The Revised Coral Reef Hypothesis
Abstract
The original coral reef hypothesis stated that carbonate production by benthic biota on the world's shallow shelves substantially contributed to the buildup of atmospheric pCO2 during the last deglaciation. We have synthetized the literature on the world's reefs and new data on the distribution of the carbonate platforms (isolated banks and contintent-attached platforms). Strong production and resulting CO2 release started during the mid-deglaciation (~14 k.y.), and peaked during the early Holocene (~9-6 k.y) before Indopacific sealevel stabilized. We revise the coral reef hypothesis in that the carbonate production resulted in a strong positive feedback on the CO2 rise and warming during the late deglaciation. The estimated total production resulted in the release of >220 Gt carbon as CO2, corresponding to >105 p.p.m. pCO2 rise. This greatly exceeds the actual pCO2 rise since 14 k.y.. The known sinks in the terrestrial biosphere and the deep ocean appear insufficient for this carbon.
- Publication:
-
EGS General Assembly Conference Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002EGSGA..27.3175V