Timing and Climatic Consequences of the Opening of Drake Passage

2006/04/21 by Howie D. Scher, E. E. Martin · 7 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1120044

openalex publication_date 2006/04/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Age estimates for the opening of Drake Passage range from 49 to 17 million years ago (Ma), complicating interpretations of the relationship between ocean circulation and global cooling. Secular variations of neodymium isotope ratios at Agulhas Ridge (Southern Ocean, Atlantic sector) suggest an influx of shallow Pacific seawater approximately 41 Ma. The timing of this connection and the subsequent deepening of the passage coincide with increased biological productivity and abrupt climate reversals. Circulation/productivity linkages are proposed as a mechanism for declining atmospheric carbon dioxide. These results also indicate that Drake Passage opened before the Tasmanian Gateway, implying the late Eocene establishment of a complete circum-Antarctic pathway.

Citations

• Timing and nature of the deepening of the Tasmanian Gateway
• Significant Southern Ocean warming event in the late middle Eocene
• Paleogene opening of Drake Passage
• Neodymium budget in the modern ocean and paleo‐oceanographic implications
• Rapid Cenozoic glaciation of Antarctica induced by declining atmospheric CO2
• Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present
• Origin, signature and palaeoclimatic influence of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Cited by

• Pacific Ocean and Cenozoic evolution of climate
• Late Oligocene initiation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Evidence from the South Pacific
• The tectonic history of Drake Passage and its possible impacts on global climate
• Evidence for a heavily glaciated Antarctica during the late Oligocene “warming” (27.8–24.5 Ma): Stable isotope records from ODP Site 690
• Impact of Antarctic Circumpolar Current Development on Late Paleogene Ocean Structure
• Climate Change and Invasibility of the Antarctic Benthos
• Oligocene [wikipedia]