Early Cretaceous chalks from the North Sea giving evidence for global change

Among calcareous nannofossils, important primary producers in Jurassic and Cretaceous oceans, nannoconids were carbonate rock-forming organisms. During the late Barremian and early Aptian (∼126 to 122 million years ago), nannoconids went through a crisis culminating during the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a. Here we present nannofossil and geochemical data from a section of early Barremian-early Aptian age from the North Sea, recording the earliest chalks ever known in the Boreal Realm. These middle-late Barremian chalks were generated by blooming of endemic nannoconids under relative warm and arid conditions. A subsequent decrease of nannoconids in the latest Barremian coincides with increased nutrient and clay input. This nannoconid decline, also detected at low latitudes, was associated with the Ontong Java Plateau emplacement. We conclude that nannoconids were rock forming also at high latitudes, under clear and oligotrophic waters. Their decline was related to increased continental runoff under reinforced greenhouse conditions.