Jovane, Luigi

Since the first studies on biogeophysics in the early 2000s our understanding of how biogeochemical processes affect geophysical signatures has significantly improved. This interdisciplinary field now incorporates and integrates environmental and rock magnetism with traditional biological and geochemical methods to interpret geophysical signatures in highly dynamic environments (e.g., biogeochemical hotspots, contamination plumes). Environmental magnetism, in particular, can trace environmental changes by identifying magnetic mineral transformations induced from several biogeochemical processes. This Special Issue includes papers that present applications of environmental and rock magnetism in biogeophysics and discuss their impact on Earth Sciences.

During the middle Eocene to early Oligocene Earth transitioned from a greenhouse to an icehouse climate state. The interval comprises the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO; ~40 Ma) and a subsequent long-term cooling trend that culminated in the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT; ~34 Ma) with the Oi-1 glaciation. Here, we present a refined calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and an orbitally tuned age model for the Monte Cagnero (MCA) section spanning the middle Eocene to the early Oligocene (~41 to ~33 Ma). Spectral analysis of magnetic susceptibility (MS) data displays strong cyclicities in the orbital frequency band allowing us to tune the identified 405 kyr eccentricity minima in the MS record to their equivalents in the astronomical solution. Our orbitally tuned age model allows us to estimate the position and duration of polarity chrons (C18 to C13) and compare them with other standard and orbitally tuned ages. We were also able to constrain the timing and duration of the MECO event, which coincides with a minimum in the 2.4 Myr and 405 kyr eccentricity cycles. Our study corroborates the previous estimated age for the base of the Rupelian stage (33.9 Ma) and estimates the base of the Priabonian stage in the MCA section to be at 37.4 Ma. Finally, calcareous nannofossils with known paleoenvironmental preferences suggest a gradual shift from oligotrophic to meso-eutrophic conditions with an abrupt change at ~36.8 Ma. Besides, nannofossil assemblages suggest that enhanced nutrient availability pre- ceded water cooling at the late Eocene. Altogether, this evidence points to a poorly developed water column stratification prior to the cooling trend.

We investigated the calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy of middle Eocene – lower Oligocene sediments from ODP Hole 709 C, equatorial Indian Ocean. The new bio-magnetostratigraphic analyses have resulted in an accurate biochronology of the interval span- ning Chrons C20r (middle Eocene) to C12r, in which 29 bioevents were investigated, in a 12 myr interval. The magnetostratigraphic signal is less clear across the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) but becomes more reliable at the top of Chron C13n to Chron C12r (early Oligocene). Quantitative analyses of calcareous nannofossil as- semblages allowed recognition of the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) and the long cooling trend leading to the glacial state starting in the early Oligocene. We identify two hiatuses, in the lower middle Eocene and across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT). Across the latter unconformity, a major transition from oligotrophic to eutrophic favoring nannofossil taxa highlights the enhanced sea surface nutrient availability during the transition to the early Oligocene glacial system. Finally, a late Oligocene warming event is recorded at this site by the increase in calcareous nannofossil taxa that preferred warm water.

New paleomagnetic results from the late Eocene-Middle Miocene samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 274, cored during Leg 28 on the continental rise off Victoria Land, Ross Sea, provide a chronostratigraphic framework for an existing paleoclimate archive during a key period of Antarctic climate and ice sheet evolution. Based on this new age model, the cored late Eocene-Middle Miocene sequence covers an interval of almost 20 Myr (from ∼35 to ∼15 Ma). Biostratigraphic constraints allow a number of possible correlations with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale. Regardless of correlation, average interval sediment accumulation rates above 260 mbsf are ∼6 cm/kyr with the record punctuated by a number of unconformities. Below 260 mbsf (across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary) interval, sedimentation accumulation rates are closer to ∼1 cm/kyr. A major unconformity identified at ∼180 mbsf represents at least 9 Myr accounting for the late Oligocene and Early Miocene and represent non-deposition and/or erosion due to intensification of Antarctic Circumpolar Current activity. Significant fluctuations in grain size and magnetic properties observed above the unconformity at 180 mbsf, in the Early Miocene portion of this sedimentary record, reflect cyclical behavior in glacial advance and retreat from the continent. Similar glacial cyclicity has already been identified in other Miocene sequences recovered in drill cores from the Antarctic margin.

During the 2007 ANtarctic geological DRILLing (ANDRILL) campaign in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, the AND-2A core was recovered through a stratigraphic succession spanning 1,138.54m of Neogene sedimentary rocks that include an expanded early to middle Miocene sequence. The study reported here focuses on the magnetic properties of the interval from 778.63m below sea floor (mbsf) to 1,138.54mbsf, which comprises a time interval spanning 1.5Myr, from 18.7 to 20.2Ma. We recognize three main pulses of increased input of magnetic materials to the drill site between 778.34-903.06, 950.55-995.78, and 1,040-1,103.96mbsf. Trends in the magnetic mineral concentration dependent parameters mirror changes in the proportion of sediments derived from McMurdo Volcanic Group rocks. We suggest that these pulses in magnetic mineral concentration reflect changes in sediment transport processes associated with changing glacial conditions at the drill site that included (1) subglacial and grounding zone proximal settings, (2) hemipelagic and neritic conditions with abundant sediment-rich icebergs, and (3) grounding zone-distal environment that was covered by land-fast multiyear sea ice or a fringing ice shelf. The magnetic minerals record preserved in the AND-2A core supports other data that indicate a highly dynamic and variable coastal environment during the early Miocene, where glaciers retreated inland under warm climatic conditions and advanced beyond the drill site across the continental shelf when cold climate prevailed.

Earth's climate experienced a warming event known as the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) at ~ 40 Ma, which was an abrupt reversal of a long-term Eocene cooling trend. This event is characterized in the deep Southern, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans by a distinct negative δ18O excursion over 500 kyr. We report results of high-resolution paleontological, geochemical, and rock magnetic investigations of the Neo-Tethyan Monte Cagnero (MCA) section (northeastern Apennines, Italy), which can be correlated on the basis of magneto- and biostratigraphic results to the MECO event recorded in deep-sea sections. In the MCA section, an interval with a relative increase in eutrophic nannofossil taxa (and decreased abundances of oligotrophic taxa) spans the culmination of the MECO warming and its aftermath and coincides with a positive carbon isotope excursion, and a peak in magnetite and hematite/goethite concentration. The magnetite peak reflects the appearance of putative magnetofossils, while the hematite/goethite apex is attributed to an enhanced detrital mineral contribution, likely as aeolian dust transported from the continent adjacent to the Neo-Tethys Ocean during a drier, more seasonal climate during the peak MECO warming. Based on our new geochemical, paleontological and magnetic records, the MECO warming peak and its immediate aftermath are interpreted as a period of high primary productivity. Sea-surface iron fertilization is inferred to have stimulated high phytoplankton productivity, increasing organic carbon export to the seafloor and promoting enhanced biomineralization of magnetotactic bacteria, which are preserved as putative magnetofossils during the warmest periods of the MECO event in the MCA section. Together with previous studies, our work reinforces the connection between hyperthermal climatic events and the occurrence (or increased abundance) of putative magnetofossils in the sedimentary record.

Pelagic carbonates are deposited far from continents, usually at water depths of 3000–6000 m, at rates below 10 cm/kyr, and are a globally important sediment type. Recent advances, with recognition of widespread preservation of biogenic magnetite (the inorganic remains of magnetotactic bacteria), have fundamentally changed our understanding of the magnetic properties of pelagic carbonates. We review evidence for the magnetic minerals typically preserved in pelagic carbonates, the effects of magnetic mineral diagenesis on paleomagnetic and environmental magnetic records of pelagic carbonates, and what magnetic properties can tell us about the open-ocean environments in which pelagic carbonates are deposited. We also discuss briefly late diagenetic remagnetisations recorded by some carbonates. Despite recent advances in our knowledge of these phenomena, much remains undiscovered. We are only at early stages of understanding how biogenic magnetite gives rise to paleomagnetic signals in sediments and whether it carries a poorly understood biogeochemical remanent magnetisation. Recently developed techniques have potential for testing how different magnetotactic bacterial species, which produce different magnetite morphologies, respond to changing nutrient and oxygenation conditions. Future work needs to test whether it is possible to develop proxies for ancient nutrient conditions from well-calibrated modern magnetotactic bacterial occurrences. A tantalizing link between giant magnetofossils and Paleogene hyperthermal events needs to be tested; much remains to be learned about the relationship between climate and the organisms that biomineralised these large and novel magnetite morphologies. Rather than being a well-worn subject that has been studied for over 60 years, the magnetic properties of pelagic carbonates hold many secrets that await discovery.

The magnetic properties (first-order reversal curves, ferromagnetic resonance and decomposition of saturation remanent magnetization acquisition) of Magnetovibrio blakemorei, a cultivated marine magnetotactic bacterium, differ from those of other magnetotactic species from sediments deposited in lakes and marine habitats previously studied. This finding suggests that magnetite produced by some magnetotactic bacteria retains magnetic properties in relation to the crystallographic structure of the magnetic phase produced and thus might represent a ‘magnetic fingerprint’ for a specific magnetotactic bacterium. The use of this fingerprint is a non-destructive, new technology that might allow for the identification and presence of specific species or types of magnetotactic bacteria in certain environments such as sediments.

Magnetotactic bacteria intracellularly biomineralize magnetite of an ideal grain size for recording palaeomagnetic signals. However, bacterial magnetite has only been reported in a few pre-Quaternary records because progressive burial into anoxic diagenetic environments causes its dissolution. Deep-sea carbonate sequences provide optimal environments for preserving bacterial magnetite due to low rates of organic carbon burial and expanded pore-water redox zonations. Such sequences often do not become anoxic for tens to hundreds of metres below the seafloor. Nevertheless, the biogeochemical factors that control magnetotactic bacterial populations in such settings are not well known. We document the preservation of bacterial magnetite, which dominates the palaeomagnetic signal throughout Eocene pelagic carbonates from the southern Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Ocean. We provide evidence that iron fertilization, associated with increased aeolian dust flux, resulted in surface water eutrophication in the late Eocene that controlled bacterial magnetite abundance via export of organic carbon to the seafloor. Increased flux of aeolian ironbearing phases also delivered iron to the seafloor, some of which became bioavailable through iron reduction. Our results suggest that magnetotactic bacterial populations in pelagic settings depend crucially on particulate iron and organic carbon delivery to the seafloor.

The Eocene climatic system experienced an important transition from warm Paleocene greenhouse to icehouse Oligocene conditions.This transition could first appear as a long-term cooling trend but, at an up-close look, this period is a complex combination of climatic events and,for most of them, causes and consequences are still not fully characterized. In this context, a study has been carried out on the middle Eocene sedimentary succession of the Contessa Highway section, central Italy, which is proposed as the Global Stratotype Section and Point(GSSP)for the Lutetian/Bartonian boundary at the top of the Chron 19n, with an astronomically calibrated age of 41.23 Ma. Through a cyclostratigraphic analysis of the rhythmic sedimentary alternations and combination with the results of time series analysis of the proxy record, we provide an orbital tuning of the middle Eocene and astronomical calibration of the bio-magnetostratigraphic events (particularly for the C19n/C18r Chronboundary) recognized at the Contessa Highway section.