- Adviser/Co-ordinator in Research administration, Department of Geosciences
- Researcher (50% position), Section for Study of sedimentary basins, Department of Geosciences
Tags:
Geochemistry,
Paleoclimate,
Volcanism
Publications
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Tegner, C.; Guo, P.; Chatterjee, S.; Lambart, S.; Jones, Morgan Thomas & Planke, Sverre
[Show all 27 contributors for this article]
(2026).
A whole rock geochemical dataset for magmatic rocks drilled on the mid-Norwegian margin.
Scientific Data.
13.
doi:
10.1038/s41597-026-07073-x.
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The mid-Norwegian margin is one of the best studied volcanic rifted margins on Earth. Geophysical investigations have demonstrated the presence of well-developed inner and outer Seaward Dipping Reflectors (SDRs), landward flows, lava deltas, marginal highs, volcanic centers, ash layers, and sill complexes. These features have been proven to consist of magmatic rocks through the international Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP Leg 38, 1974), Ocean Drilling Program (ODP Leg 104, 1985), International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP Expedition 396, 2021), and commercial drilling. A total of fifteen drill cores penetrated magmatic rocks that formed between 57 and 50 million years ago (Ma). Here we provide (i) new ( n = 224) major and trace element compositions obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and inductively-coupled optical emission spectrometry (ICP–OES) on whole rock powders of magmatic rocks for IODP Exp. 396 ( n = 119), ODP Exp. 104 ( n = 79), DSDP Exp. 38 ( n = 24); and (ii) a compilation of all new and published data for magmatic rocks in the fifteen drill cores ( n = 563). Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) data ( n = 381) for the IODP Exp. 396 cores are also reported. These datasets provide a resource for examining the origin of magmatism associated with continental breakup and rifted margin formation, particularly the formation of excess magmatism compared to normal mid-oceanic spreading ridges, mantle-crust interaction, and the linkage of magmatism to global hyperthermal events on Earth’s surface.
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Jones, Morgan Thomas; Augland, Lars Eivind; Ovtcharova, Maria; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Ganerød, Morgan & Planke, Sverre
(2025).
New constraints on the absolute age and duration of the Paleocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) from ash layer +19 in Denmark.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
ISSN 0012-821X.
671.
doi:
10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119643.
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Precise age constraints for the onset and duration of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) are essential for understanding the mechanisms that triggered and sustained this major climate perturbation. However, establishing a precise PETM geochronology is complicated by uncertainties in orbital tuning and a current lack of precise radiometrically dated marker horizons. An early Eocene rhyolitic ash layer named +19 is a promising marker horizon due to its distinct geochemistry, its occurrence in key offshore archives, and well-preserved outcrops in Denmark such as Stolleklint, where it conformably overlies PETM strata. We present a new high-precision U-Pb zircon age of 55.331 ± 0.053/(0.060)/[0.080] Ma for ash +19, supported by a new Ar-Ar age of 55.424 ± 0.115/(0.116)/[0.320] Ma within uncertainty. The ash +19 U-Pb age enables direct comparison with ash SB01–1 in Svalbard that was erupted during the PETM carbon isotope excursion (CIE), yielding a 454 ± 90 kyr interval between the two layers. This provides a robust geochronological link from the PETM to ash +19 that is independent of stratigraphic interpretations. Using end-member PETM durations (94–170 kyr), we estimate the time between the PETM onset and ash +19 as 528–604 ± 102 kyr, which is significantly shorter than the 862 ± 20 kyr interval derived from astronomical tuning. Adopting the longer helium isotope-based PETM duration yields an onset age of 55.935 ± 0.102 Ma, with a CIE recovery end at 55.700 Ma. A shorter PETM duration requires a younger PETM onset age. The positive ash series in Denmark, correlating with the offshore Balder Formation, is now constrained to a 250 kyr interval between 55.367 and 55.117 ± 0.080 Ma. This refined age model provides a robust framework for testing and improving early Eocene astronomical time scales.
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Vickers, Madeleine Larissa; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Longman, Jack; Evans, David; Ullmann, Clemens V. & Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg
[Show all 33 contributors for this article]
(2024).
Paleocene-Eocene age glendonites from the Mid-Norwegian Margin - indicators of cold snaps in the hothouse?
Climate of the Past.
ISSN 1814-9324.
20,
p. 1–23.
doi:
10.5194/cp-20-1-2024.
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Abstract. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 396 to the mid-Norwegian margin recovered > 1300 m of pristinely preserved, volcanic-ash-rich sediments deposited during the late Paleocene and early Eocene from close to the centre of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP). Remarkably, many of these cores contain glendonites, pseudomorphs after the purported cold-water mineral ikaite, from sediments dated to the late Paleocene and early Eocene. These time intervals span some of the hottest climates of the Cenozoic, including the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Global deep-ocean temperatures are not thought to have dropped below 10 ∘C at any point during this time, making the occurrence of supposedly cold-water (near-freezing temperature) glendonite pseudomorphs seemingly paradoxical. This study presents a detailed sedimentological, geochemical, and microscopic study of the IODP Exp. 396 glendonites and presents an updated model for the ikaite-to-calcite transformation for these glendonites. Specifically, we show that early diagenesis of basaltic ashes of the NAIP appear to have chemically promoted ikaite growth in the sediments in this region. Together with existing knowledge of late Paleocene and early Eocene glendonites from Svalbard to the north and early Eocene glendonites from Denmark to the south, these new glendonite finds possibly imply episodic, short-duration, and likely localized cooling in the Nordic Seas region, which may have been directly or indirectly linked to the emplacement of the NAIP.
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Jones, Morgan Thomas; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Rooney, Alan D.; Frieling, Joost; Strandmann, Philip A. E. Pogge von & Wilson, David J. D.
[Show all 15 contributors for this article]
(2023).
Tracing North Atlantic volcanism and seaway connectivity across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
Climate of the Past.
ISSN 1814-9324.
19(8),
p. 1623–1652.
doi:
10.5194/cp-19-1623-2023.
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Abstract. There is a temporal correlation between the peak activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) and the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), suggesting that the NAIP may have initiated and/or prolonged this extreme warming event. However, corroborating a causal relationship is hampered by a scarcity of expanded sedimentary records that contain both climatic and volcanic proxies. One locality hosting such a record is Fur Island in Denmark, where an expanded pre- to post-PETM succession containing hundreds of NAIP ash layers is exceptionally well preserved. We compiled a range of environmental proxies, including mercury (Hg) anomalies, paleotemperature proxies, and lithium (Li) and osmium (Os) isotopes, to trace NAIP activity, hydrological changes, weathering, and seawater connectivity across this interval. Volcanic proxies suggest that NAIP activity was elevated before the PETM and appears to have peaked during the body of the δ13C excursion, but decreased considerably during the PETM recovery. This suggests that the acme in NAIP activity, dominated by flood basalt volcanism and thermogenic degassing from contact metamorphism, was likely confined to just ~200 kyr (ca. 56.0–55.8 Ma). The hundreds of thick basaltic ashes in the post-PETM strata likely represent a change from effusive to explosive activity, rather than an increase in NAIP activity. Detrital δ7Li values and clay abundances suggest that volcanic ash production increased basaltic reactive surface area, likely enhancing silicate weathering and atmospheric carbon sequestration in the early Eocene. Signals in lipid biomarkers and Os isotopes, traditionally used to trace paleotemperature and weathering changes, are used here to track seaway connectivity. These proxies indicate that the North Sea was rapidly cut off from the North Atlantic in under 12 kyr during the PETM recovery due to NAIP thermal uplift. Our findings reinforce the hypothesis that the emplacement of the NAIP had a profound and complex impact on Paleocene–Eocene climate, both directly through volcanic and thermogenic degassing, and indirectly by driving regional uplift and changing seaway connectivity.
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Longman, Jack; Gernon, Thomas M.; Palmer, Martin R.; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg & Svensen, Henrik Hovland
(2021).
Marine diagenesis of tephra aided the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum termination.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
ISSN 0012-821X.
571.
doi:
10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117101.
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Strandmann, Philip A.E. Pogge Von; Jones, Morgan Thomas; West, West Joshua; Murphy, Melissa J.; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg & Tarbuck, Gary
[Show all 9 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Lithium isotope evidence for enhanced weathering and erosion during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Science Advances.
7(42).
doi:
10.1126/sciadv.abh4224.
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The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ~55.9 Ma) was a geologically rapid warming period associated with carbon release, which caused a marked increase in the hydrological cycle. Here, we use lithium (Li) isotopes to assess the global change in weathering regime, a critical carbon drawdown mechanism, across the PETM. We find a negative Li isotope excursion of ~3‰ in both global seawater (marine carbonates) and in local weathering inputs (detrital shales). This is consistent with a very large delivery of clays to the oceans or a shift in the weathering regime toward higher physical erosion rates and sediment fluxes. Our seawater records are best explained by increases in global erosion rates of ~2× to 3× over 100 ka, combined with model-derived weathering increases of 50 to 60% compared to prewarming values. Such increases in weathering and erosion would have supported enhanced carbon burial, as both carbonate and organic carbon, thereby stabilizing climate.
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Stokke, Ella W.; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Riber, Lars; Haflidason, Haflidi; Midtkandal, Ivar & Schultz, Bo
[Show all 7 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Rapid and sustained environmental responses to global warming: The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in the eastern North Sea.
Climate of the Past.
ISSN 1814-9324.
17(5),
p. 1989–2013.
doi:
10.5194/cp-17-1989-2021.
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The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ∼ 55.9 Ma) was a period of rapid and sustained global warming associated with significant carbon emissions. It coincided with the North Atlantic opening and emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP), suggesting a possible causal relationship. Only a very limited number of PETM studies exist from the North Sea, despite its ideal position for tracking the impact of both changing climate and NAIP activity. Here we present sedimentological, mineralogical, and geochemical proxy data from Denmark in the eastern North Sea, exploring the environmental response to the PETM. An increase in the chemical index of alteration and a kaolinite content up to 50 % of the clay fraction indicate an influx of terrestrial input shortly after the PETM onset and during the recovery, likely due to an intensified hydrological cycle. The volcanically derived zeolite and smectite minerals comprise up to 36 % and 90 % of the bulk and clay mineralogy respectively, highlighting the NAIP's importance as a sediment source for the North Sea and in increasing the rate of silicate weathering during the PETM. X-Ray fluorescence element core scans also reveal possible hitherto unknown NAIP ash deposition both prior to and during the PETM. Geochemical proxies show that an anoxic to sulfidic environment persisted during the PETM, particularly in the upper half of the PETM body with high concentrations of molybdenum (MoEF > 30), uranium (UEF up to 5), sulfur (∼ 4 wt %), and pyrite (∼ 7 % of bulk). At the same time, export productivity and organic-matter burial reached its maximum intensity. These new records reveal that negative feedback mechanisms including silicate weathering and organic carbon sequestration rapidly began to counteract the carbon cycle perturbations and temperature increase and remained active throughout the PETM. This study highlights the importance of shelf sections in tracking the environmental response to the PETM climatic changes and as carbon sinks driving the PETM recovery.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Tierney, Jessica; Svensen, Henrik & Whiteside, Jessica H.
(2020).
Temperature changes across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum – a new high-resolution TEX86 temperature record from the Eastern North Sea Basin.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
ISSN 0012-821X.
544.
doi:
10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116388.
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The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ∼55.9 Ma) was a hyperthermal event associated with large carbon cycle perturbations, sustained global warming, and marine and terrestrial environmental changes. One possible trigger and/or source of the carbon release that initiated the PETM is the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP). This study focuses on an expanded section of marine clays and diatomite on Fur Island in northern Denmark, where the entire PETM sequence has been identified by a negative ∼4.5‰ CTOC excursion. This remarkably well-preserved section also contains >180 interbedded ash layers sourced from the NAIP, making it an ideal site for investigating the correlations between large-scale volcanism and environmental changes. This study provides a new and complete high-resolution TEX86-derived sea-surface temperature (SST) reconstruction over the entire PETM and the post-PETM section (up to about 54.6 Ma). The palaeothermometry record indicates an apparent short-lived cooling episode in the late Paleocene, followed by a pronounced temperature response to the PETM carbon cycle perturbations with a ∼10 °C SST increase during the PETM onset (up to ∼33 °C). Extreme SSTs fall shortly after the PETM onset, and continue to decrease during the PETM body and recovery, down to anomalously cool SSTs post-PETM (∼11–23 °C). Both phases of potential cooling coincide with proxies of active NAIP volcanism, suggesting a causal connection, although several overprinting non-thermal factors complicate interpretations of the TEX86 values. Indices of effusive and explosive NAIP volcanism are largely absent from the Danish stratigraphy during the PETM body, though a re-emergence toward the end of the PETM suggest NAIP volcanism might have played a role in the PETM termination in the North Sea. This new SST record completes the previous fragmented view of climate changes at this globally important PETM site, and indicates large temperature variations in the North Sea during the earliest Eocene that are possibly linked to NAIP volcanism.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Liu, Emma & Jones, Morgan Thomas
(2020).
Evidence of explosive hydromagmatic eruptions during the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province.
Volcanica.
3(2),
p. 227–250.
doi:
10.30909/vol.03.02.227250.
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Early Eocene sediments in northwest Denmark contain over 180 well-preserved volcanic ash layers, likely sourced from the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) between 56.0 and 54.6 Ma. Most of these ashes are basaltic, widespread, and represent a phase of unusually large and explosive eruptions that is coincident with the opening of the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Explosive basaltic eruptions of this magnitude are unheard of in historical times and in the current geological record. Here, we combine analyses of glass sulfur concentrations and variations in morphology and vesicularity of pristine volcanic glass grains to explore the possible eruptive processes promoting such widespread basaltic ash dispersal. We suggest that these ashes formed in shallow subaqueous environments (<200 m water depth) where they fragmented and rapidly quenched during explosive hydromagmatic activity. We speculate that magma-water interaction during the opening of the northeast Atlantic was the main cause of this unusual explosive basaltic activity.
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Jones, Morgan Thomas; Percival, Lawrence; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Frieling, Joost; Mather, Tasmin A. & Riber, Lars
[Show all 11 contributors for this article]
(2019).
Mercury anomalies across the Palaeocene–Eocene
Thermal Maximum.
Climate of the Past.
ISSN 1814-9324.
15(1),
p. 217–236.
doi:
10.5194/cp-15-217-2019.
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Large-scale magmatic events like the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) are often coincident with periods of extreme climate change such as the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). One proxy for volcanism in the geological record that is receiving increased attention is the use of mercury (Hg) anomalies. Volcanic eruptions are among the dominant natural sources of Hg to the environment; thus, elevated Hg∕TOC values in the sedimentary rock record may reflect an increase in volcanic activity at the time of deposition. Here we focus on five continental shelf sections located around the NAIP in the Palaeogene. We measured Hg concentrations, total organic carbon (TOC) contents, and δ13C values to assess how Hg deposition fluctuated across the PETM carbon isotope excursion (CIE). We find a huge variation in Hg anomalies between sites. The Grane field in the North Sea, the most proximal locality to the NAIP analysed, shows Hg concentrations up to 90 100 ppb (Hg∕TOC = 95 700 ppb wt %−1) in the early Eocene. Significant Hg∕TOC anomalies are also present in Danish (up to 324 ppb wt %−1) and Svalbard (up to 257 ppb wt %−1) sections prior to the onset of the PETM and during the recovery period, while the Svalbard section also shows a continuous Hg∕TOC anomaly during the body of the CIE. The combination with other tracers of volcanism, such as tephra layers and unradiogenic Os isotopes, at these localities suggests that the Hg∕TOC anomalies reflect pulses of magmatic activity. In contrast, we do not observe clear Hg anomalies on the New Jersey shelf (Bass River) or the Arctic Ocean (Lomonosov Ridge). This large spatial variance could be due to more regional Hg deposition. One possibility is that phreatomagmatic eruptions and hydrothermal vent complexes formed during the emplacement of sills led to submarine Hg release, which is observed to result in limited distribution in the modern era. The Hg∕TOC anomalies in strata deposited prior to the CIE may suggest that magmatism linked to the emplacement of the NAIP contributed to the initiation of the PETM. However, evidence for considerable volcanism in the form of numerous tephra layers and Hg∕TOC anomalies post-PETM indicates a complicated relationship between LIP volcanism and climate. Factors such as climate system feedbacks, changes to the NAIP emplacement style, and/or varying magma production rates may be key to both the onset and cessation of hyperthermal conditions during the PETM. However, processes such as diagenesis and organic matter sourcing can have a marked impact on Hg∕TOC ratios and need to be better constrained before the relationship between Hg anomalies and volcanic activity can be considered irrefutable.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Gasser, Deta; Dalslåen, Bjørgunn Heggem & Grenne, Tor
(2018).
Tectonic evolution of syn- to late-orogenic sedimentary- volcanic basins in the central Norwegian Caledonides.
Journal of the Geological Society.
ISSN 0016-7649.
175(4),
p. 605–618.
doi:
10.1144/jgs2017-091.
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We present new structural, geochemical and U–Pb zircon data from syn- to late-orogenic sedimentary–volcanic basins in the southwestern part of the Trondheim Nappe Complex, central Norwegian Caledonides. In this area, a succession of enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt type metabasalt, jasper, ribbon chert with associated sandstone and conglomerate, and green siltstone is interpreted to represent volcanism and sedimentation in a hitherto little-known spreading-dominated tectonic environment. This environment is different from the suprasubduction-zone ophiolite setting dominating the Iapetus rock record elsewhere in the Scandinavian Caledonides. This volcanic and sedimentary succession was overturned and isoclinally folded in a pre-427 Ma orogenic phase. Post-427 Ma cross-bedded sandstones were deposited on the eroded surface of the previously deformed rocks, representing a rare example of a late Silurian or younger sedimentary basin within the Scandinavian Caledonides. The cross-bedded sandstones are intercalated with and/or overlain by post-427 Ma intermediate volcanic or subvolcanic rocks of calc-alkaline composition, representing a hitherto unknown volcanic phase within the Trondheim Nappe Complex and elsewhere within the Scandinavian Caledonides. Their particular geochemical signature could be the result of late-stage subduction-zone volcanism just prior to the onset of continent–continent collision between Baltica and Laurentia, or much younger post-collisional extensional melting with inherited subduction signatures.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Liu, Emma J. & Jones, Morgan Thomas
(2022).
Explosive hydromagmatic eruptions during the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province: A story of volcanic ash.
Full text in Research Archive
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Liu, Emma J.; Longman, Jack; Jerram, Dougal Alexander; Millett, John M & Jones, Morgan Thomas
(2021).
Evidence of unusually explosive hydromagmatic eruptions and their role in the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province.
Full text in Research Archive
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Jones, Morgan Thomas; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Augland, Lars Eivind; Svensen, Henrik; Strandmann, Philip A.E. Pogge von & Rooney, Alan
(2020).
Constraining the activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Liu, Emma J. & Jones, Morgan Thomas
(2020).
Eruption mechanism and volatile budget of the early Eocene Danish ash series, and implications for the emplacement of the North Atlantic Igneous Province.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Tierney, Jessica E.; Riber, Lars; Svensen, Henrik & Whiteside, Jessica H.
(2020).
Volcanic cooling followed by a warm and wet Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in Denmark.
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Jones, Morgan Thomas; Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Stradmann, Philip Pogge von; Augland, Lars Eivind; Svensen, Henrik & Whiteside, Jessica H.
[Show all 7 contributors for this article]
(2019).
Ashlantic: A multi-proxy approach to understanding the relationship between the North Atlantic Igneous Province and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg
(2019).
Linking environmental changes and volcanic ash falls from onset to recovery of the PETM: a case study from Fur, Denmark.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg
(2019).
Linking warming, environmental changes, and volcanic ash falls from onset to recovery of the PETM – A multi-proxy study from Fur, Denmark.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Hammer, Øyvind & Svensen, Henrik
(2018).
Geochemical variations during the PETM and later Eocene
hyperthermals: investigating a new drill core from Fur, Denmark.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Whiteside, Jessica H.; Svensen, Henrik; Hammer, Øyvind & Jones, Morgan Thomas
(2018).
Linking warming, environmental changes, and volcanic ash falls from onset to recovery of the PETM: investigations from Fur, Denmark.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Jones, Morgan Thomas; Hammer, Øyvind & Svensen, Henrik
(2018).
Geochemistry of Paleocene- Eocene sediments on Fur,
Denmark: Linking volcanism and climatic changes.
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Stokke, Ella Wulfsberg; Gasser, Deta; Dalslåen, Bjørgunn Heggem & Grenne, Tor
(2017).
Marginal basin volcanism, Silurian
sandstone sedimentation and subduction-
zone volcanism at Dugurdsknappen,
Mid-Norwegian Caledonides.
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Published
Aug. 1, 2017 11:17 AM
- Last modified
Oct. 25, 2023 1:09 PM