Stable isotopes, calcareous nannoplankton and benthic foraminiferal records of ODP Sites 208-1262 and 208-1263 on Walvis Ridge@en

We combine stable isotope, calcareous nannoplankton and benthic foraminiferal records for Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1262 (paleodepth ~ 3500 m) and 1263 (paleodepth ~ 1500 m) on Walvis Ridge (SE Atlantic), to document the marine biotic response to Eocene Thermal Maximum 3, in the early part of the Early Eocene Climate Optimum, ~3.1 myr after the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Bottom water warming may have decreased the vertical thermal gradient at both sites, but more at Site 1263 than at 1262. Floral and faunal changes were more muted at Site 1262 than at shallower Site 1263, indicating that carbonate dissolution was not the most important cause of biotic effects. Assemblage changes were more pronounced in benthos than in plankton. […]