The evolution of latitudinal temperature gradients from the latest Cretaceous through the Present

Zhang, Laiming; Hay, William W.; Wang, Chengshan; Gu, Xue

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.01.025

Cited by 59 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 135 publications

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“…The presence of temperate to tropical Spiniferites ramosus grp in 35/6-2S suggest paleoclimatic changes throughout the succession, with the warmest period in the Thanetian (Figure 6). Recent review by Zhang et al (2019) suggest terrestrial Paleocene-Eocene temperatures in the range of 20-25 • C, which is similar to 23 ± 5 • C as suggested by Hall et al (2015) based in deep weathering in Scotland. Here we use the latter range of 23 ± 5 • C as input to the model.…”

Section: Conflict Of Interestsupporting

confidence: 71%

Manifestation of Tectonic and Climatic Perturbations in Deep-Time Stratigraphy – An Example From the Paleocene Succession Offshore Western Norway

Sømme

Skogseid

Embry³

et al. 2019

Front. Earth Sci.

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Section: Conflict Of Interestsupporting

confidence: 71%

Manifestation of Tectonic and Climatic Perturbations in Deep-Time Stratigraphy – An Example From the Paleocene Succession Offshore Western Norway

Sømme

Skogseid

Embry³

et al. 2019

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…TEX 86 temperatures from equatorial Site 925 (Zhang et al, ) are within the same range of those from subtropical Sites 1406A and DSDP Site 608 (Super et al, ; modern coordinates: 42°50.205′N, 23°05.250′W) in the Oligocene and early Miocene. Such gradient has been reduced back in the early Oligocene (Zhang et al, ). However, the interval pre‐O/M boundary appears to have a reduced (2°C) offset between midlatitude and equatorial locations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Midlatitude Temperature Variations in the Oligocene to Early Miocene

Guitián

Phelps

Polissar

et al. 2019

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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Antarctic ice sheet margin extent and the sensitivity of benthic δ18O to orbital forcing have varied on million‐year timescales during the Oligocene to Early Miocene. However, few sea surface temperature (SST) records for this time interval exist to evaluate links between polar processes and mean temperature outside polar regions. Here, we present a new record of SST for the time interval 30 to 17 Ma derived from the long‐chain alkenone unsaturation ratio ( U37k′) at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site 1406A in the midlatitude North Atlantic. Results confirm that warm temperatures from 24°C to over 30°C prevailed in midlatitudes in this time and suggest a transition from colder early‐middle Oligocene to warmer average conditions after 24.5 Ma. The global significance of this transition is highlighted by the coincidence with changes in the dominance from marine‐ to terrestrial‐terminating ice sheets in the Ross Sea around Antarctica. The longest continuous section of the record (20.6 to 26.6 Ma) contains multiple 2 million‐year cycles in SST, potentially paced by long obliquity modulation. Complex and temporally varying relationships are observed between North Atlantic SST and benthic δ18O in paired samples; significant covariation is only observed around the Oligocene‐Miocene transition, coincident with a lower average marine ice extent. These North Atlantic U37k′ temperature records provide a new context in which to examine the stability of climate and the Antarctic ice sheet during the Oligocene and early Miocene.

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“…The latitudinal temperature gradient is considered a defining characteristic of the climate system both past and present (Zhang et al, 2019) and is one of the principal factors that control the distribution of vegetation. As such, the persistence of a shallow latitudinal temperature gradient during the early Eocene would have been instrumental in supporting the expansive forest ecosystems that stretched from the middle to high latitudes (Greenwood and Wing, 1995).…”

Section: The Latitudinal Temperature Gradient In Northern North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, prior studies used δ 18 O data from coastal marine bivalves to estimate a latitudinal temperature change of 0.28 • C per 1 • latitude for the late Paleocene and early Eocene in North America (Tripati et al, 2001;Quan et al, 2012, and references therein). Recently, a temperature data compilation of terrestrial climate proxies for the late Paleocene and early Eocene was used to reconstruct a global average latitudinal temperature gradient of 0.16 • C per 1 • between 30 and 60 • paleolatitude (Zhang et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Latitudinal Temperature Gradient In Northern North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleobotanical proxies for early Eocene climates and ecosystems in northern North America from middle to high latitudes

et al. 2020

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Abstract. Early Eocene climates were globally warm, with ice-free conditions at both poles. Early Eocene polar landmasses supported extensive forest ecosystems of a primarily temperate biota but also with abundant thermophilic elements, such as crocodilians, and mesothermic taxodioid conifers and angiosperms. The globally warm early Eocene was punctuated by geologically brief hyperthermals such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), culminating in the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO), during which the range of thermophilic plants such as palms extended into the Arctic. Climate models have struggled to reproduce early Eocene Arctic warm winters and high precipitation, with models invoking a variety of mechanisms, from atmospheric CO2 levels that are unsupported by proxy evidence to the role of an enhanced hydrological cycle, to reproduce winters that experienced no direct solar energy input yet remained wet and above freezing. Here, we provide new estimates of climate and compile existing paleobotanical proxy data for upland and lowland midlatitude sites in British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington, USA, and from high-latitude lowland sites in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic to compare climatic regimes between the middle and high latitudes of the early Eocene – spanning the PETM to the EECO – in the northern half of North America. In addition, these data are used to reevaluate the latitudinal temperature gradient in North America during the early Eocene and to provide refined biome interpretations of these ancient forests based on climate and physiognomic data.

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The evolution of latitudinal temperature gradients from the latest Cretaceous through the Present

Cited by 59 publications

References 135 publications

Manifestation of Tectonic and Climatic Perturbations in Deep-Time Stratigraphy – An Example From the Paleocene Succession Offshore Western Norway

Manifestation of Tectonic and Climatic Perturbations in Deep-Time Stratigraphy – An Example From the Paleocene Succession Offshore Western Norway

Midlatitude Temperature Variations in the Oligocene to Early Miocene

Paleobotanical proxies for early Eocene climates and ecosystems in northern North America from middle to high latitudes

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