Synchronizing climate-carbon cycle heartbeats in the Phanerozoic vegetated icehouses

Qiang Fang, Huaichun Wu (), Isabel P. Montañez, Shu-zhong Shen, Christian Zeeden, Xiangdong Wang, Shihong Zhang and David Vleeschouwer
Additional contact information
Qiang Fang: China University of Geosciences
Huaichun Wu: China University of Geosciences
Isabel P. Montañez: One Shields Drive
Shu-zhong Shen: Nanjing University
Christian Zeeden: LIAG - Institute for Applied Geophysics
Xiangdong Wang: Nanjing University
Shihong Zhang: China University of Geosciences
David Vleeschouwer: University of Muenster

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Earth experienced state-specific climate-carbon cycle feedbacks during the Late Cenozoic Ice Age (LCIA). Whether similar feedbacks existed in the penultimate icehouse, the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), remains uncertain. Here, we present phase relationships between eccentricity-paced climate cycles and carbonate carbon isotope across ~337–300 Ma. Up to 307 Ma, low-latitude continental carbon reservoirs expanded during eccentricity-forced coolings, resembling the Oligocene and Miocene climate-carbon cycle dynamics. After 307 Ma, this relationship reversed, analogous to the Plio-Pleistocene dynamics. We attribute this reversal to the increasing importance of high-latitude biome dynamics, comparable to what occurred at 6 Ma in the LCIA. Paralleling LPIA (335–301 Ma) and LCIA (past 34 Myr) records using this event reveals quasi-synchronization in the interaction of astronomical forcing, carbon cycling and glacial events from onset to apex of two icehouses. We propose that, despite different boundary conditions, extraterrestrial forcing shaped the evolutionary trajectory of Phanerozoic vegetated icehouses.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64238-9 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:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64238-9

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64238-9

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 ().