Impact of global cooling on Early Cretaceous high pCO₂ world during the Weissert Event.

ABSTRACT: The Weissert Event ~133 million years ago marked a profound global cooling that punctuated the Early Cretaceous greenhouse. We present modelling, high-resolution bulk organic carbon isotopes and chronostratigraphically calibrated sea surface temperature (SSTs) based on an organic paleothermometer (the TEX₈₆ proxy), which capture the Weissert Event in the semi-enclosed Weddell Sea basin, offshore Antarctica (paleolatitude ~54 °S; paleowater depth ~500 meters). We document a ~3-4 °C drop in SST coinciding with the Weissert cold end, and converge the Weddell Sea data, climate simulations and available worldwide multi-proxy based temperature data towards one unifying solution providing a best-fit between all lines of evidence. The outcome confirms a 3.0 °C ( ±1.7 °C) global mean surface cooling across the Weissert Event, which translates into a ~40% drop in atmospheric pCO₂ over a period of ~700 thousand years. Consistent with geologic evidence, this pCO₂ drop favoured the potential build-up of local polar ice.

SUBMITTER: Cavalheiro L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8437947 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature