Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs) are witnesses of major perturbations of the Earth climate, obviously resulting from important changes in the biogeochemical functioning and interactions of the oceans and the atmosphere. They are globally well documented by the deposition of organic carbon-rich black shale layers in various oceanic environments. Those sediments are characterized by unique geochemical and isotopic signatures and have been intensively studied. Nevertheless, numerous fundamental questions remain, not only concerning the general mechanisms that create wide-spread anoxic to euxinic conditions, but also regarding the imprint of these particular environmental conditions on the enhanced carbon burial in marine sediments.
These research questions are inherently complex and interdisciplinary. They generally involve multiple reaction and transport processes that operate over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The resulting complexity, and the inability of observations to fully resolve all of the characteristic spatial and temporal scales of change, therefore challenges simple, straightforward answers. This session will focus on efforts that increase the understanding of the functioning of the sediment-biosphere-ocean-atmosphere system during OAEs. This may be facilitated by studying “modern close-to-analogues” of environmental conditions that likely prevailed during OAEs, such as the Black Sea, Baltic Sea deeps, Cariaco Basin or anoxic fjords. An understanding of OAEs further requires interdisciplinary knowledge synthesis. We therefore invite contributions that apply, or even combine, sedimentological, geochemical and paleontological data, paleo-oceanographic model, paleo-climatic model or earth system model simulations to develop a comprehensive understanding of OAEs or their modern counterparts.