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 (11) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lear, C. H. Articles by Rosenthal, Y. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Cooling and ice growth across the Eocene-Oligocene transition

¹ School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK
² Geology Department, Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK
³ School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK
⁴ Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Geology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA

The Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) climate transition (ca. 34 Ma) marks a period of Antarctic ice growth and a major step from early Cenozoic greenhouse conditions toward today's glaciated climate state. The transition is represented by an increase in deep-sea benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope (¹⁸O) values occurring in two main steps that reflect the temperature and ¹⁸O of seawater. Existing benthic Mg/Ca paleotemperature records do not display a cooling across the transition, possibly reflecting a saturation state effect on benthic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios at deep-water sites. Here we present data from exceptionally well preserved foraminifera deposited well above the calcite compensation depth that provide the first proxy evidence for an 2.5 °C ocean cooling associated with the ice growth. This permits interpretation of E-O ¹⁸O records without invoking Northern Hemisphere continental-scale ice.

Key Words: Eocene • Oligocene • climate • ice sheets • temperature • Cenozoic

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. E. Steeman, M. B. Hebsgaard, R. E. Fordyce, S. Y. W. Ho, D. L. Rabosky, R. Nielsen, C. Rahbek, H. Glenner, M. V. Sorensen, and E. Willerslev Radiation of Extant Cetaceans Driven by Restructuring of the Oceans Syst Biol, December 1, 2009; 58(6): 573 - 585. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. E. PETERS, M. S. M. ANTAR, I. S. ZALMOUT, and P. D. GINGERICH SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHIC CONTROL ON PRESERVATION OF LATE EOCENE WHALES AND OTHER VERTEBRATES AT WADI AL-HITAN, EGYPT Palaios, May 1, 2009; 24(5): 290 - 302. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. T. Pickering and N. J. Bayliss Deconvolving tectono-climatic signals in deep-marine siliciclastics, Eocene Ainsa basin, Spanish Pyrenees: Seesaw tectonics versus eustasy Geology, March 1, 2009; 37(3): 203 - 206. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Z. Liu, M. Pagani, D. Zinniker, R. DeConto, M. Huber, H. Brinkhuis, S. R. Shah, R. M. Leckie, and A. Pearson Global Cooling During the Eocene-Oligocene Climate Transition Science, February 27, 2009; 323(5918): 1187 - 1190. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]