Middle and Late Jurassic climatic, oceanographic and environmental trends along the Viking Corridor

The “polar amplification” effect, whereby the poles experience greater changes in temperature compared to the low latitudes for a given global average temperature change, makes high-latitude isotope records ideally suited to investigate fluctuations in palaeoclimate. The present study investigates palaeoclimatic and oceanographic changes along the Viking Corridor – the narrow seaway that connected the Tethys to the Arctic Boreal Realm during the Middle and Late Jurassic.

Stable-isotope data obtained from belemnites from East Greenland, originating from along the western margin of the Viking Corridor, show a M. Bathonian warming trend, which may indicate the reopening of the corridor after North Sea doming. We also discuss various controls on the carbon-isotope record that may dampen or amplify global signals. Changes in local depositional settings caused partial overprinting of the δ13C record during the Late Jurassic VOICE event.