Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO2 world during the Weissert Event

Liyenne Cavalheiro; Thomas Wagner; Sebastian Steinig; Cinzia Bottini; Wolf Dummann; Onoriode Esegbue; Gabriele Gambacorta; Victor Giraldo-Gómez; Alexander Farnsworth; Sascha Flögel; Peter Hofmann; Daniel J. Lunt; Janet Rethemeyer; Stefano Torricelli; Elisabetta Erba

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25706-0

Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO₂ world during the Weissert Event

Liyenne Cavalheiro, Thomas Wagner, Sebastian Steinig, Cinzia Bottini, Wolf Dummann, Onoriode Esegbue, Gabriele Gambacorta, Victor Giraldo-Gómez, Alexander Farnsworth, Sascha Flögel, Peter Hofmann, Daniel J. Lunt, Janet Rethemeyer, Stefano Torricelli, Elisabetta Erba

School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society

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Abstract

The Weissert Event ~133 million years ago marked a profound global cooling that punctuated the Early Cretaceous greenhouse. We present modelling, high-resolution bulk organic carbon isotopes and chronostratigraphically calibrated sea surface temperature (SSTs) based on an organic paleothermometer (the TEX₈₆ proxy), which capture the Weissert Event in the semi-enclosed Weddell Sea basin, offshore Antarctica (paleolatitude ~54 °S; paleowater depth ~500 meters). We document a ~3-4 °C drop in SST coinciding with the Weissert cold end, and converge the Weddell Sea data, climate simulations and available worldwide multi-proxy based temperature data towards one unifying solution providing a best-fit between all lines of evidence. The outcome confirms a 3.0 °C ( ±1.7 °C) global mean surface cooling across the Weissert Event, which translates into a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO₂ over a period of ~700 thousand years. Consistent with geologic evidence, this pCO₂ drop favoured the potential build-up of local polar ice.

Original language	English
Article number	5411
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25706-0
Publication status	Published - 13 Sept 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Physics and Astronomy
General Chemistry
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology

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Cavalheiro, L., Wagner, T., Steinig, S., Bottini, C., Dummann, W., Esegbue, O., Gambacorta, G., Giraldo-Gómez, V., Farnsworth, A., Flögel, S., Hofmann, P., Lunt, D. J., Rethemeyer, J., Torricelli, S., & Erba, E. (2021). Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO₂ world during the Weissert Event. Nature Communications, 12, Article 5411. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25706-0

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title = "Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO2 world during the Weissert Event",

abstract = "The Weissert Event ~133 million years ago marked a profound global cooling that punctuated the Early Cretaceous greenhouse. We present modelling, high-resolution bulk organic carbon isotopes and chronostratigraphically calibrated sea surface temperature (SSTs) based on an organic paleothermometer (the TEX86 proxy), which capture the Weissert Event in the semi-enclosed Weddell Sea basin, offshore Antarctica (paleolatitude ~54 °S; paleowater depth ~500 meters). We document a ~3-4 °C drop in SST coinciding with the Weissert cold end, and converge the Weddell Sea data, climate simulations and available worldwide multi-proxy based temperature data towards one unifying solution providing a best-fit between all lines of evidence. The outcome confirms a 3.0 °C ( ±1.7 °C) global mean surface cooling across the Weissert Event, which translates into a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO2 over a period of ~700 thousand years. Consistent with geologic evidence, this pCO2 drop favoured the potential build-up of local polar ice.",

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Cavalheiro, L, Wagner, T, Steinig, S, Bottini, C, Dummann, W, Esegbue, O, Gambacorta, G, Giraldo-Gómez, V, Farnsworth, A, Flögel, S, Hofmann, P, Lunt, DJ, Rethemeyer, J, Torricelli, S & Erba, E 2021, 'Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO₂ world during the Weissert Event', Nature Communications, vol. 12, 5411. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25706-0

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AU - Cavalheiro, Liyenne

AU - Wagner, Thomas

AU - Steinig, Sebastian

AU - Bottini, Cinzia

AU - Dummann, Wolf

AU - Esegbue, Onoriode

AU - Gambacorta, Gabriele

AU - Giraldo-Gómez, Victor

AU - Farnsworth, Alexander

AU - Flögel, Sascha

AU - Hofmann, Peter

AU - Lunt, Daniel J.

AU - Rethemeyer, Janet

AU - Torricelli, Stefano

AU - Erba, Elisabetta

PY - 2021/9/13

Y1 - 2021/9/13

N2 - The Weissert Event ~133 million years ago marked a profound global cooling that punctuated the Early Cretaceous greenhouse. We present modelling, high-resolution bulk organic carbon isotopes and chronostratigraphically calibrated sea surface temperature (SSTs) based on an organic paleothermometer (the TEX86 proxy), which capture the Weissert Event in the semi-enclosed Weddell Sea basin, offshore Antarctica (paleolatitude ~54 °S; paleowater depth ~500 meters). We document a ~3-4 °C drop in SST coinciding with the Weissert cold end, and converge the Weddell Sea data, climate simulations and available worldwide multi-proxy based temperature data towards one unifying solution providing a best-fit between all lines of evidence. The outcome confirms a 3.0 °C ( ±1.7 °C) global mean surface cooling across the Weissert Event, which translates into a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO2 over a period of ~700 thousand years. Consistent with geologic evidence, this pCO2 drop favoured the potential build-up of local polar ice.

AB - The Weissert Event ~133 million years ago marked a profound global cooling that punctuated the Early Cretaceous greenhouse. We present modelling, high-resolution bulk organic carbon isotopes and chronostratigraphically calibrated sea surface temperature (SSTs) based on an organic paleothermometer (the TEX86 proxy), which capture the Weissert Event in the semi-enclosed Weddell Sea basin, offshore Antarctica (paleolatitude ~54 °S; paleowater depth ~500 meters). We document a ~3-4 °C drop in SST coinciding with the Weissert cold end, and converge the Weddell Sea data, climate simulations and available worldwide multi-proxy based temperature data towards one unifying solution providing a best-fit between all lines of evidence. The outcome confirms a 3.0 °C ( ±1.7 °C) global mean surface cooling across the Weissert Event, which translates into a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO2 over a period of ~700 thousand years. Consistent with geologic evidence, this pCO2 drop favoured the potential build-up of local polar ice.

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