The Magnitude and Duration of Late Ordovician-Early Silurian Glaciation

Material Information

Title:
The Magnitude and Duration of Late Ordovician-Early Silurian Glaciation
Series Title:
Science Magazine Volume 331, Issue 903
Creator:
Finnegan, Seth
Bergmann, Kristin
Eiler, John M.
Jones, David S.
Fike, David A.
Eisenman, Ian
Hughes, Nigel C.
Tripati, Aradhna K.
Fischer, Woodward W.
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Climate Change ( lcsh )
Ice Sheets ( lcsh )
Glaciers ( lcsh )
Paleothermometry ( lcsh )

Notes

Abstract:
Understanding ancient climate changes is hampered by the inability to disentangle trends in ocean temperature from trends in continental ice volume. We used carbonate “clumped” isotope paleothermometry to constrain ocean temperatures, and thereby estimate ice volumes, through the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian glaciation. We find tropical ocean temperatures of 32° to 37°C except for short-lived cooling by ~5°C during the final Ordovician stage. Evidence for ice sheets spans much of the study interval, but the cooling pulse coincided with a glacial maximum during which ice volumes likely equaled or exceeded those of the last (Pleistocene) glacial maximum. This cooling also coincided with a large perturbation of the carbon cycle and the Late Ordovician mass extinction. ( English )

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
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