泉 賢太郎

The late Pliensbachian to early Toarcian was characterized by major climatic and environmental changes, encompassing the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE, or Jenkyns Event, ∼183 Ma) and the preceding Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary event (Pl/To). Information on seawater redox conditions through this time interval has thus far come mainly from European sections deposited in hydrographically restricted basins, and hence our understanding of the redox evolution of the open ocean (and in particular Panthalassa – the largest ocean to have existed) is limited. Here, we present high-resolution Fe-speciation and redox-sensitive trace metal data from two Panthalassic Ocean sections across the Pl/To and the T-OAE intervals, one deposited in deep water (paleo-water depth >∼2.7 km) and the other on a shallow margin (paleo-water depth likely <∼50 m). Data from the deep-water open-ocean site indicate anoxic-ferruginous conditions from the late Pliensbachian to the onset of the T-OAE, with a rather fluctuating redox state alternating between oxic and anoxic/euxinic conditions across the Pl/To boundary. At least intermittent bottom-water euxinia characterized the T-OAE, followed by a subsequent transition toward more oxygenated conditions. By contrast, trace metal data from the shallow margin site indicate that oxygenated to possibly suboxic conditions prevailed. However, elevated highly reactive iron contents, dominated by Fe (oxyhydr)oxides, characterize this shallow-water site. These observations suggest that upwelling, driven in part by increased sea level and prevailing winds from the open ocean, brought anoxic-ferruginous waters onto the shelf, whereupon Fe2+ oxidation was initiated in oxic shallow waters.

The early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE, ~183 Ma) was characterized by marine deoxygenation and the burial of organic-rich sediments at numerous localities worldwide. However, the extent of marine anoxia and its impact on the sulfur cycle during the T-OAE is currently poorly understood. Here, stable sulfur isotopes of reduced metal-bound sulfur (δ34Spyrite) and pyrite sulfur concentrations (SPY) have been analyzed across the Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary (Pl-To) and the T-OAE from the Sakahogi and Sakuraguchi-dani sections (Japan), which were deposited in the deep and shallow Panthalassic Ocean, respectively. Our data reveal marked positive δ34Spyrite excursions of >10‰ across both the Pl-To and the T-OAE at Sakahogi, coincident with increases in SPY, and a positive excursion of >20‰ at the onset of the T-OAE at Sakuraguchi-dani. Whilst the development of deep-water anoxic/euxinic conditions could have resulted in an enhanced burial of pyrite, and also partly contributed to the positive excursion of δ34Spyrite, variations in δ34Spyrite at Sakahogi were most likely controlled by elevated export production and/or preservation. On the shallow shelf generally low and highly variable SPY and the positive shift in δ34Spyrite were likely attributable mainly to elevated sedimentation rates, with redox playing only a minor role in controlling pyrite abundance. Our discovery of a positive δ34Spyrite excursion across the Pl-To at Sakahogi indicates a hitherto unrecognized perturbation to the deep-water sulfur cycle, potentially associated with increased seafloor organic matter flux and pyrite burial at this time, consistent with a transient interval of anoxia.

Abstract Marine isotope stage (MIS) 19 is considered to be the best orbital analog for the present interglacial. Consequently, clarifying the climatic features of this period can provide us with insights regarding a natural baseline for assessing future climate changes. A high-resolution radiolarian record from 800 to 750 ka (MIS 20 to MIS 18) was examined from the Chiba composite section (CbCS) of the Kokumoto Formation, including the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the lower–middle Pleistocene boundary on the Boso Peninsula on the Pacific side of central Japan. Millennial-scale oscillations in the Kuroshio warm and Oyashio cold currents were revealed by the Tr index, which is estimated using a simple equation based on radiolarian assemblages. The estimated Tr values ranged between 0.1 and 0.8 for MIS 18 through MIS 19, with minimum and maximum values corresponding to values observed off present day Aomori (41°N) and the Boso Peninsula (35°N), respectively. The observed patterns tended to be synchronous with the total radiolarian abundance associated with their production. Multiple maxima in radiolarian abundance occurred during periods of the Oyashio expanded mode before 785 ka and during periods of Kuroshio extension after 785 ka in MIS 19. Such increases in radiolarian abundance with the Kuroshio extension during MIS 19 are likely related to improvements in nutrient and photic environments with the development of a two-layer structure along the Kuroshio–Oyashio boundary zone. A similar pattern of millennial-scale climatic changes was also recognized in a precipitation record from the Sulmona Basin in central Italy, suggesting a close relationship with the CbCS record as a result of a large-scale climate system similar to the Arctic Oscillation in the northern hemisphere.

[Figure presented]

千葉セクションGSSP提案チーム（ABC 順）: 羽田裕貴，林 広樹，本郷美佐緒，堀江憲路，兵頭政幸，五十嵐厚夫，石塚 治，入月俊明，板木拓也，泉賢太郎，亀尾浩司，川又基人，川村賢二，木村純一，小島隆宏，久保田好美，中里裕臣，西田尚央，岡田誠，荻津 達，奥田昌明，奥野淳一，里口保文，仙田量子，Quentin Simon，末吉哲雄，紫谷 築，菅沼悠介，菅谷真奈美，竹下欣宏，竹原真美，渡邉正巳，八武崎寿史，吉田 剛

The early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE ~ 183 Ma) was a significant palaeoenvironmental perturbation associated with marked changes in oceanic redox conditions. However, the precise redox conditions and redox history of various water masses during the T-OAE, especially those from outside the Boreal and Tethyan realms, are unclear. To address this issue, we present pyrite framboid data from an upper Pliensbachian to lower Toarcian succession deposited on the NW Panthalassa margin in a shallow-water setting (Sakuraguchi-dani section, Toyora area, SW Japan). Available data on lithofacies and redox-sensitive trace elements from the same succession suggest that dysoxic bottom-water conditions generally prevailed, with intermittent short-term oxygenation events. Size-distribution analysis of pyrite framboids reveals that framboid size populations from the silty mudstones during the T-OAE were characterized by small mean diameters and standard deviations. This suggests that euxinic conditions at least intermittently occurred during the T-OAE interval. Most likely, this water-column euxinia was associated with the expansion of an oxygen minimum zone linked to increased primary productivity. This interpretation is consistent with a previously reported increase in fluvial discharge and thus nutrient flux caused by a strengthening of the hydrological cycle.

A pronounced excursion in the carbon-isotope composition of biospheric carbon and coeval seawater warming during the early Toarcian (∼183 Ma) has been linked to the large-scale transfer of 12C-enriched carbon to the oceans and atmosphere. A European bias in the distribution of available data means that the precise pattern, tempo and global expression of this carbon cycle perturbation, and the associated environmental responses, remain uncertain. Here, we present a new cm-scale terrestrial-dominated carbon-isotope record through an expanded lower Toarcian section from Japan that displays a negative excursion pattern similar to marine and terrestrial carbon-isotope records documented from Europe. These new data suggest that 12C-enriched carbon was added to the biosphere in at least one rapid, millennial-scale pulse. Sedimentological analysis indicates a close association between the carbon-isotope excursion and high-energy sediment transport and enhanced fluvial discharge. Together, these data support the hypothesis that a sudden strengthening of the global hydrological cycle occurred in direct and immediate response to rapid carbon release and atmospheric warming.

In this paper, to evaluate the significance of Earth System Science education for improving understanding of climate change（e.g., the global warming issue）, questionnaire surveys were carried out before and after a lecture to undergraduate students. As a result, understanding regarding climate change was improved by the Earth System Scientific lecture explaining such as global carbon cycle, climatic observational data, paleoenvironmental dynamics and various proxy data. Furthermore, motivation for Earth System Science learning was also increased after the lecture. These results suggest that students can better consider specific mechanisms and/or future prospects of climate change by learning Earth System Scientific viewpoints. Therefore, the significance of adding Earth System Scientific contents to the current environmental education curriculum should be emphasized.

Trace fossils from the Pleistocene Iimuro Formation cropped out in the Komae City, Tokyo, central Japan were studied. Based on our fieldwork, Chondrites isp., cf. Phycosiphon , cf. Skolithos , and an indeterminate trace fossil were recognized in the sandy siltstones of the Iimuro Formation. Although the studied outcrop is generally used for a geological field site geared toward students, invertebrate trace fossils have been paid less attention as studied materials compared with body fossils and mammal footprints. Therefore, in this study, a general learning method focused on invertebrate trace fossils was proposed, and it was applied to the case of Iimuro Formation. As a result, paleoecological diversity and bottom-water redox environment were reconstructed by ichnological analysis of the Iimuro Formation. Furthermore, the ichnological learning method proposed by this study can be applied to other geological field site of the Kazusa Group; therefore, a potential method of field geology class at the outcrop of the Hirayama Formation cropped out in Akishima city was discussed.

A co-occurrence of the ichnogenus Phymatoderma and a star-shaped horizontal trace fossil was discovered from Neogene deep-marine deposits (Misaki Formation, central Japan), and is described herein for the first time. Phymatoderma consists of a straight to slightly curved tunnel that shows first-or second-order branches. The tunnels are 5.30-27.25mm in diameter and are filled with ellipsoidal pellets. The relatively well-preserved star-shaped trace fossil is a large horizontal structure (similar to 18 cm x 19 cm) that consists of at least 10 spokes with diameters ranging from 11.49-20.96 mm. As compared to modern analogous surface-feeding traces produced by abyssal echiuran worms and their burrow morphology, it is highly likely that the star-shaped trace fossil and Phymatoderma found from the Misaki Formation are feeding and fecal traces of ancient deep-sea echiurans, respectively. Difference in preservation potential between surface and subsurface traces may result in rare occurrence of star-shaped trace fossils as compared to Phymatoderma. Microscopic observation of the pelletal infill of Phymatoderma also reveals that the trace-maker fed on organic debris and microorganisms such as diatoms and radiolaria.

Among composite trace fossils, one of the most common structures throughout the Phanerozoic are structures (e.g., dwelling trace, feeding trace) reworked by Chondrites and/or Phycosiphon. However, differences in the nature of the reworking behaviors of these two ichnogenera remain unknown. Thus, in this study, composite Phymatoderma specimens from the Neogene deep-marine Shiramazu Formation in Japan, particularly those reworked by Chondrites and Phycosiphon, were analyzed to reveal the specific conditions that might control the activities of these trace-makers. Phymatoderma reworked by Phycosiphon is significantly larger than non-reworked Phymatoderma, whereas Phymatoderma reworked by Chondrites shows no significant difference in burrow diameter compared with non-reworked Phymatoderma. The recognized size selectivity (i.e., preference for larger burrows) by the Phycosiphon trace-maker can be explained by considering the different feeding strategies of these two ichnogenera; namely deposit-feeding Phycosiphon-makers, which must have processed a significant mass of sediment to obtain sufficient organic matter, whereas chemosymbiotic Chondrites-producers did not require a lot of sediment to obtain nutrients. In order to test these interpretations, a dataset of Phanerozoic trace fossils reworked by Chondrites/Phycosiphon were compiled. Consequently, the Phycosiphon-producers' preference toward relatively larger burrows was recognized, quantitatively supporting the results of this study. The compilation also indicates that the burrow size might have become one of the important limiting factors for the Phycosiphon-producers that tried to rework the sediments within previous subsurface burrows, at least for 80 million years.

Deposit-feeding strategies recorded in the ichnogenus Phymatoderma from the Lower Jurassic shelf-sea deposits in central (Dotternhausen, southwest Germany) and western Europe (Asturias, north Spain) are revealed by geochemical and microscopic analyses. Thin-section observations showed that the trace-maker of Phymatoderma from Asturias ingested bioclastic skeletal sediments, and that from Dotternhausen ingested fine-grained siliciclastic sediments. Geochemical analysis elucidated that the trace-makers of Phymatoderma from both Asturias and Dottemhausen were non-selective deposit feeders (i.e., indiscriminately ingesting sediment particles on the seafloor), although the ingested sediments were significantly different in lithology. Microscopic analysis revealed that the Early Jurassic Phymatoderma-producers mainly fed on calcareous nannoplankton, i.e., coccolithophores, dinoflagellates, as well as their phytodetritus. Here, we demonstrate a substrate-independent feeding mode in the Early Jurassic Phymatoderma-producers, which accords with the similar morphologic, paleogeographic, and chronologic context of Phymatodenna from Asturias and Dottemhausen. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phymatoderma is a branching burrow system consisting of tunnels filled with faecal pellets, and it has been interpreted as a product of a surface deposit-feeding animal. Elemental analyses of Phymatoderma were conducted to reveal the specific feeding mode of its tracemaker, using samples from the Lower Jurassic epicontinental shelf deposits in the Dotternhausen section, southern Germany and from the Upper Pliocene continental slope deposits in the Shioura section, central Japan. Elemental compositions of the pelletal infill of Phymatoderma and its overlying mudstone from the Dotternhausen section show no significant difference, suggesting that the tracemaker was a non-selective deposit feeder. In contrast, elemental compositions of the tuffaceous pellets of Phymatoderma from the Shioura section and its overlying volcanic ash show a difference in trends: CaO is significantly concentrated in the pellets. Because microfossils such as foraminifera and coccoliths are occasionally found in the tuffaceous pellets, CaO accumulation in the pelletal infill indicates the Phymatoderma-producer that lived in the Pliocene slope setting selectively ingested particles with higher biomass of such microorganisms (or ingested microorganisms themselves) when feeding the surface sediments. Although two types of feeding modes of the tracemaker were recognized in Phymatoderma between different bathymetrical settings, each feeding mode seems to be an effective strategy to intake nutrients from the surface sediments and to reflect an adaptation of the tracemaker to the food contents in the surrounding substrate. This study suggests that geochemical composition of faecal pellets of trace fossils can be a useful indicator of grain-selective/non-selective deposit-feeding strategies of ancient animals.