Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition
During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1,200–800 kya), Earth’s orbitally paced ice age cycles intensified, lengthened from ∼40,000 (∼40 ky) to ∼100 ky, and became distinctly asymmetrical. Testing hypotheses that implicate changing atmospheric CO2 levels as a driver of the MPT has proven difficu...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:415926 2024-02-11T10:04:50+01:00 Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition Chalk, Thomas Hain, Mathis Foster, Gavin Rohling, Eelco Sexton, Philip F. Badger, Marcus P.S. Cherry, Soraya Hasenfratz, Adam Haug, G.H. Jaccard, S.L. Martínez-García, Alfredo Palike, Heiko Pancost, Richard D. Wilson, Paul A. 2017-12-12 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/1/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_length_2.docx https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/2/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_supplement_length.docx en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/1/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_length_2.docx https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/2/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_supplement_length.docx Chalk, Thomas, Hain, Mathis, Foster, Gavin, Rohling, Eelco, Sexton, Philip F., Badger, Marcus P.S., Cherry, Soraya, Hasenfratz, Adam, Haug, G.H., Jaccard, S.L., Martínez-García, Alfredo, Palike, Heiko, Pancost, Richard D. and Wilson, Paul A. (2017) Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114 (50), 13114-13119. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1702143114 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702143114>). accepted_manuscript Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702143114 2024-01-25T23:19:07Z During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1,200–800 kya), Earth’s orbitally paced ice age cycles intensified, lengthened from ∼40,000 (∼40 ky) to ∼100 ky, and became distinctly asymmetrical. Testing hypotheses that implicate changing atmospheric CO2 levels as a driver of the MPT has proven difficult with available observations. Here, we use orbitally resolved, boron isotope CO2 data to show that the glacial to interglacial CO2 difference increased from ∼43 to ∼75 μatm across the MPT, mainly because of lower glacial CO2 levels. Through carbon cycle modeling, we attribute this decline primarily to the initiation of substantive dust-borne iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean during peak glacial stages. We also observe a twofold steepening of the relationship between sea level and CO2-related climate forcing that is suggestive of a change in the dynamics that govern ice sheet stability, such as that expected from the removal of subglacial regolith or interhemispheric ice sheet phase-locking. We argue that neither ice sheet dynamics nor CO2 change in isolation can explain the MPT. Instead, we infer that the MPT was initiated by a change in ice sheet dynamics and that longer and deeper post-MPT ice ages were sustained by carbon cycle feedbacks related to dust fertilization of the Southern Ocean as a consequence of larger ice sheets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet Southern Ocean University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Southern Ocean Kya ENVELOPE(8.308,8.308,63.772,63.772) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 50 13114 13119 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
During the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1,200–800 kya), Earth’s orbitally paced ice age cycles intensified, lengthened from ∼40,000 (∼40 ky) to ∼100 ky, and became distinctly asymmetrical. Testing hypotheses that implicate changing atmospheric CO2 levels as a driver of the MPT has proven difficult with available observations. Here, we use orbitally resolved, boron isotope CO2 data to show that the glacial to interglacial CO2 difference increased from ∼43 to ∼75 μatm across the MPT, mainly because of lower glacial CO2 levels. Through carbon cycle modeling, we attribute this decline primarily to the initiation of substantive dust-borne iron fertilization of the Southern Ocean during peak glacial stages. We also observe a twofold steepening of the relationship between sea level and CO2-related climate forcing that is suggestive of a change in the dynamics that govern ice sheet stability, such as that expected from the removal of subglacial regolith or interhemispheric ice sheet phase-locking. We argue that neither ice sheet dynamics nor CO2 change in isolation can explain the MPT. Instead, we infer that the MPT was initiated by a change in ice sheet dynamics and that longer and deeper post-MPT ice ages were sustained by carbon cycle feedbacks related to dust fertilization of the Southern Ocean as a consequence of larger ice sheets. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chalk, Thomas Hain, Mathis Foster, Gavin Rohling, Eelco Sexton, Philip F. Badger, Marcus P.S. Cherry, Soraya Hasenfratz, Adam Haug, G.H. Jaccard, S.L. Martínez-García, Alfredo Palike, Heiko Pancost, Richard D. Wilson, Paul A. |
spellingShingle |
Chalk, Thomas Hain, Mathis Foster, Gavin Rohling, Eelco Sexton, Philip F. Badger, Marcus P.S. Cherry, Soraya Hasenfratz, Adam Haug, G.H. Jaccard, S.L. Martínez-García, Alfredo Palike, Heiko Pancost, Richard D. Wilson, Paul A. Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
author_facet |
Chalk, Thomas Hain, Mathis Foster, Gavin Rohling, Eelco Sexton, Philip F. Badger, Marcus P.S. Cherry, Soraya Hasenfratz, Adam Haug, G.H. Jaccard, S.L. Martínez-García, Alfredo Palike, Heiko Pancost, Richard D. Wilson, Paul A. |
author_sort |
Chalk, Thomas |
title |
Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
title_short |
Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
title_full |
Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
title_fullStr |
Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition |
title_sort |
causes of ice-age intensification across the mid-pleistocene transition |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/1/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_length_2.docx https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/2/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_supplement_length.docx |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(8.308,8.308,63.772,63.772) |
geographic |
Southern Ocean Kya |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean Kya |
genre |
Ice Sheet Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/1/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_length_2.docx https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/415926/2/REVISION2_PNAS_MS_ULTIMO_supplement_length.docx Chalk, Thomas, Hain, Mathis, Foster, Gavin, Rohling, Eelco, Sexton, Philip F., Badger, Marcus P.S., Cherry, Soraya, Hasenfratz, Adam, Haug, G.H., Jaccard, S.L., Martínez-García, Alfredo, Palike, Heiko, Pancost, Richard D. and Wilson, Paul A. (2017) Causes of ice-age intensification across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114 (50), 13114-13119. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1702143114 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702143114>). |
op_rights |
accepted_manuscript |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702143114 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
114 |
container_issue |
50 |
container_start_page |
13114 |
op_container_end_page |
13119 |
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1790601582304296960 |