Heterogeneity in global vegetation and terrestrial climate change during the late Eocene to early Oligocene transition

Pound, Matthew and Salzmann, Ulrich (2017) Heterogeneity in global vegetation and terrestrial climate change during the late Eocene to early Oligocene transition. Scientific Reports, 7. p. 43386. ISSN 2045-2322

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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1038/srep43386

Abstract

Rapid global cooling at the Eocene – Oligocene Transition (EOT), ~33.9–33.5 Ma, is widely considered to mark the onset of the modern icehouse world. A large and rapid drop in atmospheric pCO2 has been proposed as the driving force behind extinctions in the marine realm and glaciation on Antarctica. However, the global terrestrial response to this cooling is uncertain. Here we present the first global vegetation and terrestrial temperature reconstructions for the EOT. Using an extensive palynological dataset, that has been statistically grouped into palaeo-biomes, we show a more transitional nature of terrestrial climate change by indicating a spatial and temporal heterogeneity of vegetation change at the EOT in both hemispheres. The reconstructed terrestrial temperatures show for many regions a cooling that started well before the EOT and continued into the Early Oligocene. We conclude that the heterogeneous pattern of global vegetation change has been controlled by a combination of multiple forcings, such as tectonics, sea-level fall and long-term decline in greenhouse gas concentrations during the late Eocene to early Oligocene, and does not represent a single response to a rapid decline in atmospheric pCO2 at the EOT.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: palaeoclimate, palaeoecology
Subjects: F600 Geology
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User: Ulrich Salzmann
Date Deposited: 27 Feb 2017 11:01
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 08:53
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/29862

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