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Influence of high-latitude vegetation feedbacks on late Palaeozoic glacial cycles

Nature Geoscience volume 3, pages 572–577 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glaciation during the late Palaeozoic era (340–250 Myr ago) is thought to have been episodic, with multiple, often regional, ice-age intervals, each lasting less than 10 million years. Sedimentary deposits from these ice-age intervals exhibit cyclical depositional patterns, which have been attributed to orbitally driven glacial–interglacial cycles and resultant fluctuations in global sea level. Here we use a coupled general-circulation/biome/ice-sheet model to assess the conditions necessary for glacial–interglacial fluctuations. In our simulations, ice sheets appear at atmospheric pCO2 concentrations between 420 and 840 ppmv. However, we are able to simulate ice-sheet fluctuations consistent with eustasy estimates and the distribution of glacial deposits only when we include vegetation feedbacks from high-latitude ecosystem changes. We find that ice-sheet advances follow the expansion of high-latitude tundra during insolation minima, whereas ice retreat is associated with the expansion of barren land close to the edge of the ice sheets during periods of high insolation. We are unable to simulate glacial–interglacial cycles in the absence of a dynamic vegetation component. We therefore suggest that vegetation feedbacks driven by orbital insolation variations are a crucial element of glacial–interglacial cyclicity.

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Figure 1: Time series of insolation, ice volume, sea level and terrestrial ecosystems.
Figure 2: Maximum simulated Southern Hemisphere ice extent in the 560-ppmv-pCO2 dynamic vegetation simulation at 175 kyr.
Figure 3: Climatic anomalies at the summer insolation minimum and maximum.
Figure 4: Time series of global ice volume and ecosystem coverage variability from 65° to 70° S.

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Acknowledgements

This manuscript benefited from comments by T. Torsvik and the members of the University of Michigan Palaeoclimate Simulation Lab. In addition, we thank W. DiMichelle and I. Montañez for conversations motivating this work. D.E.H. and C.J.P. were supported by NSF grant SGPP-0544760.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

    Daniel E. Horton & Christopher J. Poulsen

  2. Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

    David Pollard

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  1. Daniel E. Horton
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  3. David Pollard
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Contributions

D.E.H. and C.J.P. designed the experiments, interpreted the results and co-wrote the manuscript. D.P. provided and/or coupled the model components and interpreted the results.

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Correspondence to Daniel E. Horton.

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Horton, D., Poulsen, C. & Pollard, D. Influence of high-latitude vegetation feedbacks on late Palaeozoic glacial cycles. Nature Geosci 3, 572–577 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo922

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