Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (10) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hyde, W. T. Articles by Scotese, C. R. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Siberian glaciation as a constraint on Permian–Carboniferous CO₂ levels

¹ Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
² Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
³ Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
⁴ EMS Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
⁵ Department of Geology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA

Reconstructions of Phanerozoic CO₂ levels have generally relied on geochemical modeling or proxy data. Because the uncertainty inherent in such reconstructions is large enough to be climatically significant, inverse climate modeling may help to constrain paleo-CO₂ estimates. In particular, we test the plausibility of this technique by focusing on the climate from 360 to 260 Ma, a time in which the Siberian landmass was in middle to high latitudes, yet had little or no permanent land ice. Our climate model simulations predict a lower limit for CO₂—the value beneath which Siberia acquires "excess" ice. Simulations provide little new information for the period in which Siberia was at a relatively low paleoaltitude (360–340 Ma), but model results imply that paleo-CO₂ levels had to be greater than 2–4x modern values to be consistent with an apparently ice-free Siberia in the late Permian. These results for the later period in general agree with soil CO₂ proxies and the timing of Gondwanan deglaciation, thus providing support for a significant CO₂ increase before the end-Permian boundary event. Our technique may be applicable to other time intervals of unipolar glaciation.

Key Words: paleoclimate • paleoatmosphere • carbon dioxide • glaciation

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Beerling, R. A. Berner, F. T. Mackenzie, M. B. Harfoot, and J. A. Pyle Methane and the CH4 related greenhouse effect over the past 400 million years Am J Sci, February 1, 2009; 309(2): 97 - 113. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. J. Poulsen, D. Pollard, I. P. Montanez, and D. Rowley Late Paleozoic tropical climate response to Gondwanan deglaciation Geology, September 1, 2007; 35(9): 771 - 774. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. R. Peltier and W. R. Peltier The Phanerozoic Carbon Cycle: CO2 and O2 by Robert A. Berner Am J Sci, November 1, 2006; 306(9): 774 - 776. [Full Text] [PDF]