TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing Volcanic Controls on Miocene Climate Change
AU - Longman, Jack
AU - Mills, Benjamin J.W.
AU - Donnadieu, Yannick
AU - Goddéris, Yves
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers, who helped to improve the manuscript. Benjamin J. W. Mills was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/S009663/1. Yannick Donnadieu acknowledges the support of the French Research Agency (ANR) project AMOR (2016‐CE31‐020). Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
PY - 2022/1/28
Y1 - 2022/1/28
N2 - The Miocene period saw substantially warmer Earth surface temperatures than today, particularly during a period of global warming called the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO; ∼17–15 Ma). However, the long-term drivers of Miocene climate remain poorly understood. By using a new continuous climate-biogeochemical model (SCION), we can investigate the interaction between volcanism, climate and biogeochemical cycles through the Miocene. We identify high tectonic CO2 degassing rates and further emissions associated with the emplacement of the Columbia River Basalt Group as the primary driver of the background warmth and the MMCO respectively. We also find that enhanced weathering of the basaltic terrane and input of explosive volcanic ash to the oceans are not sufficient to drive the immediate cooling following the MMCO and suggest that another mechanism, perhaps the change in ocean chemistry due to massive evaporite deposition, was responsible.
AB - The Miocene period saw substantially warmer Earth surface temperatures than today, particularly during a period of global warming called the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO; ∼17–15 Ma). However, the long-term drivers of Miocene climate remain poorly understood. By using a new continuous climate-biogeochemical model (SCION), we can investigate the interaction between volcanism, climate and biogeochemical cycles through the Miocene. We identify high tectonic CO2 degassing rates and further emissions associated with the emplacement of the Columbia River Basalt Group as the primary driver of the background warmth and the MMCO respectively. We also find that enhanced weathering of the basaltic terrane and input of explosive volcanic ash to the oceans are not sufficient to drive the immediate cooling following the MMCO and suggest that another mechanism, perhaps the change in ocean chemistry due to massive evaporite deposition, was responsible.
KW - biogeochemical modeling
KW - Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum
KW - SCION
KW - tectonic forcing
KW - volcanism
KW - weathering feedbacks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123773629&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2021GL096519
DO - 10.1029/2021GL096519
M3 - Letter
AN - SCOPUS:85123773629
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 49
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 2
M1 - e2021GL096519
ER -
