Rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 marked the end of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age

Hana Jurikova*, Claudio Garbelli, Ross Whiteford, Theodore Reeves, Gemma Laker, Volker Liebetrau, Marcus Gutjahr, Anton Eisenhauer, Kotryna Savickaite, Melanie J. Leng, Dawid Adam Iurino, Marco Viaretti, Adam Tomašových, Yuchen Zhang, Wen-qian Wang, G.R. Shi, Shu-zhong Shen, James William Buchanan Rae, Lucia Angiolini

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Atmospheric CO2 is thought to play a fundamental role in Earth’s climate regulation. Yet, for much of Earth’s geological past, atmospheric CO2 has been poorly constrained, hindering our understanding of transitions between cool and warm climates. Beginning ~370 million years ago in the Late Devonian and ending ~260 million years ago in the Permian, the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age was the last major glaciation preceding the current Late Cenozoic Ice Age and possibly the most intense glaciation witnessed by complex lifeforms. From the onset of the main phase of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age in the mid-Mississippian ~330 million years ago, the Earth is thought to have sustained glacial conditions, with continental ice accumulating in high to mid-latitudes. Here we present an 80-million-year-long boron isotope record within a proxy framework for robust quantification of CO2. Our record reveals that the main phase of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age glaciation was maintained by prolonged low CO2, unprecedented in Earth’s history. About 294 million years ago, atmospheric CO2 rose abruptly (4-fold), releasing the Earth from its penultimate ice age and transforming the Early Permian into a warmer world.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages8
JournalNature Geoscience
VolumeLatest articles
Early online date6 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 6 Jan 2025

Keywords

  • Carbon cycle
  • Paleoclimate

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