New Evidence for an Episode of Accelerated Environmental Change in the Late Barremian: Geochemical and Paleontological Records from the Subbetic Basin (Western Tethys de Gea, Ginés A. Castro, José Manuel Company Sempere, Miguel O'Dogherty, Luis Sandoval Gabarrón, José Quijano, María Luisa Sequero, Cristina Froehner, Sandro Aguado, Roque Paleoenvironments Early cretaceous Calcareous nannofossils C-isotopes Elements Biomarkers Taxy EEC We investigate a new event of accelerated environmental change that was recorded during the late Barremian in the pelagic Subbetic Basin (Western Tethys). Two pelagic sections have been studied using a multi-proxy approach based on C-isotope stratigraphy and a high-resolution quantitative study of nannofossil assemblages, along with major and trace elements and biomarkers. Our results provide a detailed biostratigraphy and C-isotope stratigraphy, and outline the paleoenvironmental conditions recorded during the early stages of the Taxy Episode. A disturbance has been identified in the C-isotope record, called the IFeNE (Intra-Feradianus negative C-excursion), which is coeval with environmental and biotic changes that predate the well-known ISNE (Intra-Sarasini negative C-excursion). The combined analysis of nannofossil associations, C-isotopes, major and trace elements, and biomarker distributions indicates a separate episode of warming heralding the ISNE, resulting in the acceleration of the hydrological cycle and a consequent increase in continental inputs and the fertilization of surface waters. The origin of the Taxy Episode (the IFeNE and ISNE) has been related to orbital factors (high-eccentricity cycles), and to a global increase in volcanism, probably related to the early phases of the Ontong Java Plateau. 2025-07-29T08:45:54Z 2025-07-29T08:45:54Z 2024-07-11 journal article de Gea, G.A.; Castro, J.M.; Company, M.; O’Dogherty, L.; Sandoval, J.; Quijano, M.L.; Sequero, C.; Froehner, S.; Aguado, R. New Evidence for an Episode of Accelerated Environmental Change in the Late Barremian: Geochemical and Paleontological Records from the Subbetic Basin (Western Tethys). Geosciences 2024, 14, 187. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14070187 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/105811 10.3390/geosciences14070187 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI