Can the distribution of foraminifera locate the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) and Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) events in the Eocene succession of the Isle of Wight (UK)?

Abstract. A zonation for the London Clay Formation, based on foraminifera, is presented for the first time, and the assemblage is used to determine the palaeoecological changes recorded in the succession. Within the lower Eocene there is evidence of a sea level rise and fall within the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), indicating that this might potentially be a glacio-eustatic response to the EECO warming. The occurrence of larger foraminifera in the Lutetian–Bartonian interval of the Whitecliff Bay, Selsey Bill, offshore Jersey, and Cotentin Peninsula (France) successions also indicates a warming event (Late Lutetian Thermal Event and Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum, MECO) that may also have generated a glacio-eustatic response.