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Paleoclimate Review

Sanpisa Sritrairat
January 26, 2007

Topics to be covered
Important climatic states of the earth
Evidences
Why did climate change?

Paleo-Climate
Climate is the mean state of the
environment, long-term average of daily
variations
Climate change depends on the
resolution of the proxies and the length of
the mean state in consideration

Climate Change Events


Tectonic scale (Millions of years ago)
Orbital Scale, when Milankovich
started showing up (3 Ma)
Deglacial and Millennial Scale
Historical climate changes

Time line
600-750 Ma: Snowball Earth (Neoproterozoic)
300 Ma-5Ma: Hot house world (Mesozoic/Cenozoic )
3 Myr-present: Orbital-scale variability: series of
glaciation and retreat
20 Kyr: Last glacial maximum (LGM)
~13 Kyr:Bolling/Allerod warming
~12 Kyr: Younger Dryas (YD)
Heinrich events and D-O cycles;
1000-1300 BP: Medieval Warm Period
1400-1800 BP: Little Ice Age

How to study paleoclimate?


Marine
Ocean sediment cores (more regional)
Terrestrial (more local)
Lakes and wetlands cores
Tree ring/Coral (growth response)
Ice cores
Speleothem
Ice cores
Sedimentary rocks/uplifted sediments

Proxies: Lithology, sediment composition


Black:
high organic, anoxic, high productivity

Sharp pebbles, unsorted:


Glacial deposit

High silica: upwelling, high productivity


Terrigenous: high weathering, river flow
Calcareous: Warm, high productivity
Tephra: volcanic eruption

Proxies: plant and animal remains


Pollens, forams
Molecular techniques (transformation of molecules
at a specific condition, or specific remains of group
of living organism).i.e. alkenones, lignin
Each species has a specific range of habitat (precip,
T, soil type, nutrients, salinity)
i.e. found foram in freshwater wetland cores: must have been
saltier, Tropic pollen in the arctic = warmer

Proxies:Stable Isotopes
If relative ratios of the selected pair changes
systematically according to climatic
parameters (T, precip, pH, etc)
Mg/Ca: T
13C: ocean circulation, productivity, C cycle
18O:Temperature/Salinity/Sea level
More ice on land: ocean 18O becomes heavier

Rayleigh Distillation (Precipiation Fraction)

Chronology
Radiometric
C-14, U/Th, Ar/Ar, etc.

Paleomagnetic
Wiggle match (cross dated): matching the
same features

Understanding the Past Climate


Many explanation are theoretical without
consensus
A lot of underlying hypothesis has to do
with the equilibrium of earth cycling
process: weathering, precipitation
Think in term of feedbacks

Snowball Earth (~600-700 Ma)


Evidences
Glacial deposits sandwiched between cap
carbornates every continents (including those at
paleo-equator)
Banded iron in the glacial deposit anoxia (icecovered ocean cant circulate O2 down.)
Several paleomagnetic reversals within each
glacial layer millions of years
http://www-eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/snowball_paper.html

Cycles of cold/hot period

http://www-eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/Snowball-fig5.pdf

What trigger the Snowball Earth


Young Faint Sun? (70% irradiance 4Ga) (Took
time for H/He fusion to heat up to the surface)

Faint Young Sun Paradox

The Sun's luminosity has increased through geologic time due to a nuclear
reaction in the Sun's interior that fuses nuclei of hydrogen together to form
helium. This nuclear reaction has caused the Sun to expand and become brighter.
Consequently, the early Sun shone 25-30% less brightly than it does today.
This raises a paradox. At such a low solar luminosity, we would expect all water in
Earth to have been frozen. Yet, sedimentary rocks provide evidence of running
water at least 4 billion years ago. Some mechanism must have kept Earth warm.
Yet, wouldn't the same mechanism cause the Earth to be intolerably hot today?

It has been hypothesized that the solution to the faint young sun
problem is that outgassing from volcanoes was high due to vigorous
seafloor spreading. At the same time, weathering was very low due to a
dearth of continents. Thus, atmospheric CO2 was much higher than
today, providing a healthy greenhouse effect to keep the early Earth
warm.

High obliquity hypothesis?


May be from
asteroid that hit
the earth and
made the moon
But..
Very high
seasonality
variability in the
tropic

Land mass distribution


Higher tropical albedo (Land albedo > ocean)

Hot House World


(300-5 Ma) Mesozoic/Cenozoic)

Thermal max: 55 Ma (Cenozoic)


Clues:
Marine T proxies
Tropical plants fossils, alligator, & pollens up
in the arctic
Organic-rich deposit (anoxia)
Much lighter in 18O (-40 vs. 0 of ocean, and vs.
-25 if melt all ice now. Must have additional T
effects.)

No glaciomarine deposit

Causes of the hot house?


Tectonic block circum polar current
cant form arctic ice sheet?
Cant form deep water since there is no
strong T gradient (est. 12C vs. ~0 now)
CH4 Clathrate release>> positive
greenhouse feedback
supported by lighter 13C

BLAG hypothesis
Rateofplatemovementinfluencesglobalclimateby
controllingatmosphericCO2concentrations
Support:fasterseafloorspreadingrate100Mathannow

Weathering:
CaSiO3 + CO2 --> CaCO3 + SiO2

Uplift weathering hypothesis


Uplift accelerates chemical weathering,
drawing down CO2, and cooling the global
climate.

Support of the Uplift Hypothesis


Tibetan Paleau (also high monsoon strength which
encourages weathering), Colorado Paleau, the Andes
uplifted about that time.

High 87/86 Sr ratio = higher weathering

Factors that control chemical


weathering
1. Temperature- chemical weathering increases
with increased temperatures
2. Precipitation- increased precipitation raises the
level of groundwater in soils, promoting the
production of carbonic acid
3. Vegetation- plants extract CO2 from the
atmosphere and deliver it to soils, where it
combines with groundwater to make carbonic
acid

Long-term carbon cycle


Carbon added to atmosphere through metamorphic
outgassing and outgassing of volcanoes and mid-ocean ridges
Hydrolysis-weathering of silicate minerals in continental crust:
CaSiO3 + H2CO3 >> CaCO3 + SiO2 + H2O

The products of continental weathering are transported to the


oceans by rivers, where they are used to make CaCO3 and
SiO2 shells of marine organisms. When these organisms die,
many of them are deposited and buried on the seafloor. The
carbon cycle is completed upon subduction and melting of
these sediments. The melt may rise as magma, providing
volcanoes and MORs with a source of recycled CO2.
Importantflowsofcarbonon100,000yeartimescales

Long-term carbon cycle


Chemical weathering can also occur through a process called
dissolution, the chemical weathering of carbonate sediments
(CaCO3) (limestone, for example). Dissolution can be described by
the following reaction:
CaCO3 + H2CO3 >> CaCO3 + H2O + CO2
Note, however, that the net removal of atmospheric CO2 is 0. CO2
is taken from the atmosphere to make carbonic acid, but is
released to the atmosphere during the creating of CaCO3 shells.

Summary: influence of plate tectonics on


climate
1. Location of continents
2. Mountain building- alters atmospheric flow
3. Open/close ocean gateways
4. Sea-level change- modifies ratio of land to ocean
5. Altering weathering rates- linked to concentration
of CO2 in atmosphere
6. Altering rates of outgassing- linked to
concentration of CO2 in atmosphere

Ice house world: (Eocene onset, 34Mapresent)

Started to have polar ice cap


35 Ma: Australian Gateway: initial Antarctic
glaciation
15 Ma: Drake Passage opened: more
Antarctic glaciation

Current glaciation cycles: 3 Ma-present

What caused the onset?


Cane: NW drift of Halmahera (N. Australian) block
PAC and form warm pool before 3 Ma (permanent El
nino)?
Characteristic of this period: Insolation variability
hypothesisSummer insolation controls North
Hemisphere ice sheet growth. Ice growth occurs
during times when summer insolation is low in high
northern latitude.

Orbital forcing: Milankovitch Theory


Obliquity: 41, 000 yr cycle

Orbital forcing: Milankovitch Theory


Eccentricity: 100,000 years

Orbital forcing: Milankovitch Theory


Precession: 19,000-23,000 years
The major axis of each planet's elliptical orbit also
precesses within its orbital plane, in response to
perturbations in the form of the changing
gravitational forces exerted by other planets. This is
called perihelion precession.
It is generally understood that the gravitational pulls
of the sun and the moon cause the precession of the
equinoxes on Earth which operate on cycles of 23,000
and 19,000 years.

Orbital scale insolation change


Strong 23 ky
(precession) and 40
k cycles (Obliquity)
100 ky cycle is not
obvious

Northern Hemisphere Ice sheet History


41 and 23 kyr
cycles from ~.7-3
Ma
But why 100 ky
cycles dominate
climate records of
the last 700 ky?

Orbital monsoon hypothesis


Changing seasonal insolation will change the strength of the
monsoons. Stronger summer radiation will strengthen the summer
monsoon. Weaker winter radiation will strengthen the winter
monsoon. It turns out that the African monsoon is very sensitive to
insolation variations.
The African monsoon is responsible for precipitation over northern
Africa. Today, the summer solstice occurs at aphelion. So, the
summer insolation is near its minimum. As a consequence, northern
Africa summer monsoon is weak.
Although the strength of the winter monsoon also varies, it has less
impact on the African environment because the winter monsoon has
little affect on precipitation over Africa.

Evidence for an orbitally-controlled monsoon


1.
2.
3.
4.

Lake levels across North Africa


Mediterranean circulation and deposition of marine sediments
Freshwater diatoms (small plant plankton) in the tropical Atlantic
Upwelling in the equatorial Atlantic

Relationship between summer radiation and


African monsoon (from Earth's Climate Past and
Future by W.F. Ruddiman).

Millenial Scale Climate


Change
Last glacial maximum (LGM): ~21kya
Bolling/Allerod warming-> Younger
Dryas cooling:~13-11.9kya
Heinrich events
Dansgaard-Oeschger events

Last glacial maximum (~20 Ky)


Cold, dry and windy
Continent-sized ice sheets (Laurentide ice
sheet over North America)
110m lower sea level than present

Tropical debate over LGM cooling


Small tropical cooling (~2C ) : CLIMAP
reconstruction based on the changes in planktic
fauna and flora in the low-latitude oceans. Other
evidences: biochemical composition of plankton
shells (double bonds of alkenones), 18O
measurements on the CaCO3 shells of plankton.
Large tropical cooling (~5C ): Mountain glacial
ice line change, noble gases dissolved in glacialage groundwater.
GCMs can only get level of ice sheet and tropical
glacier growth with ~5C shift in tropical
temperature

Abrupt climate change


Heinrich events: ice-rafted debris &
terrigenous material found in deep-sea
cores, corresponding to Greenland ice
core low 18O.
Dansgaard-Oeschger cycle: A series of
warm-cold oscillation punctuated the
last glaciation from 15 to 110 Kyr BP.
The D-O cycles have been marked by
abrupt terminations, and often by
abrupt onsets.

Heinrich and D-O events

Antarctic Record v.
Greenland

An absence of D-O events in Antarctica

Younger Dryas

Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas was first detected from layers in
north European bog peat, and named for the
alpine/tundra plant Dryas octopetala.
It was a brief (approximately 1300 +/- 70year [1]) cold
climate period following the Blling/Allerd interstadial
at the end of the Pleistocene, and preceding the
Preboreal of the early Holocene.
It is dated approximately 12,900-11,500 BP calibrated,
or 11,000-10,000 BP uncalibrated, but dating is
difficult because it occurs during a radiocarbon plateau

Younger Dryas
The prevailing theory holds that the Younger Dryas was
caused by a significant reduction or shutdown of the North
Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to a sudden
influx of fresh water from Lake Agassiz and deglaciation in
North America. The global climate would then have become
locked into the new state until freezing removed the fresh
water "lid" from the north Atlantic Ocean. This theory does not
explain why South America cooled first.

Younger Dryas
Aproblemwiththishypothesisisthetimingofmeltwaterpulsesthatare
supposedtohavetriggeredtheTHCshutdown:itwasfoundthatasecond
meltwaterpulse,albeitslightlysmallerthanthefirstone,occurredatthe
endoftheYD(Fairbanks,1989):whydidn'titalsotriggerasimilarchain
ofconsequencesintheclimatesystem?
Analternateexplanation(Clementetal.,2001)invokestheabrupt
cessationintheElNinoSouthernOscillationinresponsetochangesin
theorbitalparametersoftheEarth,althoughhowsuchachangewould
impactregionsawayfromtheTropicsremainstobeexplained.
Forfurtherdiscussion,see:Broecker,WS.,Doesthetriggerforabrupt
climatechangeresideintheoceansorintheatmosphere?Science300
(5625):15191522JUN62003.

Medieval Warming
10th century-14th century in Europe;
May recent finding in North America
Coincided with a peak in solar
activity

Little Ice Age


A period of cooling from approx. 14th-19th
century, occurs after the medieval
warming, though there seems to be little
global agreement on the timing.
Most evidence in Europe and north America
Hypotheses of the cause include decreased
sunspot activity (Maunder minimum) and
increased volcanic activity, others claim it
had to do with a decrease in population
resulting from the black death and thus a
decrease in agricultural activity

Global Warming?: The Hockey Stick

The infamous Mike MannsHockey Stick graph The temperature is rising rapidly

Keeling Curve

Greenland Ice Core

Why CO2 increased during interglacials (and


why drop at glacial max.)

Coral Reef Hypothesis


More reef production when sea level rises
(warm), increases CO2 : Positive feedback
Ca2+ + 2HCO3 CaCO3 + CO2

Fe-fertilization: increased dust during


glaciation may increase productivity and
drawdown CO2
Biosphere

Atmospheric CO2 through Earth history

How to explain long-term changes in CO2? According to Berner (1994):


1. increase in solar radiation has caused gradual drop in atmospheric CO2
2. high CO2 during Mesozoic and decrease in Cenozoic are due to high
Mesozoic relief and Cenozoic mountain uplift combined with decreasing
metamorphic/volcanic degassing of CO2 during Cenozoic
3. variable degassing, due to changes in seafloor spreading was not a
major control on CO2

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