Climate transition at the Eocene-Oligocene influenced by bathymetric changes to the Atlantic-Arctic oceanic gateways
Abstract
The results show that dynamic variations in the Earth's interior could have played a key role in the Eocene-Oligocene climatic transition (∼33.9 Ma) and the inception of glaciations. Pulsations in the Iceland mantle plume modified the bathymetry of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge, which affected deep water formation in the North Atlantic. Our model simulations show that the changes in the Atlantic-Arctic oceanic gateways cooled the Southern Hemisphere, and later the Northern Hemisphere, paving the way for the growth of major land-based ice sheets. This supplements the current view that decreasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and/or changes to the Southern Ocean gateways or the Tethys Seaway dominated climate changes and the inception of glaciations at the time.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- April 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.2115346119
- Bibcode:
- 2022PNAS..11915346S