Multi-proxy evidence for sea level fall at the onset of the Eocene-Oligocene transition

Marcelo A. De Lira Mota (), Tom Dunkley Jones, Nursufiah Sulaiman, Kirsty M. Edgar, Tatsuhiko Yamaguchi, Melanie J. Leng, Markus Adloff, Sarah E. Greene, Richard Norris, Bridget Warren, Grace Duffy, Jennifer Farrant, Masafumi Murayama, Jonathan Hall and James Bendle
Additional contact information
Marcelo A. De Lira Mota: University of Birmingham
Tom Dunkley Jones: University of Birmingham
Nursufiah Sulaiman: University of Birmingham
Kirsty M. Edgar: University of Birmingham
Tatsuhiko Yamaguchi: National Museum of Nature and Science
Melanie J. Leng: British Geological Survey
Markus Adloff: University of Bristol
Sarah E. Greene: University of Birmingham
Richard Norris: University of California San Diego
Bridget Warren: University of Birmingham
Grace Duffy: University of Birmingham
Jennifer Farrant: University of Birmingham
Masafumi Murayama: Kochi University
Jonathan Hall: University of Birmingham
James Bendle: University of Birmingham

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Continental-scale expansion of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) is one of the largest non-linear events in Earth’s climate history. Declining atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and orbital variability triggered glacial expansion and strong feedbacks in the climate system. Prominent among these feedbacks was the repartitioning of biogeochemical cycles between the continental shelves and the deep ocean with falling sea level. Here we present multiple proxies from a shallow shelf location that identify a marked regression and an elevated flux of continental-derived organic matter at the earliest stage of the EOT, a time of deep ocean carbonate dissolution and the extinction of oligotrophic phytoplankton groups. We link these observations using an Earth System model, whereby this first regression delivers a pulse of organic carbon to the oceans that could drive the observed patterns of deep ocean dissolution and acts as a transient negative feedback to climate cooling.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39806-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-39806-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39806-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().