen and carbon isotopes were measured on selected intervals from Site 1219. These data delineate a series of CaCO₃ events that first appeared at ̃48 Ma and continued to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Each event lasted 1-2 m.y. and is separated from the next by a low CaCO₃ interval of a similar time span. The largest of these carbonate accumulation events (CAE-3) is in Magnetochron 18. It began at ̃42.2 Ma, lasted until ̃40.3 Ma, and was marked by higher than average productivity. The end of CAE-3 was abrupt and was associated with a large-scale carbon transfer to the oceans prior to warming of high-latitude regions. Changes in carbonate compensation depth associated with CAE excursions were small in the early part of the middle Eocene but increased to as much as 800 m by the late middle Eocene before decreasing into the late Eocene. Oxygen isotope data indicate that the carbonate events are associated with cooling conditions and may mark small glaciations in the Eocene.