Articles | Volume 18, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-341-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-341-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
28 Feb 2022
Research article |
| 28 Feb 2022
| 28 Feb 2022
Evolution of continental temperature seasonality from the Eocene greenhouse to the Oligocene icehouse –a model–data comparison
Agathe Toumoulin
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
Delphine Tardif
Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Université de Paris, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
Yannick Donnadieu
Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
Alexis Licht
Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Collège de France, CEREGE, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
Jean-Baptiste Ladant
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Lutz Kunzmann
Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, 01109 Dresden, Germany
Guillaume Dupont-Nivet
Géosciences Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118, Université de Rennes, 35042 Rennes, France
Institute of Geosciences, Potsdam University, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
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Daniel J. Lunt, Nicky M. Wright, Bram Vaes, Ulrich Salzmann, James W. B. Rae, Thomas Hickler, David K. Hutchinson, Julia Brugger, Jiang Zhu, Sebastian Steinig, A. Nele Meckler, Gordon N. Inglis, David Evans, Agatha M. de Boer, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Natalie Burls, Yurui Zhang, Appy Sluijs, Tammo Reichgelt, Igor Niezgodzki, Katrin Meissner, Jean-Baptiste Ladant, Fanni D. Kelemen, Matthew Huber, David Greenwood, Mattias Green, Flavia Boscolo-Galazzo, Mauel Tobias Blau, and Michiel Baatsen
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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The early Eocene, about 50 million years ago, was a super-warm period of Earth's history, with high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Here, we provide a framework and experimental design for climate modellers to carry out a coordinated project, simulating this period. This is the second phase of this project, and here we provide updated maps of the Earth's mountains and ocean floor, and vegetation, to enable more accurate modelling.
Paul Botté, Alexis Licht, Anne-Lise Jourdan, Leny Montheil, François Demory, Mustafa Kaya, Faruk Ocakoğlu, Mehmet Serkan Akkiraz, Deniz İbilioğlu, Pauline Coster, Grégoire Métais, Benjamin Raynaud, and K. Christopher Beard
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6383, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6383, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
Short summary
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The Eocene–Oligocene Transition (EOT;~34 Ma) marks a major global cooling that transformed terrestrial ecosystems and influenced mammalian dispersals. A continental record from Anatolia reveals a Late Eocene warming followed by abrupt cooling at the EOT, documented by geochemistry and sedimentology. This interval is also characterized by increasing aridity, which likely contributed to the decline of endemic taxa and facilitated the westward expansion of Asian mammals into western Europe.
Pierre Maffre, Yves Goddéris, Guillaume Le Hir, Élise Nardin, Anta-Clarisse Sarr, and Yannick Donnadieu
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 6367–6413, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6367-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6367-2025, 2025
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A new version (v7) of the numerical model GEOCLIM is presented here. GEOCLIM models the evolution of ocean and atmosphere chemical composition on multi-million-year timescales, including carbon and oxygen cycles, CO2, and climate. GEOCLIM is associated with a climate model, and a new procedure to link the climate model to GEOCLIM is presented here. GEOCLIM is applied here to investigate the evolution of ocean oxygenation following Earth's orbital parameter variations around 94 million years ago.
Nina M. Papadomanolaki, Anta-Clarisse Sarr, Anthony Gramoullé, Marie Laugié, Jean-Baptiste Ladant, and Yannick Donnadieu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3458, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3458, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
Short summary
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We model how geography and atmospheric CO2 changed circulation and oxygen concentrations prior to two deoxygenation events of the Cretaceous (severe) and Paleocene. Deep Cretaceous oxygen concentration are lower, but at shallower depths, the two simulations produce similar oxygen concentrations. At these depths, the Cretaceous seafloor likely fortified deoxygenation via sedimentary feedbacks. We show that geographical changes after the Paleocene further enhanced ocean oxygenation in our runs.
Mustafa Yücel Kaya, Henk Brinkhuis, Chiara Fioroni, Serdar Görkem Atasoy, Alexis Licht, Dirk Nürnberg, and Taylan Vural
Clim. Past, 21, 1405–1429, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1405-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1405-2025, 2025
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The Eocene–Oligocene Transition (EOT) marked global cooling and Antarctic glaciation, but its impact on marginal seas is less known. This study analyzes the Karaburun section in the eastern Paratethys, using biostratigraphy and geochemistry to reveal boreal water ingress due to Arctic–Atlantic gateway closure. Findings highlight the interplay of global and regional climate dynamics in shaping marginal marine environments.
Dongyu Zheng, Andrew S. Merdith, Yves Goddéris, Yannick Donnadieu, Khushboo Gurung, and Benjamin J. W. Mills
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5413–5429, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5413-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5413-2024, 2024
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This study uses a deep learning method to upscale the time resolution of paleoclimate simulations to 1 million years. This improved resolution allows a climate-biogeochemical model to more accurately predict climate shifts. The method may be critical in developing new fully continuous methods that are able to be applied over a moving continental surface in deep time with high resolution at reasonable computational expense.
Megan A. Mueller, Alexis Licht, Andreas Möller, Cailey B. Condit, Julie C. Fosdick, Faruk Ocakoğlu, and Clay Campbell
Geochronology, 6, 265–290, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-265-2024, 2024
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Sedimentary provenance refers to the study of the origin of sedimentary rocks, tracing where sediment particles originated. Common sedimentary provenance techniques struggle to track mafic igneous and metamorphic rock sources and rutile forms in these rock types. We use rutile form ancient sedimentary rocks in Türkiye to present new recommendations and workflows for integrating rutile U–Pb ages and chemical composition into an accurate sedimentary provenance reconstruction.
Slah Boulila, Guillaume Dupont-Nivet, Bruno Galbrun, Hugues Bauer, and Jean-Jacques Châteauneuf
Clim. Past, 17, 2343–2360, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2343-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2343-2021, 2021
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The Eocene–Oligocene climate transition (EOT) is one of the most drastic climate changes of the Cenozoic era and the final stage of the shift from ice-free to icehouse Earth. Here we present high-resolution records (geophysical, geochemical and sedimentological proxy data) of the EOT from lake deposits to detect the atmospheric expression of the EOT via the hydrological cycle. Such records provide strong constraints on climate modeling and on our comprehension of the forcing mechanisms of EOT.
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Short summary
Temperature seasonality is an important climate parameter for biodiversity. Fossil plants describe its middle Eocene to early Oligocene increase in the Northern Hemisphere, but underlying mechanisms have not been studied in detail yet. Using climate simulations, we map global seasonality changes and show that major contemporary forcing – atmospheric CO2 lowering, Antarctic ice-sheet expansion and particularly related sea level drop – participated in this phenomenon and its spatial distribution.
Temperature seasonality is an important climate parameter for biodiversity. Fossil plants...
