Eocene global warming events driven by ventilation of oceanic dissolved organic carbon

Philip F. Sexton (), Richard D. Norris, Paul A. Wilson, Heiko Pälike, Thomas Westerhold, Ursula Röhl, Clara T. Bolton and Samantha Gibbs
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Philip F. Sexton: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
Richard D. Norris: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
Paul A. Wilson: National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
Heiko Pälike: National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
Thomas Westerhold: MARUM — Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Ursula Röhl: MARUM — Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Clara T. Bolton: National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK
Samantha Gibbs: National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK

Nature, 2011, vol. 471, issue 7338, 349-352

Abstract: Carbon release and global warming One of the most remarkable global warming events or 'hyperthermals' in Earth's past was the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). This occurred about 56 million years ago, probably as a result of the release of methane from sediments. Several other, less-severe warming periods occurred around 6 million to 8 million years after the PETM. Sexton et al. show that these smaller events were brief and surprisingly frequent, following a tempo set by Earth's orbit. Their rapid onset and recovery suggests a mechanism that was mainly dependent on shuffling carbon between the atmosphere and a dissolved, organic form in the ocean, in sharp contrast to the more sluggish greenhouse-gas release from buried carbon reservoirs during the PETM. These findings could help to address fundamental questions about how the global carbon cycle operates during extreme warming events.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09826

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