Atmospheric carbon dioxide through the Eocene–Oligocene climate transition

Paul N. Pearson (), Gavin L. Foster and Bridget S. Wade
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Paul N. Pearson: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University
Gavin L. Foster: Bristol Isotope Group, University of Bristol
Bridget S. Wade: Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3115, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7267, 1110-1113

Abstract: Ice cap fits CO2 reduction Around 34 million years ago at the Eocene–Oligocene transition, the Earth entered a global cooling phase that brought the rapid development of a continental-scale ice cap and associated sea level fall. It is generally accepted that declining CO2 levels were an important factor in this shift from a greenhouse to our current icehouse climate, but the precise relationship between CO2 and the genesis of the Antarctic ice sheet is not fully understood. Paul Pearson and colleagues use boron isotopes from exceptionally well preserved carbonate microfossils from a recently discovered geological section in Tanzania to estimate atmospheric CO2 levels before, during and after the Eocene–Oligocene transition. They find that CO2 dipped below levels thought to generate ice sheet development but then rebounded significantly before declining again. These results confirm the central role of CO2 in the development of the ice sheet and highlight the nonlinear response of the ice sheet to changing CO2 concentrations.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08447

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