Paleobotanical Evidence for Near Present-Day Levels of Atmospheric CO 2 During Part of the Tertiary

2001/06/22 by Dana L. Royer, Scott L. Wing, David J. Beerling +4 · 13 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis #Plant Diversity and Evolution

paper · doi:10.1126/science.292.5525.2310

openalex publication_date 2001/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Understanding the link between the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and Earth's temperature underpins much of paleoclimatology and our predictions of future global warming. Here, we use the inverse relationship between leaf stomatal indices and the partial pressure of CO(2) in modern Ginkgo biloba and Metasequoia glyptostroboides to develop a CO(2) reconstruction based on fossil Ginkgo and Metasequoia cuticles for the middle Paleocene to early Eocene and middle Miocene. Our reconstruction indicates that CO(2) remained between 300 and 450 parts per million by volume for these intervals with the exception of a single high estimate near the Paleocene/Eocene boundary. These results suggest that factors in addition to CO(2) are required to explain these past intervals of global warmth.

Citations

• Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 60 million years
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide and early Eocene climate: A general circulation modeling sensitivity study
• GEOCARB II; a revised model of atmospheric CO 2 over Phanerozoic time

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• Eocene [wikipedia]