nerc.ac.uk

An early Cambrian greenhouse climate

Hearing, Thomas W.; Harvey, Thomas H.P.; Williams, Mark; Leng, Melanie J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-5166; Lamb, Angela L.; Wilby, Philip R.; Gabbott, Sarah E.; Pohl, Alexandre; Donnadieu, Yannick. 2018 An early Cambrian greenhouse climate. Science Advances, 4 (5), eaar5690. 10.1126/sciadv.aar5690

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
[thumbnail of Open Access Paper]
Preview
Text (Open Access Paper)
eaar5690.full.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

The oceans of the early Cambrian (~541 to 509 million years ago) were the setting for a marked diversification of animal life. However, sea temperatures — a key component of the early Cambrian marine environment — remain unconstrained, in part because of a substantial time gap in the stable oxygen isotope ( d 18 O) record before the evolution of euconodonts. We show that previously overlooked sources of fossil biogenic phosphate have the potential to fill this gap. Pristine phosphatic microfossils from the Comley Limestones, UK, yield a robust d 18 O signature, suggesting sea surface temperatures of 20° to 25°C at high southern paleolatitudes (~65°S to 70°S) between ~514 and 509 million years ago. These sea temperatures are consistent with the distribution of coeval evaporite and calcrete deposits, peak continental weathering rates, and also our climate model simulations for this interval. Our results support an early Cambrian greenhouse climate comparable to those of the late Meso- zoic and early Cenozoic, offering a framework for exploring the interplay between biotic and environmental controls on Cambrian animal diversification.

Item Type: Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1126/sciadv.aar5690
ISSN: 2375-2548
Date made live: 10 May 2018 14:31 +0 (UTC)
URI: https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/520020

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Document Downloads

Downloads for past 30 days

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...