Middle Eocene greenhouse warming facilitated by diminished weathering feedback.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30038400.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-05104-9 and PMC identifier 6056486.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) represents a ~500-kyr period of global warming ~40 million years ago and is associated with a rise in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, but the cause of this CO<sub>2</sub> rise remains enigmatic. Here we show, based on osmium isotope ratios (<sup>187</sup>Os/<sup>188</sup>Os) of marine sediments and published records of the carbonate compensation depth (CCD), that the continental silicate weathering response to the inferred CO<sub>2</sub> rise and warming was strongly diminished during the MECO-in contrast to expectations from the silicate weathering thermostat hypothesis. We surmise that global early and middle Eocene warmth gradually diminished the weatherability of continental rocks and hence the strength of the silicate weathering feedback, allowing for the prolonged accumulation of volcanic CO<sub>2</sub> in the oceans and atmosphere during the MECO. These results are supported by carbon cycle modeling simulations, which highlight the fundamental importance of a variable weathering feedback strength in climate and carbon cycle interactions in Earth's history.