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Ancient Alteration of Seawater Chemistry Linked With Past Climate Change

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2012Environmentadina paytan, alteration, antarctic ice sheet, candace major, cenozoic era, climate and evolution, climate change, collision, dissolution, eocene epoch, eurasia, greenhouse periods, gypsum, gypsum belt, gypsum deposit, hydrated calcium sulfate, icehouse climate, India, iodp, iran, joides resolution, marine, million years, mineral, national science foundation, ocean drillship, oman, Pakistan, phosphorus cycling, plate tectonics, santa cruz, seawater chemistry, sulfate aerosols, sulfate concentration, sulfur composition, ulrich wortmann, university of california, university of toronto, zagros mountains

Dissolution or creation of huge gypsum deposits changed sulfate content of the oceans

Scientists have discovered a potential cause of Earth’s “icehouse climate” cooling trend of the past 45 million years. It has everything to do with the chemistry of the world’s oceans.

“Seawater chemistry is characterized by long phases of stability, which are interrupted by short intervals of rapid change,” says geoscientist Ulrich Wortmann of the University of Toronto, lead author of a paper reporting the results and published this week in the journal Science.

“We’ve established a new framework that helps us better interpret evolutionary trends and climate change over long periods of time. The study focuses on the past 130 million years, but similar interactions have likely occurred through the past 500 million years.” (more…)

Confidence in Climate Data: Using 3 Million-Year-Old Records

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2012Uncategorized21st century, ar5, atmospheric co2, China, climate, climate conditions, fossils, france, geologic period, Germany, global warmth, ipcc, Japan, marci robinson, marcia mcnutt, million years, north atlantic climate, north atlantic data, norway, pliocene, pliocene conditions, pliocene temperature, pliomip, test models, trace gases, united kingdom, united states, university of bristol, university of leeds

How do we understand what’s happening today by looking back millions of years?

Scientists are looking at what climate conditions were like 3.3 to 3 million years ago, during a geologic period known as the Pliocene, and they are confident in the accuracy of their data.

The Pliocene is the most recent period of sustained global warmth similar to what is projected for the 21^st century. Climate during this time period offers one of the closest analogs to estimate future climate conditions. (more…)

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Ancient Alteration of Seawater Chemistry Linked With Past Climate Change

Confidence in Climate Data: Using 3 Million-Year-Old Records