High potential for weathering and climate effects of non-vascular vegetation in the Late Ordovician

P. Porada (), T. M. Lenton, A. Pohl, B. Weber, L. Mander, Y. Donnadieu, C. Beer, U. Pöschl and A. Kleidon
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P. Porada: Stockholm University
T. M. Lenton: Earth System Science Group, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter
A. Pohl: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
B. Weber: Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
L. Mander: Earth and Ecosystems, The Open University
Y. Donnadieu: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay
C. Beer: Stockholm University
U. Pöschl: Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
A. Kleidon: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract It has been hypothesized that predecessors of today’s bryophytes significantly increased global chemical weathering in the Late Ordovician, thus reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration and contributing to climate cooling and an interval of glaciations. Studies that try to quantify the enhancement of weathering by non-vascular vegetation, however, are usually limited to small areas and low numbers of species, which hampers extrapolating to the global scale and to past climatic conditions. Here we present a spatially explicit modelling approach to simulate global weathering by non-vascular vegetation in the Late Ordovician. We estimate a potential global weathering flux of 2.8 (km3 rock) yr−1, defined here as volume of primary minerals affected by chemical transformation. This is around three times larger than today’s global chemical weathering flux. Moreover, we find that simulated weathering is highly sensitive to atmospheric CO2 concentration. This implies a strong negative feedback between weathering by non-vascular vegetation and Ordovician climate.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12113

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