Phanerozoic paleotemperatures: The earth’s changing climate during the last 540 million years

Scotese, Christopher R.; Song, Haijun; Mills, Benjamin J. W.; Meer, Douwe G. van der

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103503

Cited by 351 publications

(268 citation statements)

References 382 publications

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“…Continental-scale transgressive sequences dis-or un-conformably overlie the Precambrian rocks of varying age (Peters and Gaines 2012) and are usually rich in phosphorus. Climate might be warm or hot (Boucot et al 2009;Hearing et al 2018;Scotese et al 2021). Atmosphere was well oxygenated, and the free oxygen content was constrained between 10%PAL and 40%PAL (Sperling et al 2015;Zhang and Cui 2016).…”

Section: Did Environmental Changes Drive the Cambrian Explosion?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers

Zhang

Shu

2021

PalZ

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The Cambrian Explosion by nature is a three-phased explosion of animal body plans alongside episodic biomineralization, pulsed change of generic diversity, body size variation, and progressive increase of ecosystem complexity. The Cambrian was a time of crown groups nested by numbers of stem groups with a high-rank taxonomy of Linnaean system (classes and above). Some stem groups temporarily succeeded while others were ephemeral and underrepresented by few taxa. The high number of stem groups in the early history of animals is a major reason for morphological gaps across phyla that we see today. Most phylum-level clades achieved their maximal disparity (or morphological breadth) during the time interval close to their first appearance in the fossil record during the early Cambrian, whereas others, principally arthropods and chordates, exhibit a progressive exploration of morphospace in subsequent Phanerozoic. The overall envelope of metazoan morphospace occupation was already broad in the early Cambrian though it did not reach maximal disparity nor has diminished significantly as a consequence of extinction since the Cambrian. Intrinsic and extrinsic causes were extensively discussed but they are merely prerequisites for the Cambrian Explosion. Without the molecular evolution, there could be no Cambrian Explosion. However, the developmental system is alone insufficient to explain Cambrian Explosion. Time-equivalent environmental changes were often considered as extrinsic causes, but the time coincidence is also insufficient to establish causality. Like any other evolutionary event, it is the ecology that make the Cambrian Explosion possible though ecological processes failed to cause a burst of new body plans in the subsequent evolutionary radiations. The Cambrian Explosion is a polythetic event in natural history and manifested in many aspects. No simple, single cause can explain the entire phenomenon.

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Section: Did Environmental Changes Drive the Cambrian Explosion?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers

Zhang

Shu

2021

PalZ

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“…For paleotemperature calculation, the phosphate-water isotope fractionation equation of Lécuyer et al 39 is used. Because no or at least no permanent glacial ice sheet was established around 388 million years ago 40 , 41 and flooded continental area reached a maximum within the entire Phanerozoic record during the Middle Devonian 42 , a δ 18 O value of − 1‰ VSMOW for Middle Devonian seawater is assumed. As result, δ 18 O apatite data from eastern and southern Euramerica indicate lower temperatures compared with localities from more southern latitudes on the western shelf of Euramerica and northern Gondwana.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleotemperature record of the Middle Devonian Kačák Episode

Suttner

Kido

Joachimski

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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The Middle Devonian Epoch, ~ 393–383 million years ago, is known for a peak in diversity and highest latitudinal distribution of coral and stromatoporoid reefs. About 388 million years ago, during the late Eifelian and earliest Givetian, climax conditions were interrupted by the polyphased Kačák Episode, a short-lived period of marine dys-/anoxia associated with climate warming that lasted less than 500 kyr. Reconstruction of the seawater temperature contributes to a better understanding of the climate conditions marine biota were exposed to during the event interval. To date, conodont apatite-based paleotemperatures across the Eifelian–Givetian boundary interval have been published from Belarus, France, Germany and North America (10–36° S paleolatitude). Here we provide new δ18Oapatite data from the Carnic Alps (Austria, Italy) and the Prague Synform (Czech Republic). For better approximation of the paleotemperature record across the Kačák Episode, a latitude-dependent correction for Middle Devonian seawater δ18O is applied. Because δ18Oapatite data from shallow marine sections are influenced by regional salinity variations, calculated mean sea surface temperatures (SST) are restricted to more open marine settings (22–34° S paleolatitude). Water temperatures reach ~ 34 °C in the Prague Synform and ~ 33 °C in the Carnic Alps and suggest that SSTs of the southern hemisphere low latitudes were ~ 6 °C higher than previously assumed for this time interval.

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“…The global early Eocene is indicated to be in a hothouse state, with a globally average temperature ~12°C higher than the present global average (Westerhold et al, 2020;Scotese et al, 2021). The early Eocene Bighorn Basin is suggested to have been in a warm-temperate to a subtropical environment with seasonal precipitation (Van Houten, 1948).…”

Section: Palaeoclimatementioning

confidence: 99%

Sandstone body character, river styles, and geomorphology of the lower Eocene Willwood Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA

Wang¹,

Baars²,

Sahoo³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The lower Eocene Willwood Formation of the intermontane Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA, is an alluvial red bed succession with a sand content of ca. 20%-25%. The formation has been studied intensively for paleontology, paleoclimate, and sedimentary reconstruction. However, alluvial sandstone bodies and their corresponding river styles remain little characterized and documented. Here, efforts are made to study the characteristics and river styles of sandstone bodies through ca. 300 m of alluvial stratigraphy in the McCullough Peaks outcrop area based on the field data and a georeferenced 3-D photogrammetric model. Four channel facies associations are recognized, and they are ascribed to four river planform styles: distributary channel, massive trunk-shaped channel, braided channel, and sinuous channel, with the latter two styles being the more abundant. The channel sandstone bodies that show the character of sinuous rivers and those of braided rivers differ significantly in average thickness (6.1 m versus 9.0 m) and insignificantly in average width (on average 231 m) and paleoflow directions (on average N003). Braided-character dominated and sinuous-character dominated river styles are seen to alternate in the outcrop, while they show no spatial dependency in the 10 km2 study area. Bighorn Basin margins varied in the early Eocene, with differing tectonic, geological, and topographic characteristics. The observed mixture of river styles may be attributed to differential influences of axial and transverse river systems and/or climate change that controls water discharge and sediment load. An early Eocene geomorphologic reconstruction is constructed summarizing these new and earlier results.

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Phanerozoic paleotemperatures: The earth’s changing climate during the last 540 million years

Cited by 351 publications

References 382 publications

Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers

Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers

Paleotemperature record of the Middle Devonian Kačák Episode

Sandstone body character, river styles, and geomorphology of the lower Eocene Willwood Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA

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