Eocene/Oligocene ocean de-acidification linked to Antarctic glaciation by sea-level fall

Nature
Agostino MericoPaul A Wilson

Abstract

One of the most dramatic perturbations to the Earth system during the past 100 million years was the rapid onset of Antarctic glaciation near the Eocene/Oligocene epoch boundary (approximately 34 million years ago). This climate transition was accompanied by a deepening of the calcite compensation depth--the ocean depth at which the rate of calcium carbonate input from surface waters equals the rate of dissolution. Changes in the global carbon cycle, rather than changes in continental configuration, have recently been proposed as the most likely root cause of Antarctic glaciation, but the mechanism linking glaciation to the deepening of calcite compensation depth remains unclear. Here we use a global biogeochemical box model to test competing hypotheses put forward to explain the Eocene/Oligocene transition. We find that, of the candidate hypotheses, only shelf to deep sea carbonate partitioning is capable of explaining the observed changes in both carbon isotope composition and calcium carbonate accumulation at the sea floor. In our simulations, glacioeustatic sea-level fall associated with the growth of Antarctic ice sheets permanently reduces global calcium carbonate accumulation on the continental shelves, leading to an inc...Continue Reading

References

Jan 1, 1992·Global and Planetary Change·J C Walker, J F Kasting
Jan 17, 2003·Nature·Robert M DeConto, David Pollard
Jul 22, 2005·Nature·Aradhna TripatiPatrizia Ferretti
Dec 23, 2006·Science·Heiko PälikeBridget S Wade
Feb 9, 2007·Nature·James S EldrettAndrew P Roberts

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Citations

Jan 27, 2009·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Ye XiongGuang Yang
May 13, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Toby TyrrellDavid Ian Armstrong McKay
Aug 31, 2012·Nature·Heiko PälikeRichard E Zeebe
Oct 4, 2008·Nature·Robert M DecontoMark Pagani
Jul 17, 2009·Nature·Catherine E StickleyLance E Kearns
Sep 15, 2009·Nature·Paul N PearsonBridget S Wade
Oct 23, 2009·Nature·Damien Lemarchand

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