Over 445mn years old Earth climate recreated
August 10th, 2010 - 12:45 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Aug 10 (ANI): Geologists have recreated Earth’s climate belts that existed between 460 and 445 million years ago.
An international team of scientists including Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz of the Geology Department of the University of Leicester, and led by Dr. Thijs Vandenbroucke conducted this study.
The team of scientists looked at the global distribution of common, but mysterious fossils called chitinozoans - probably the egg cases of extinct planktonic animals - before and during this Ordovician glaciation.
They found a pattern that revealed the position of ancient climate belts.
The position of these climate belts changed as the Earth entered the Ordovician glaciation - but in a pattern very similar to that which happened in oceans much more recently, as they adjusted to the glacial and interglacial phases of our current (and ongoing) Ice Age.
The pattern suggests that carbon dioxide levels were about five times that of current levels.
“These ancient, but modern-looking oceans emphasise the stability of Earth’s atmosphere and climate through deep time - and show the current man-made rise in greenhouse gas levels to be an even more striking phenomenon than was thought,” concluded the researchers.
The findings have been published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. (ANI)
- Ancient Ice Age lasted for 30 million years - Jun 17, 2009
- Evidence of sea ice extending to equator 715 mln yrs ago hints at "snowball Earth" - Mar 05, 2010
- How 450mn-yr-old mass extinction is closely linked to climate change - Jan 28, 2011
- Volcanoes played pivotal role in ice age that caused mass extinction 450 mln yrs ago - Oct 27, 2009
- Carbon emissions speed up ocean acidification - Jan 23, 2012
- 'Rising CO2 levels threaten aquatic food webs' - May 08, 2012
- Deep freeze may have spawned complex life on Earth - Oct 28, 2010
- Greenland ice melted more than Antartica's - Aug 01, 2011
- Past post-glacial warming changed North Pacific circulation - Jul 09, 2010
- Global warming disrupts natural patterns of glaciation - Jan 09, 2012
- 2 short warm periods in transition between last interglacial and glacial epochs - Mar 03, 2010
- New research explains remarkable preservation of African fossils - Nov 30, 2010
- Plankton shed light on Earth's ancient atmosphere - Feb 27, 2011
- Have we stepped into devastating age of geological time? - Apr 05, 2010
- New study gives clues about carbon dioxide patterns at end of Ice Age - Oct 26, 2010
Tags: ancient climate, carbon dioxide levels, deep time, earth climate, egg cases, geologists, geology department, global distribution, greenhouse gas levels, million years, mysterious fossils, national academy of sciences, oceans, old earth, ordovician, proceedings of the national academy, proceedings of the national academy of sciences, striking phenomenon, thijs, university of leicester