Large influence of dust on the Precambrian climate

Peng Liu, Yonggang Liu (), Yiran Peng, Jean-François Lamarque, Mingxing Wang and Yongyun Hu ()
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Peng Liu: Peking University
Yonggang Liu: Peking University
Yiran Peng: Tsinghua University
Jean-François Lamarque: National Center for Atmospheric Research
Mingxing Wang: Tsinghua University
Yongyun Hu: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract On present-day Earth, dust emissions are restricted only to a few desert regions mainly due to the distribution of land vegetation. The atmospheric dust loading is thus relatively small and has a slight cooling effect on the surface climate. For the Precambrian (before ~540 Ma), however, dust emission might be much more widespread since land vegetation was absent. Here, our simulations using an Earth system model (CESM1.2.2) demonstrate that the global dust emission during that time might be an order of magnitude larger than that of the present day, and could have cooled the global climate by ~10 °C. Similarly, the dust deposition in the ocean, an important source of nutrition for the marine ecosystem, was also increased by a factor of ~10. Therefore, dust was a critical component of the early Earth system, and should always be considered when studying the climate and biogeochemistry of the Precambrian.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18258-2

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