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

Jurikova, Hana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0996-2842; Garbelli, Claudio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4652-8241; Whiteford, Ross ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2178-3476; Reeves, Theodore; Laker, Gemma M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2042-1007; Liebetrau, Volker ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9142-1462; Gutjahr, Marcus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2556-2619; Eisenhauer, Anton ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6874-7050; Savickaite, Kotryna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5189-2551; Leng, Melanie J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-5166; Iurino, Dawid Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3702-9726; Viaretti, Marco ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1539-8157; Tomašových, Adam; Zhang, Yuchen; Wang, Wen-qian; Shi, G. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5126-4036; Shen, Shu-zhong ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8380-0692; Rae, James W. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3904-2526; Angiolini, Lucia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0778-5771. 2025 Rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 marked the end of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age. Nature Geoscience, 18 (1). 91-97. 10.1038/s41561-024-01610-2

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text (Open Access Paper) s41561-024-01610-2.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (11MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Atmospheric CO 2 is thought to play a fundamental role in Earth’s climate regulation. Yet, for much of Earth’s geological past, atmospheric CO 2 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 CO 2 . Our record reveals that the main phase of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age glaciation was maintained by prolonged low CO 2 , unprecedented in Earth’s history. About 294 million years ago, atmospheric CO 2 rose abruptly (4-fold), releasing the Earth from its penultimate ice age and transforming the Early Permian into a warmer world.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/s41561-024-01610-2
ISSN:	1752-0894
Date made live:	04 Mar 2025 11:46 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539009

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...