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Orbital forcing of climate 1.4 billion years ago

Shuichang Zhang, Xiaomei Wang, Emma U. Hammarlund, Huajian Wang, M. Mafalda Costa, Christian J. Bjerrum, James N. Connelly, Baomin Zhang, Lizeng Bian, and Donald E. Canfield
PNAS published ahead of print March 9, 2015 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502239112
Shuichang Zhang
aKey Laboratory of Petroleum Geochemistry, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing 100083, China;
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Xiaomei Wang
aKey Laboratory of Petroleum Geochemistry, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing 100083, China;
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Emma U. Hammarlund
bInstitute of Biology and Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark;
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Huajian Wang
aKey Laboratory of Petroleum Geochemistry, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing 100083, China;
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M. Mafalda Costa
cCentre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark;
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Christian J. Bjerrum
dDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Section of Geology, and Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark; and
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James N. Connelly
cCentre for Star and Planet Formation, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark;
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Baomin Zhang
aKey Laboratory of Petroleum Geochemistry, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China National Petroleum Corporation, Beijing 100083, China;
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Lizeng Bian
eDepartment of Geosciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
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Donald E. Canfield
bInstitute of Biology and Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark;
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  • For correspondence: dec@biology.sdu.dk
  1. Contributed by Donald E. Canfield, February 9, 2015 (sent for review May 2, 2014)

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Significance

There is a wealth of evidence pointing to dramatic short-term climate change on Earth over the last few million years. Much of this climate change is driven by variations of Earth’s orbit around the Sun with characteristic frequencies known as Milankovitch cycles. Robust evidence for orbitally driven climate change, however, becomes rare as one descends deep into Earth time. We studied an exceptional record of climate change as recorded in 1.4-billion-year-old marine sediments from North China. This record documents regular changes in subtropical/tropical Hadley Cell dynamics. These changes in dynamics controlled wind strength, rainfall, and ocean circulation, translated into cyclic variations in sediment geochemistry, much like the orbital control on climate today and in the recent past.

Abstract

Fluctuating climate is a hallmark of Earth. As one transcends deep into Earth time, however, both the evidence for and the causes of climate change become difficult to establish. We report geochemical and sedimentological evidence for repeated, short-term climate fluctuations from the exceptionally well-preserved ∼1.4-billion-year-old Xiamaling Formation of the North China Craton. We observe two patterns of climate fluctuations: On long time scales, over what amounts to tens of millions of years, sediments of the Xiamaling Formation record changes in geochemistry consistent with long-term changes in the location of the Xiamaling relative to the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. On shorter time scales, and within a precisely calibrated stratigraphic framework, cyclicity in sediment geochemical dynamics is consistent with orbital control. In particular, sediment geochemical fluctuations reflect what appear to be orbitally forced changes in wind patterns and ocean circulation as they influenced rates of organic carbon flux, trace metal accumulation, and the source of detrital particles to the sediment.

  • Xiamaling
  • Milankovitch
  • Mesoproterozoic
  • Hadley Cell
  • ITCZ

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: dec{at}biology.sdu.dk.
  • Author contributions: S.Z., X.W., E.U.H., H.W., C.J.B., and D.E.C. designed research; S.Z., X.W., E.U.H., H.W., M.M.C., C.J.B., J.N.C., B.Z., L.B., and D.E.C. performed research; S.Z., X.W., E.U.H., H.W., M.M.C., C.J.B., J.N.C., and D.E.C. analyzed data; and S.Z., X.W., E.U.H., C.J.B., J.N.C., and D.E.C. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1502239112/-/DCSupplemental.

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Orbital forcing of climate 1.4 billion years ago
Shuichang Zhang, Xiaomei Wang, Emma U. Hammarlund, Huajian Wang, M. Mafalda Costa, Christian J. Bjerrum, James N. Connelly, Baomin Zhang, Lizeng Bian, Donald E. Canfield
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2015, 201502239; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1502239112

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Orbital forcing of climate 1.4 billion years ago
Shuichang Zhang, Xiaomei Wang, Emma U. Hammarlund, Huajian Wang, M. Mafalda Costa, Christian J. Bjerrum, James N. Connelly, Baomin Zhang, Lizeng Bian, Donald E. Canfield
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2015, 201502239; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1502239112
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