Mills, BJW;
Scotese, CR;
Walding, NG;
Shields, GA;
Lenton, TM;
(2017)
Elevated CO2 degassing rates prevented the return of Snowball Earth during the Phanerozoic.
Nat Commun
, 8
(1)
p. 1110.
10.1038/s41467-017-01456-w.
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Abstract
The Cryogenian period (~720-635 Ma) is marked by extensive Snowball Earth glaciations. These have previously been linked to CO2 draw-down, but the severe cold climates of the Cryogenian have never been replicated during the Phanerozoic despite similar, and sometimes more dramatic changes to carbon sinks. Here we quantify the total CO2 input rate, both by measuring the global length of subduction zones in plate tectonic reconstructions, and by sea-level inversion. Our results indicate that degassing rates were anomalously low during the Late Neoproterozoic, roughly doubled by the Early Phanerozoic, and remained comparatively high until the Cenozoic. Our carbon cycle modelling identifies the Cryogenian as a unique period during which low surface temperature was more easily achieved, and shows that the shift towards greater CO2 input rates after the Cryogenian helped prevent severe glaciation during the Phanerozoic. Such a shift appears essential for the development of complex animal life.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Elevated CO2 degassing rates prevented the return of Snowball Earth during the Phanerozoic. |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-017-01456-w |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01456-w |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Carbon cycle, Geochemistry, Palaeoclimate |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Earth Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10032299 |
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