Descent into the Icehouse
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences
Abstract
See submission from Lead Institution
Organisations
Publications
Anagnostou E
(2016)
Changing atmospheric CO2 concentration was the primary driver of early Cenozoic climate.
in Nature
Anagnostou E
(2020)
Proxy evidence for state-dependence of climate sensitivity in the Eocene greenhouse.
in Nature communications
Cotton L
(2017)
Integrated stratigraphy of the Priabonian (upper Eocene) Urtsadzor section, Armenia Integrated stratigraphy of the Priabonian (upper Eocene) Urtsadzor section, Armenia
in Newsletters on Stratigraphy
Cotton L
(2011)
Extinction of larger benthic foraminifera at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Cotton L
(2014)
Stable isotope stratigraphy and larger benthic foraminiferal extinctions in the Melinau Limestone, Sarawak
in Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Edgar K
(2015)
Assessing the impact of diagenesis on d11B, d13C, d18O, Sr/Ca and B/Ca values in fossil planktic foraminiferal calcite
in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Evans D
(2018)
Eocene greenhouse climate revealed by coupled clumped isotope-Mg/Ca thermometry.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Fenton IS
(2016)
Environmental Predictors of Diversity in Recent Planktonic Foraminifera as Recorded in Marine Sediments.
in PloS one
Fenton IS
(2016)
The impact of Cenozoic cooling on assemblage diversity in planktonic foraminifera.
in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
| Description | 'Descent Into the Icehouse' was a collaborative project led by Southampton University, including an award to Cardiff University that supported a substantial research project involving one Postdoctoral Research Associate for three years. At Cardiff University we focused on understanding the relationship between biological change in the oceans and climatic change during the Eocene epoch (37-55 million years ago), especially the role of global cooling. Analysis of data collected in the project from carbon isotopes in Eocene foraminifera (a group of marine plankton) led to a major discovery - that the rate and depth of remineralization of sinking organic matter relates to surface and subsurface temperature. As global cooling progressed so organic matter was recycled at a slower rate, and tended to sink deeper in the water. During globally warm periods, recycling was much faster causing increased subsurface anoxia (John et al., 2013). We modelled this process using the Earth System model GENIE (John et al., 2014) which fit the data very well. The process has implications for future climate change, ocean carbon cycle feedbacks, anoxia, and ocean acidification. It has influenced other researchers around the world, with 37 citations so far, and led to a major new research effort at Cardiff investigating the later, Miocene, epoch. This appears to have been a global pattern and it may well have controlled the large scale pattern of evolution in the ocean by affecting deep planktonic niches in particular during the Eocene. This was exemplified by two detailed case studies of evolutionary patterns in Eocene plankton (Pearson and Ezard, 2014; Pearson and Coxall, 2014). This the Descent Into the Icehouse project addressed key broader goals of the 'Life and the Planet' theme to which it was attached (lifeandtheplanet.net). At Cardiff we also investigated the isotopic and trace element geochemistry of foraminifera as a function of preservation state (Edgar et al., 2015), including the critical boron isotope proxy which is used to estimate the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and the past greenhouse effect. In collaboration with Southampton University we made a series of Eocene carbon dioxide estimates which demonstrates that the CO2 greenhouse was the primary driver of climate change at that time. This work was published in Nature (Anagnostou et al., 2016). |
| Exploitation Route | See submission from lead institution |
| Sectors | Environment |
| URL | http://descentintotheicehouse.org.uk/ |
| Description | Public lecture (Stockholm) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture at the Swedish Royal Academy in the oceans in a warm climate state. 15 minutes of formal question and answer, some media engagement in Sweden |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |