| Title | Eocene/Oligocene ocean de- acidification linked to Antarctic glaciation by sea-level fall |
| Author | Merico, A.; Tyrell, T.; Wilson, P.A. |
| Author Affil | Merico, A., National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom. Other: GKSS Forschungszentrum, Federal Republic of Germany |
| Source | Nature (London), 452(7190), p.979-982, . Publisher: Macmillan Journals, London, United Kingdom. ISSN: 0028- 0836 |
| Publication Date | Apr. 24, 2008 |
| Notes | In English. 30 refs. GeoRef Acc. No: 284433. CRREL Acc. No: 62004832 |
| Index Terms | carbon isotopes; climatic change; geochemistry; glaciation; ice rafting; isotopes; paleoclimatology; simulation; Antarctica--Antarctic ice sheet; Antarctic ice sheet; Antarctica; biochemistry; C-13/C- 12; calcium carbonate; carbon; carbon dioxide; carbonate compensation depth; Cenozoic; climate change; deacidification; Eocene; Foraminifera; Invertebrata; isotope ratios; microfossils; Oligocene; paleo- oceanography; paleoenvironment; Paleogene; Protista; reconstruction; sea-level changes; stable isotopes; stratigraphic boundary; Tertiary |
| 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. 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 biochemical box model to test competing hypotheses put forward to explain the Eocene/Oligocene transition. 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 increase in pelagic burial via permanent deepening of the calcite compensation depth. (mod. journ. abst.) |
| URL | http://hdl.handle.net/10.1038/nature06853 |
| Publication Type | journal article |
| Record ID | 84097 |