Abstract
Six major problems in paleoclimatology are utilized to illustrate how critical observations from the pre-Pleistocene are leading focused, interdisciplinary investigations which are guiding future research: (1) the faint early sun paradox, (2) the Proterozoic “ice house”, (3) Cretaceous warmth, (4) Eocene equator-to-pole temperature gradients, (5) gateways and the Oligocene to Miocene transition to glacial climates, and (6) Milankovitch sedimentary rhythms during non-glacial climates. The research in these areas have produced a variety of advances and have fostered new areas of research including (1) consideration of atmospheric chemistry as a major regulator of the Earth’s climate, (2) illustration of critical limits to Radiative Convective Models and General Circulation Models, (3) consideration of feedbacks between temperature, continental weathering, and CO2, (4) evaluation of the mechanisms of glaciation, (5) illustration of the importance of tropical temperature history, (6) illustration of the importance of climates in continental interiors, (7) consideration of the importance of the role of the oceans in heat transport, (8) consideration of the role of barriers and gateways to ocean circulation and (9) indication of the potential of sedimentary rhythms as opportunities to investigate climate sensitivity.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arthur, M. A., W. E. Dean, D. J. Bottjer and P. A. Scholle, 1984: Rhythmic bedding in Mesozoic-Cenozoic pelagic carbonate sequences: the primary and diagenetic origin of Milankovitch-like cycles. Milankovitch and Climate, J. Imbrie, J. Hays, G. Kukla and B. Saltzman, Eds., D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 191–222.
Augustsson, T., and V. Ramanathan, 1977: A radiative-convective model study of the CO2 climate problem. J. Atmos. Sci., 34, 448–451.
Barron, E. J., 1987: Eocene equator-to-pole surface ocean temperatures: A significant climate problem? Paleoceanography, 2, 729–739.
Barron, E. J., 1983: A warm, equable Cretaceous: The nature of the problem. Earth Sci. Rev., 19, 309–338
Barron, E. J., M. A. Arthur and E. G. Kauffman, 1985: Cretaceous rhythmic bedding sequences: a plausible link between orbital variations and climate. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 72, 327–340.
Barron, E. J., S. L. Thompson and S. H. Schneider, 1981: An ice-free Cretaceous? Results from climate model simulations. Science, 212, 501–508.
Barron, E. J., and W. M. Washington, 1985: Warm Cretaceous climates: high atmospheric CO2 as a plausible mechanism. The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations Archean to Present. E. T. Sundquist and W. S. Broecker, Eds., American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 546–553.
Barron, E. J., and W. M. Washington, 1984: The role of geographic variables in explaining paleoclimates: Results from Cretaceous climate model sensitivity studies. J. Geophys. Res., 89, 1267–1279.
Beaty, C, 1978: The causes of glaciation. Am. J. Sci., 66, 452–459.
Berggren, W., and C. Hollister, 1974: Paleogeography, paleobiogeography and the history of circulation in the Atlantic Oceans. Studies in Paleo-oceanography, W. W. Hay, Ed., Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Spec. Publ. 20, 126–186.
Berner, R. A., A. C. Lasaga and R. M. Garrels, 1983: The carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years. Am. J. Sci., 283, 641–683.
Crowell, J., and L. A. Frakes, 1970: Phanerozoic glaciation and the causes of the Ice Ages. Am. J. Sci., 268, 193–224.
Crowley, T. J., D. A. Short, J. G. Mengel and G. R. North, 1986: Role of seasonality in the evolution of climate during the last 100 million years. Science, 231, 579–584.
Dean, W. E., J. V. Gardner, L. F Jansa, P. Cepek and E. Seibold, 1977: Cyclic sedimentation along the continental margin of northwest Africa. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Y. Lancelot, E. Seibold et al., U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 41, 965–986.
de Boer, P. L., 1982: Cyclicity and the storage of organic matter in Cretaceous pelagic sediments. Cyclic and Event Stratification, G. Einsele and A. Seilacher, Eds., Springer, New York, 456–475.
Dickinson, R. E., 1985: Climate sensitivity. Advances Geophys., 28A, 99–129.
Estes, R., and J. H. Hutchison, 1980: Eocene lower vertebrates from Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Palaeogeo. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol., 30, 325–347.
Fischer, A. G., 1980: Gilbert-bedding rhythms and geochronology, in: The Scientific Ideas of G. K. Gilbert, E. I. Yockelson, Ed., Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap., 183, 93–104.
Fischer, A. G., 1982: Long-term climatic oscillations recorded in stratigraphy. Climate in Earth History, W. H. Berger and J. C. Crowell, Eds., National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 97–104.
Frakes, L. A., and E. Kemp, 1972: Influence of continental positions on Early Tertiary climates. Nature, 240, 97–100.
Gill, A. E., and K. Bryan, 1971: Effects of geometry on the circulation of a three-dimensional southern hemisphere ocean model. Deep-Sea Res., 18, 685–721.
Gough, D. O., 1981: Solar interior structure and luminosity variations. Solar Physics, 74, 21–34.
Hambrey, M. J., and Harland, W. B., 1981: Earth’s Pre-Pleistocene glacial record. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1004 pp.
Hays, J., J. Imbrie and N. J. Shackleton, 1976: Variations in the Earth’s orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages. Science, 194, 1121–1132.
Henderson-Sellers, A., 1979: Clouds and the long term stability of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Nature, 279, 786–788.
Herbert, T. D., and A. G. Fischer, 1986: Milankovitch climatic origin of mid-Cretaceous black shale rhythms in central Italy. Nature, 321, 739–743.
Holland, H. D., 1978: The Chemistry of the Atmosphere and Oceans. Wiley Interscience, New York, 351 pp.
Irving, E., and J. K. Park, 1972: Hairpins and superintervals. Can. Jour, of Earth Sci., 9, 1318–1324.
Janecek, T. R., and D. K. Rea, 1983: Eolian deposition in the northwest Pacific Ocean: Cenozoic history of atmospheric circulation. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 94, 730–738.
Karhu, J., and S. Epstein, 1986: The implication of the oxygen isotope records in coexisting cherts and phosphates. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 50, 1745–1756.
Kauffman, E. G., 1977: Upper Cretaceous cyclothems, biotas, and environments, Rock Canyon Anticline, Pueblo, Colorado. Cretaceous Facies, Faunas, and Paleoenvironments across the Western Interior Basin, E. G. Kauffman, Ed., Rocky Mtn. Assoc. Geol., 14, 129–152.
Keigwin, L. D., and B. H. Corliss, 1986: Stable isotopes in late middle Eocene to Oligocene foraminifera. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 97, 335–345.
Kennett, J. P., 1977: Cenozoic evolution of Antarctic glaciation, the circum-Antarctic Ocean, and their impact on global paleoceano-graphy. J. Geophys. Res., 82, 3843–3860.
Knauth, L. P., and S. Epstein, 1976: Hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in nodular and bedded cherts. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 40, 1095–1108.
Kuhn, W. R., and S. K. Atreya, 1979: Amonia photolysis and the greenhouse effect in the primordial atmosphere of the Earth. Icarus, 37, 207–213.
Kuhn, W. R., and J. F. Kasting, 1983: The effects of increased CO2 concentration on surface temperature of the early Earth. Nature, 301, 53–55.
Kutzbach, J. E., and P. J. Guetter, 1984: The sensitivity of monsoon climates to orbital parameter changes for 9000 years B.P.: experiments with the NCAR general circulation model. Milankovitch and Climate, A. Berger, J. Imbrie, J. Hays, G. Kukla and B. Saltzman, Eds., D. Reidel, Bordrecht, 801–820.
Kutzbach, J. E., and B. L. Otto-Bliesner, 1982: The sensitivity of the African-Asian monsoonal climate to orbital parameter changes for 9000 years B.P. in a low resolution general circulation model. J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 1177–1188.
Lasaga, A. C, R. A. Berner and R. M. Garrels, 1985: An improved geo-chemical model for atmospheric CO2 fluctuations over the past 100 million years, in The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations Archean to Present, E. T. Sundquist and W. S. Broecker, Eds., American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 397–411.
Lowe, D. R., 1980: Archean sedimentation. Annual Reviews in Earth and Planetary Science, 8, 145–167.
MacGinitie, H.D., 1969: The Eocene Green River flora of northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. Calif. Univ. Pubs. Geol. Sci., 83, 1–143.
MacGinitie, H. D., 1974: An early middle Eocene flora from the Yellow-stone-Absaroka volcanic province, northwestern Wind River Basin, Wyoming. Calif. Univ. Pubs. Geol. Sci., 108, 1–103.
Owen, T., R. D. Cess and V. Ramanathan, 1979: An enhanced carbon dioxide greenhouse to compensate for reduced solar luminosity on Early Earth. Nature, 277, 640–642.
Piper, J. D. A., 1973: Latitudinal extent of Late Precambrian glaciations. Nature, 244, 342–344.
Pratt, L. M., 1981: A paleo-oceanographic interpretation of the sedimentary structures, clay minerals, and organic matter in a core of the Middle Cretaceous Greenhorn Formation near Pueblo, Colorado, Princeton University, Dissertation, 176 pp.
Ramanathan, V., 1976: Radiative transfer within the Earth’s troposphere and stratosphere: A simplified radiative-convective model. J. Atmos. Sci., 33, 1330–1346.
Rea, D. K., M. Leinen and T. R. Janecek, 1985: Geologic approach to the long-term history of atmospheric circulation. Science, 277, 721–725.
Sagan, C, and G. Mullen, 1972: Earth and Mars: Evolution of atmospheres and surface temperatures. Science, 177, 52–56.
Schlesinger, M. E., and J. F. B. Mitchell, 1987: Climate model simulations of the equilibrium climatic response to increased carbon dioxide. Rev. Geophysics, 25, 760–798.
Schneider, S. H., and S. L. Thompson, 1980: Cosmic conclusions from climatic models: Can they be justified? Icarus, 41, 456–469.
Schneider, S. H., S. L. Thompson and E. J. Barron, 1985: Mid-Cretaceous continental surface temperatures: Are high CO2 concentrations needed to simulate above freezing winter conditions?. The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations Archean to Present. Geophys. Monogr. Ser. 32, E. T. Sundquist and W. S. Broecker, Eds., AGU, Washington, DC, 554–560.
Schwarzacher, W., and A. G. Fisher, 1982: Limestone-shale bedding and perturbations of the Earth’s orbit. Cyclic and Event Stratification, G. Einsele and A. Seilacher, Eds., Springer, New York, 72–95.
Shackleton, N., and A. Boersma, 1981: The climate of the Eocene ocean. J. Geol. Soc. London, 138, 153–157.
Shackleton, N., and J. P. Kennett, 1975: Paleotemperature history of the Cenozoic and the initiation of Antarctic glaciation: oxygen and carbon isotope analyses in DSDP sites 277, 279, 281. Initial Reports of the Deep-Sea Drilling Project, J. P. Kennett, R. E. Houtz, et al., U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 29, 801–807.
Sheldon, R. P., 1986: Evidence for ring systems orbiting Earth in the geologic past. Earth and the Human Future, K. R. Smith, F. Fesharaki and J. P. Holdren, Eds., Westview Press, Boulder and London, 45–70.
Tarling, D. H., 1978: The geological-geophysical framework of ice ages. Climatic Change, J. Gribben, Ed., Cambridge Univ. Press, 3–24.
Tarling, D. H., 1974: A paleomagnetic study of Eocambrian tillites in Scotland. J. Geol. Soc. of London, 130, 163–177.
Walker, J. C. G., 1982: Climatic factors on the Archean Earth. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol., 40, 1–11.
Walker, J. C. G., P. B. Hays and J. F. Kasting, 1981: A negative feedback mechanism for the long-term stabilization of Earth’s surface temperature. J. Geophys. Res., 86, 9776–9782.
Wang, W.-C, W. B. Rossow, M.-S. Yao and M. Wolf sen, 1981: Climate sensitivity of a one-dimensional radiative-convective model with cloud feedback. J. Atmos. Sci., 38, 1167–1178.
Washington, W. M., and G. A. Meehl, 1986: General circulation model CO2 sensitivity experiments: snow-sea ice albedo parameterizations and globally averaged surface air temperature. Climatic Change, 8, 231–241.
Williams, G. E., 1975: Late Precambrian glacial climate and the Earth’s obliquity. Geological Magazine, 112, 441–465.
Wolfe, J. A., 1978: A paleobotanical interpretation of Tertiary climates in the northern hemisphere. Amer. Sci., 66, 691–703.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barron, E.J. (1989). Pre-Pleistocene Climates: Data and Models. In: Berger, A., Schneider, S., Duplessy, J.C. (eds) Climate and Geo-Sciences. NATO ASI Series, vol 285. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0412-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2446-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive