Journal
CLIMATE OF THE PAST
Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages 439-454Publisher
COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH
DOI: 10.5194/cp-12-439-2016
Keywords
-
Funding
- Stockholm University postdoctoral research fellowship [SU 619-2974-12]
- Bolin Centre for Climate Research
- Science Foundation Ireland grant [SFI 08/RFP/EOB1131]
- European Research Council [ERC-2011-StG 279962-OXYEVOL]
- Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) Ireland
- European Regional Development Fund
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A unique stratigraphic sequence of fossil leaves of Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis (extinct trees of the beech family, Fagaceae) from central Germany has been used to derive an atmospheric pCO(2) record with multiple data points spanning the late middle to late Eocene, two sampling levels which may be earliest Oligocene, and two samples from later in the Oligocene. Using the inverse relationship between the density of stomata and pCO(2), we show that pCO(2) decreased continuously from the late middle to late Eocene, reaching a relatively stable low value before the end of the Eocene. Based on the subsequent records, pCO(2) in parts of the Oligocene was similar to latest Eocene values. These results suggest that a decrease in pCO(2) preceded the large shift in marine oxygen isotope records that characterizes the Eocene-Oligocene transition and that when a certain threshold of pCO(2) change was crossed, the cumulative effects of this and other factors resulted in rapid temperature decline, ice build up on Antarctica and hence a change of climate mode.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available