Equatorial ocean circulation in an extremely warm climate

T. C. Moore, D. K. Rea, M. Lyle, L. M. Liberty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The warm climates of the early Paleogene and the associated diminished near-surface winds should have resulted in a reduction in near-surface ocean circulation. One check on this deduction is the delineation of biogenic sediments associated with an equatorial current system of the early Eocene Pacific. A latitudinal seismic reflection transect across the tropical Pacific along early Paleogene ocean crust reveals a basal high-amplitude reflection package that we take to be the lower Eocene section. This unit varies in thickness by a factor of about two, with the thickest portion forming a low mound some 3°-4° north of the 56 Ma paleoequator. This mound may represent the position of a divergence generated in the frontal region between two currents flowing in opposite directions, and its position suggests that the wind-driven equatorial circulation of the early Eocene was one without a pronounced equatorial divergence.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5-1-5-6
JournalPaleoceanography
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

Keywords

  • Pacific
  • Paleocirculation
  • Paleogene

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