Reconciling atmospheric CO2, weathering, and calcite compensation depth across the Cenozoic

Nemanja Komar; Richard E Zeebe

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd4876

Reconciling atmospheric CO₂, weathering, and calcite compensation depth across the Cenozoic

Sci Adv. 2021 Jan 22;7(4):eabd4876. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4876. Print 2021 Jan.

Authors

Nemanja Komar¹, Richard E Zeebe²

Affiliations

¹ School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. komar@hawaii.edu.
² School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, 1000 Pope Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

Abstract

The Cenozoic era (66 to 0 million years) is marked by long-term aberrations in carbon cycling and large climatic shifts, some of which challenge the current understanding of carbon cycle dynamics. Here, we investigate possible mechanisms responsible for the observed long-term trends by using a novel approach that features a full-fledged ocean carbonate chemistry model. Using a compilation of pCO₂, pH, and calcite compensation depth (CCD) observational evidence and a suite of simulations, we reconcile long-term Cenozoic climate and CCD trends. We show that the CCD response was decoupled from changes in silicate and carbonate weathering rates, challenging the continental uplift hypothesis. The two dominant mechanisms for decoupling are shelf-basin carbonate burial fractionation combined with proliferation of pelagic calcifiers. The temperature effect on remineralization rates of marine organic matter also plays a critical role in controlling the carbon cycle dynamics, especially during the warmer periods of the Cenozoic.

Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).