Revisiting K-Pg boundary with lithium isotopes: divergent marine and continental responses
Abstract
Seawater lithium isotope records (δ⁷Li) are powerful tools for investigating long term climate change and its relationship with continental silicate weathering. While most past ocean δ⁷Li reconstructions rely on foraminifera-rich carbonates, we introduce a novel approach using marine authigenic clays. Our findings demonstrate that clay authigenesis is an abiotic process that fractionates Li isotopes consistently in laboratory settings and across marine sediments. We apply this method to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, a critical interval marked by one of Earth's five largest mass extinctions, and present a new clay derived seawater δ⁷Li record (64-69 Ma). Our results, compared with those of the carbonate record, uncover a dual environmental disturbance. The clay record indicates a protracted perturbation initiated at 69 Ma, driven by gradual shifts in soils, fluvial systems, and continental weathering, which remained largely unaffected by Deccan volcanism or the meteorite impact. In contrast, abrupt fluctuations are recorded in marine carbonates at 66 ± 0.3 Ma, signaling short lived yet significant changes of oceanic carbon chemistry. These findings highlight the asynchronous behaviour of terrestrial and marine systems during this major ecological transition.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026revisiting,
title = {{Revisiting K-Pg boundary with lithium isotopes: divergent marine and continental responses}},
author = {Chengfan Yang and Mathis Neimard and Arbia Jouini and Anne-Marie Karpoff and Greg Ravizza and Alain Decarreau and Daniel Beaufort and Sabine Petit and Maryline Montanes and Marie Emmanuelle Kerros and Laurie Reisberg and Nathalie Vigier},
journal = {Geochemical Perspectives Letters},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.7185/geochemlet.2628},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05735848v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Revisiting K-Pg boundary with lithium isotopes: divergent marine and continental responses
AU - Chengfan Yang
AU - Mathis Neimard
AU - Arbia Jouini
AU - Anne-Marie Karpoff
AU - Greg Ravizza
AU - Alain Decarreau
AU - Daniel Beaufort
AU - Sabine Petit
AU - Maryline Montanes
AU - Marie Emmanuelle Kerros
AU - Laurie Reisberg
AU - Nathalie Vigier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
JO - Geochemical Perspectives Letters
DO - 10.7185/geochemlet.2628
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05735848v1
AB - Seawater lithium isotope records (δ⁷Li) are powerful tools for investigating long term climate change and its relationship with continental silicate weathering. While most past ocean δ⁷Li reconstructions rely on foraminifera-rich carbonates, we introduce a novel approach using marine authigenic clays. Our findings demonstrate that clay authigenesis is an abiotic process that fractionates Li isotopes consistently in laboratory settings and across marine sediments. We apply this method to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, a critical interval marked by one of Earth's five largest mass extinctions, and present a new clay derived seawater δ⁷Li record (64-69 Ma). Our results, compared with those of the carbonate record, uncover a dual environmental disturbance. The clay record indicates a protracted perturbation initiated at 69 Ma, driven by gradual shifts in soils, fluvial systems, and continental weathering, which remained largely unaffected by Deccan volcanism or the meteorite impact. In contrast, abrupt fluctuations are recorded in marine carbonates at 66 ± 0.3 Ma, signaling short lived yet significant changes of oceanic carbon chemistry. These findings highlight the asynchronous behaviour of terrestrial and marine systems during this major ecological transition.
SN - 2410-339X
SN - 2410-3403
ER -