Atmospheric carbon dioxide linked with Mesozoic and early Cenozoic climate change

  • Fletcher, B.J.
  • Brentnall, S.J.
  • Anderson, C.W.
  • Berner, R.A.
  • Beerling, D.J.
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Publication date
January 2008
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Abstract

The relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and climate in the Quaternary period has been extensively investigated, but the role of CO2 in temperature changes during the rest of Earth's history is less clear. The range of geological evidence for cool periods during the high CO2 Mesozoic 'greenhouse world' of high atmospheric CO2 concentrations, indicated by models and fossil soils, has been particularly difficult to interpret. Here, we present high-resolution records of Mesozoic and early Cenozoic atmospheric CO2 concentrations from a combination of carbon-isotope analyses of non-vascular plant (bryophyte) fossils and theoretical modelling. These records indicate that atmospheric CO2 rose from approx420 p.p.m.v. in the Tria...

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