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Categories: Paleontology: Climate, Paleontology: Fossils
Published Early Cretaceous shift in the global carbon cycle affected both land and sea
(via sciencedaily.com) Geologists doing fieldwork in southeastern Utah's Cedar Mountain Formation found carbon isotope evidence that the site, though on land, experienced the same early Cretaceous carbon-cycle change recorded in marine sedimentary rocks in Europe. This ancient carbon-cycle phenomenon, known as the 'Weissert Event' was driven by large, sustained volcanic eruptions in the Southern Hemisphere that greatly increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and produced significant greenhouse climate effects over a prolonged time.
Published Bouncing seismic waves reveal distinct layer in Earth's inner core
(via sciencedaily.com) Data captured from seismic waves caused by earthquakes has shed new light on the deepest parts of Earth's inner core, according to seismologists.
Published New knowledge about ice sheet movement can shed light on when sea levels will rise
(via sciencedaily.com) The trawling of thousands of satellite measurements using artificial intelligence has shown researchers that meltwater in tunnels beneath Greenland's ice sheet causes it to change speed, and in some places, accelerate greatly towards the ocean. This can increase melting, especially in a warming climate, which is why the study's researchers think that it is important to keep an eye on.
Published Climate: Lessons from the latest global warming
(via sciencedaily.com) 56 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the largest and most rapid climate warming events in its history: the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which has similarities to current and future warming. This episode saw global temperatures rise by 5-8°C. It was marked by an increase in the seasonality of rainfalls, which led to the movement of large quantities of clay into the ocean, making it uninhabitable for certain living species. This scenario could be repeated today.
Published New technology revolutionizes the analysis of old ice
(via sciencedaily.com) Ice cores are a unique climate archive. Thanks to a new method, greenhouse gas concentrations in 1.5 million year old ice can be measured even more accurately.
Published European summer droughts since 2015 were most severe over centuries -- but multi-year droughts also happened in the past
(via sciencedaily.com) The 2015--2018 summer droughts have been exceptional in large parts of Western and Central Europe over the last 400 years, in terms of the magnitude of drought conditions. This indicates an influence of human-made global warming. However, multi-year droughts have occurred frequently in the 17th and 18th century, although not as severe.
Published What do early Earth's core formation and drip coffee have in common?
(via sciencedaily.com) A new technique provides fresh insight into the process by which the materials that formed Earth's core descended into the depths of our planet, leaving behind geochemical traces that have long mystified scientists.
Published Before global warming, was the Earth cooling down or heating up?
(via sciencedaily.com) A review article addresses a conflict between models and evidence, known as the Holocene global temperature conundrum.
Published Researchers solve a 150-year-old mystery: Aetosaur find involves juveniles
(via sciencedaily.com) Aetosaurs had a small head and a crocodile-like body. The land dwellers were up to six meters long and widely distributed geographically. They died out about 204 million years ago, at the end of the Triassic. In Germany, an assemblage of 24 Aetosaurus ferratus individuals, only between 20 and 82 centimeters long, was discovered in 1877. Since then, scientists have been puzzling over whether they were juveniles or small adults. A team has now solved the mystery: Bone examination of two specimens shows that they are juveniles.
Published Record low sea ice cover in the Antarctic
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source There is currently less sea ice in the Antarctic than at any time in the forty years since the beginning of satellite observation: in early February 2023, only 2.20 million square kilometers of the Southern Ocean were covered with sea ice.
Published Fossil discovery reveals complex ecosystems existed on Earth much earlier than previously thought
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers.
Published A fossil fruit from California shows ancestors of coffee and potatoes survived cataclysm that killed the dinosaurs
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple crops like coffee, tomatoes, potatoes and mint.
Published Changing climate conditions likely facilitated early human migration to the Americas at key intervals, research suggests
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper shows.
Published Study reveals new clues about how 'Earth's thermostat' controls climate
(via sciencedaily.com) Rocks, rain and carbon dioxide help control Earth's climate over thousands of years -- like a thermostat -- through a process called weathering. A new study may improve our understanding of how this thermostat responds as temperatures change.
Published Mistaken fossil rewrites history of Indian subcontinent for second time
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists discovered the first-ever Dickinsonia fossil in India two years ago, changing our understanding of how the continent came to be. Now, new research shows the 'fossil' was just a beehive all along, changing our understanding for a second time, and the original scientists now support the new findings.
Published 319-million-year-old fish preserves the earliest fossilized brain of a backboned animal
(via sciencedaily.com) The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.
Published Monitoring an 'anti-greenhouse' gas: Dimethyl sulfide in Arctic air
(via sciencedaily.com) Data stored in ice cores dating back 55 years bring new insight into atmospheric levels of a molecule that can significantly affect weather and climate.
Published New ancient 'marine crocodile' discovered on UK's Jurassic Coast -- and it's one of the oldest specimens of its type ever found
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study has uncovered a new thalattosuchian -- an ancient 'sister' of modern-day crocodiles' ancestors.
Published Mercury helps to detail Earth's most massive extinction event
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists are working to understand the cause and how the events of the LPME unfolded by focusing on mercury from Siberian volcanoes that ended up in sediments in Australia and South Africa.
Published Kill dates for re-exposed black mosses
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have used radiocarbon ages (kill dates) of previously ice-entombed dead black mosses to reveal that glaciers advanced during three distinct phases in the northern Antarctic Peninsula over the past 1,500 years.