Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-269-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-269-2021
Review article
 | Highlight paper
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28 Jan 2021
Review article | Highlight paper |  | 28 Jan 2021

The Eocene–Oligocene transition: a review of marine and terrestrial proxy data, models and model–data comparisons

David K. Hutchinson, Helen K. Coxall, Daniel J. Lunt, Margret Steinthorsdottir, Agatha M. de Boer, Michiel Baatsen, Anna von der Heydt, Matthew Huber, Alan T. Kennedy-Asser, Lutz Kunzmann, Jean-Baptiste Ladant, Caroline H. Lear, Karolin Moraweck, Paul N. Pearson, Emanuela Piga, Matthew J. Pound, Ulrich Salzmann, Howie D. Scher, Willem P. Sijp, Kasia K. Śliwińska, Paul A. Wilson, and Zhongshi Zhang

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Cited articles

Abels, H. A., Dupont-Nivet, G., Xiao, G., Bosboom, R., and Krijgsman, W.: Step-wise change of Asian interior climate preceding the Eocene–Oligocene Transition (EOT), Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 299, 399–412, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.11.028, 2011. 
Abelson, M. and Erez, J.: The onset of modern-like Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at the Eocene-Oligocene transition: Evidence, causes, and possible implications for global cooling, Geochem. Geophy. Geosy., 18, 2177–2199, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GC006826, 2017. 
Adams, C. G., Butterlin, J., and Samanta, B. K.: Larger Foraminifera and Events at the Eocene/Oligocene Boundary in the Indo-West Pacific Region, in: terminal eocene events, vol. 9, edited by: Pomerol, C., Premoli-Silva, S., Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 237–252, 1986. 
Agnini, C., Fornaciari, E., Raffi, I., Catanzariti, R., Pälike, H., Backman, J., and Rio, D.: Biozonation and biochronology of Paleogene calcareous nannofossils from low and middle latitudes, Newslett. Stratigr., 47, 131–181, https://doi.org/10.1127/0078-0421/2014/0042, 2014. 
Short summary
The Eocene–Oligocene transition was a major climate cooling event from a largely ice-free world to the first major glaciation of Antarctica, approximately 34 million years ago. This paper reviews observed changes in temperature, CO2 and ice sheets from marine and land-based records at this time. We present a new model–data comparison of this transition and find that CO2-forced cooling provides the best explanation of the observed global temperature changes.