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MU Scientist Finds Late Cretaceous Period Was Likely Ice-free

By Guest PostSeptember 28, 2013Environment, ScienceAntarctica, benthic foraminifera, carbon dioxide levels, CO2, environmental conditions, fossilized shells, grain of salt, greenland, ice free, ken macleod, late cretaceous climate, late cretaceous period, modern warming, planktic, ppm, single celled organisms, Tanzania, university of missouri

Study results could foreshadow earth’s future climate, MU researcher says

COLUMBIA, Mo. – For years, scientists have thought that a continental ice sheet formed during the Late Cretaceous Period more than 90 million years ago when the climate was much warmer than it is today. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found evidence suggesting that no ice sheet formed at this time. This finding could help environmentalists and scientists predict what the earth’s climate will be as carbon dioxide levels continue to rise.

“Currently, carbon dioxide levels are just above 400 parts per million (ppm), up approximately 120 ppm in the last 150 years and rising about 2 ppm each year,” said Ken MacLeod, a professor of geological sciences at MU. “In our study, we found that during the Late Cretaceous Period, when carbon dioxide levels were around 1,000 ppm, there were no continental ice sheets on earth. So, if carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, the earth will be ice-free once the climate comes into balance with the higher levels.” (more…)

Oceans Acidifying Faster Today Than in Past 300 Million Years

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Environmentage of dinosaurs, barbel honisch, benthic foraminifera, candace major, coral reefs, ellen thomas, fossil carbonate shells, great dying, jurassic era, ocean acidification, ocean ph, siberian traps, white plankton fossils

*Few parallels for today’s rapid ocean changes in geologic record*

The oceans may be acidifying faster today than they did in the last 300 million years, according to scientists publishing a paper this week in the journal Science.

“What we’re doing today really stands out in the geologic record,” says lead author Bärbel Hönisch, a paleoceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. (more…)

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Environmentacc, american midwest, antarctic circumpolar current, antarctic intermediate water, benjamin cramer, benthic foraminifera, bridget wade, candace major, chengjie liu, deep sea drilling project, early cenozoic, environmental conditions, fossil skeletons, glaciations, global climate, global cooling pattern, global ocean circulation, global temperatures, greenhouse climate, icehouse, integrated ocean drilling program, isotopes, late eocene, marsupials, miriam katz, mixmaster of the ocean, ocean drilling program, ocean sediments, oceans, planktonic organisms, polar regions, sea floor, tropical jungles

*Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate*

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic.

The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. (more…)

Tag Archives: benthic foraminifera

MU Scientist Finds Late Cretaceous Period Was Likely Ice-free

Oceans Acidifying Faster Today Than in Past 300 Million Years

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling