Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study
The Miocene (~24 to ~5 million years ago) was a period of relative global warmth compared to the Quaternary (~2 million years ago to present; e.g. Zachos et al., 2001) and was characterised by the intermittent glaciation of Antarctica only. Paradoxically, the majority of available proxy data suggest...
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European Geosciences Union
2010
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:12801 2023-05-15T13:45:11+02:00 Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study Foster, G.L. Lunt, D.J. Parrish, R.R. 2010 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/1/cp-6-707-2010.pdf http://www.climate-of-the-past.net/index.html en eng European Geosciences Union https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/1/cp-6-707-2010.pdf Foster, G.L.; Lunt, D.J.; Parrish, R.R. 2010 Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study. Climate of the Past, 6 (5). 707-717. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010 <https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2010 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010 2023-02-04T19:28:13Z The Miocene (~24 to ~5 million years ago) was a period of relative global warmth compared to the Quaternary (~2 million years ago to present; e.g. Zachos et al., 2001) and was characterised by the intermittent glaciation of Antarctica only. Paradoxically, the majority of available proxy data suggest that during the Miocene, pCO2 was similar, or even lower, than the pre-industrial levels (280 ppmv; Pagani et al., 1999; Pearson and Palmer, 2000; Kürschner et al., 1996, 2008) and at times probably crossed the modelled threshold value required for sustained glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere (DeConto et al., 2008). Records of ice rafted debris and the oxygen isotope composition of benthic foraminifera suggest that at several times over the last 25 million years substantial amounts of continental ice did build up in the Northern Hemisphere but none of these led to prolonged glaciation. In this contribution, we review evidence that suggests that in the Miocene the North American Cordillera was, at least in parts, considerably lower than today. We present new GCM simulations that imply that small amounts of uplift of the North American Cordillera result in significant cooling of the northern North American Continent. Offline ice sheet modelling, driven by these GCM outputs, suggests that with a reduced topography, inception of the Cordilleran ice sheet is prohibited. This suggests that uplift of the North American Cordillera in the Late Miocene may have played an important role in priming the climate for the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation in the Late Pliocene. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Climate of the Past 6 5 707 717 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The Miocene (~24 to ~5 million years ago) was a period of relative global warmth compared to the Quaternary (~2 million years ago to present; e.g. Zachos et al., 2001) and was characterised by the intermittent glaciation of Antarctica only. Paradoxically, the majority of available proxy data suggest that during the Miocene, pCO2 was similar, or even lower, than the pre-industrial levels (280 ppmv; Pagani et al., 1999; Pearson and Palmer, 2000; Kürschner et al., 1996, 2008) and at times probably crossed the modelled threshold value required for sustained glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere (DeConto et al., 2008). Records of ice rafted debris and the oxygen isotope composition of benthic foraminifera suggest that at several times over the last 25 million years substantial amounts of continental ice did build up in the Northern Hemisphere but none of these led to prolonged glaciation. In this contribution, we review evidence that suggests that in the Miocene the North American Cordillera was, at least in parts, considerably lower than today. We present new GCM simulations that imply that small amounts of uplift of the North American Cordillera result in significant cooling of the northern North American Continent. Offline ice sheet modelling, driven by these GCM outputs, suggests that with a reduced topography, inception of the Cordilleran ice sheet is prohibited. This suggests that uplift of the North American Cordillera in the Late Miocene may have played an important role in priming the climate for the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation in the Late Pliocene. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Foster, G.L. Lunt, D.J. Parrish, R.R. |
spellingShingle |
Foster, G.L. Lunt, D.J. Parrish, R.R. Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
author_facet |
Foster, G.L. Lunt, D.J. Parrish, R.R. |
author_sort |
Foster, G.L. |
title |
Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
title_short |
Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
title_full |
Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
title_fullStr |
Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study |
title_sort |
mountain uplift and the glaciation of north america : a sensitivity study |
publisher |
European Geosciences Union |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/1/cp-6-707-2010.pdf http://www.climate-of-the-past.net/index.html |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12801/1/cp-6-707-2010.pdf Foster, G.L.; Lunt, D.J.; Parrish, R.R. 2010 Mountain uplift and the glaciation of North America : a sensitivity study. Climate of the Past, 6 (5). 707-717. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010 <https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-707-2010 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
707 |
op_container_end_page |
717 |
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1766215256224301056 |