Decadal–centennial-scale solar-linked climate variations and millennial-scale internal oscillations during the Early Cretaceous

Understanding climate variability and stability under extremely warm ‘greenhouse’ conditions in the past is essential for future climate predictions. However, information on millennial-scale (and shorter) climate variability during such periods is scarce, owing to a lack of suitable high-resolution, deep-time archives. Here we present a continuous record of decadal- to orbital-scale continental climate variability from annually laminated lacustrine deposits formed during the late Early Cretaceous (123–120 Ma: late Barremian–early Aptian) in southeastern Mongolia. Inter-annual changes in lake algal productivity for a 1091-year interval reveal a pronounced solar influence on decadal- to centennial-scale climatic variations (including the ~ 11-year Schwabe cycle). Decadally-resolved Ca/Ti ratios (proxy for evaporation/precipitation changes) for a ~ 355-kyr long interval further indicate millennial-scale (~ 1000–2000-yr) extreme drought events in inner-continental areas of mid-latitude palaeo-Asia during the Cretaceous. Millennial-scale oscillations in Ca/Ti ratio show distinct amplitude modulation (AM) induced by the precession, obliquity and short eccentricity cycles. Similar millennial-scale AM by Milankovitch cycle band was also previously observed in the abrupt climatic oscillations (known as Dansgaard–Oeschger events) in the ‘intermediate glacial’ state of the late Pleistocene, and in their potential analogues in the Jurassic ‘greenhouse’. Our findings indicate that external solar activity forcing was effective on decadal–centennial timescales, whilst the millennial-scale variations were likely amplified by internal process such as changes in deep-water formation strength, even during the Cretaceous ‘greenhouse’ period

Biogenically induced bedded chert formation in the alkaline palaeo-lake of the Green River Formation

Rhythmically bedded cherts are observed in both pelagic marine and lacustrine deposits, but the formation mechanism in the latter remains highly uncertain. Our study of alternating chert–dolomite beds in the Eocene Green River Formation, Utah, USA reveals dense accumulations of organic-matter spheres (30–50 μm diameter) of probable algal cyst origin in the chert layers, and centennial- to millennial-scale periodicities in chert layer deposition. A positive correlation between the degree of degradation of the organic spheres and Si distribution implies decomposition of algal organic matter lead to precipitation of lacustrine chert. As both alkalinity and dissolved silica were likely high in the palaeo-lake waters of the Green River Formation, we hypothesize that decomposition of algal organic matter lowered the pH of sediment pore waters and caused silica precipitation. We propose a formation model in which the initial abundance of algal organic matter in sediment varies with productivity at the lake surface, and the decomposition of this algal matter controls the extent of silica precipitation in sediment. The formation of rhythmically bedded chert–dolomite may be linked to centennial- to millennial-scale climatic/environmental factors that modulate algal productivity, which are possibly tied to solar activity cycles known to have similar periodicities