Major Climatic Events and Trends

during the Cenozoic (Part-II)

Prof. A.K. Chaubey

akchaubey@iitism.ac.in L39: 28 April 2023
 The Cenozoic Era
 The Cenozoic is Earth's current geological era, representing
the last 66 million years of Earth's history.
 It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and
flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the
current configuration of continents.
 It is the latest of three geological eras since complex life
evolved, preceded by the Mesozoic era.
Climate Change During the Cenozoic
Era: From Greenhouse to Icehouse
 Since 65 million years ago (Ma), Earth’s climate has undergone
a significant and complex evolution.
 The Cenozoic Era was a contrast of two worlds. Climates during
the first 15 million years of the Cenozoic were generally warm.
Whereas, during rest of the Cenozoic, temperatures decreased
as moving continents diverted warming currents.
 This evolution includes gradual trends of warming and cooling.
Earth has experienced both extreme warmth and extreme cold
during this period.
 These warming and cooling were driven by tectonic processes,
which have altered the positions and elevations of
the continents as well as ocean passages and bathymetry. It
occurred on time scales of 105 to 107 years, rhythmic or periodic
cycles driven by orbital processes with 23,000 to 100,000 years
cyclicity.
 Major themes of the Cenozoic Era
• Earth
– overall climatic cooling (“greenhouse to icehouse”)
– changes in ocean circulation
– Pangea breakup continues but slows
– changes in position of land and sea
– changes in oceanic nutrient levels

• Life
– diversification and dominance of mammals
– dominance of angiosperms
– continuation of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution
 The Earth in the Cenozoic Era
• Changes in position of land and sea
– destruction of Tethys
– effects on climate
– effects on ocean circulation
– land bridges

• Changes in ocean circulation

– cooling ⇒ more vigorous circulation
– continental position ⇒ new current patterns

• Overall climatic cooling

– continental position ⇒ S. Hemisph. glaciation
 Climate Change over Cenozoic Era

1. Dominant Forcing: Natural CO2

- Rate ~100 ppm/My (0.0001 ppm/year)
- Human made rate today: ~2 ppm/year

2. Humans Now Overwhelm Slow Geologic

Changes
Global Deep-Ocean Temperature during the Cenozoic

 Earth was ice-free at about 50 million years ago (50 Ma).

 Atmospheric CO2 amount was of the order of 1000 ppm at 50 Ma.
 Atmospheric CO2 imbalance due to plate tectonics.
During the Cenozoic, (i) temperatures decreased as moving continents
diverted ocean warming currents, and (ii) the poles became much cooler
than the equator.
Major Climatic Events and Trends during the Cenozoic

PE-Trend: Paleocene-Eocene warming trend, PETM: Paleocene-Eocene

Thermal Maximum, EECO: Early Eocene Climatic Optimum, LTEC-I: Long-
Term Eocene Cooling I, MECO: Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum, LTEC-II: Long-
Term Eocene Cooling II, EOT: Eocene-Oligocene Transition, O-Swings:
Oligocene “swinging” trends, OMB: Oligocene-Miocene Boundary, MMCO: Mid-
Miocene Climatic Optimum, 4-to-10-Ma: Interval from 4 to 10 Ma.
 Paleocene-Eocene Trend (PE-Trend)
 The Cenozoic Era’s earliest climatic phase saw a warming
trend. We call it Paleocene-Eocene Trend (PE-Trend).

 This began in the middle of the Paleocene and culminated in

the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO).

 Superimposed on the PE-Trend were short-term warmings

termed hyperthermals. The most prominent of those events
was the PETM.
Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)
 The Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) was a time of rapid
global warming in both marine and continental realms that has been
attributed to a massive methane (CH4) release from marine gas hydrate
reservoirs due to volcanism and uplift associated with the North Atlantic
Igneous Province
 The highest global temperatures of the Cenozoic occurred during the
the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a short interval lasting
approximately 100,000 years.
 It is estimated to have occurred around 55.5 million years ago for a total
warm period of about 100,000 years with a global temperatures increase
by 5 - 8 °C.
 The PETM was associated with the largest deep-sea mass extinction
event in the last 93 million years and remarkable diversification of life in the
surface ocean and on land.
 The onset of the Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum has caused
extreme changes in Earth's carbon cycle and a significant temperature rise.
 PETM: Causes
There are five potential causes for PETM:

(1) gas hydrates in marine sedimentary rocks

(2) Coals in terrestrial sedimentary rocks

(3) Extensive wildfires

(4) Melting of permafrost

(5) Volcanism in the North Atlantic ocean coincident with the

opening of the sea between Norway and Greenland.

Each of these sources could have emitted sufficient CO2 and

methane (CH4) to cause the warming.
 Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) and
Long-Term Eocene Cooling (LTEC)
 The global temperatures started decline after attaining warming during a
period known as the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. After temperature
maximum in EECO, there was a steady decline in global temperatures
toward the Eocene - Oligocene boundary, which occurred about 33.9 million
years ago.
 These changes are well-represented in marine sediments and in
paleontological records from the continents, where vegetation zones moved
Equator-ward.
 Mechanisms underlying the cooling trend are under study, but it is most
likely that tectonic movements played an important role. This period saw the
gradual opening of the sea passage between Tasmania and Antarctica,
followed by the opening of the Drake Passage between South America and
Antarctica. The latter, which isolated Antarctica within a cold polar sea,
produced global effects on atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Recent
evidence suggests that decreasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon
dioxide during this period may have initiated a steady and irreversible
cooling trend over the next few million years.
 Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT)
 The Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT), from a largely ice-free
greenhouse world to an icehouse climate, was the first major glaciation of
Antarctica. It was a phase of major climate and environmental change
occurred ~34 million years ago and lasting ~500 kyr.

 The change is marked by a global shift in deep sea ẟ18O representing a

combination of deep-ocean cooling and global ice sheet growth. At the
same time, multiple independent proxies for sea surface temperature
indicate a surface ocean cooling, and major changes in global fauna and
flora.

 The major explanations of this transition are a decline in atmospheric

CO2, and changes to ocean gateways, while orbital forcing likely
influenced the precise timing of the glaciation. The model simulations
indicated three forcing mechanisms across the EOT: CO2 decrease,
paleogeographic changes (plate tectonics), and ice sheet growth.
 MECO: Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum
 Global climatic event on Middle Miocene triggered by geology
activity is called by Mid- Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO).

 This event was widely distributed and associated with

increasing temperature and CO2 content in the atmosphere.

 The Middle Miocene (~16 - 11.6 Ma) was marked by

important changes in global climate. The first stage of this
time period, the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO),
was characterized by warm conditions, comparable to those
of the late Oligocene.
 Climate during Oligocene to Holocene
 A continental ice sheet developed in Antarctica during the Oligocene
Epoch, persisting until a rapid warming event took place 27 million years ago.
 The late Oligocene and early to mid-Miocene epochs (28.4 million to 13.8
million years ago) were relatively warm, though not nearly as warm as the
Eocene.
 Cooling resumed 15 million years ago, and the Antarctic Ice Sheet expanded
again to cover much of the continent. The cooling trend continued through the
late Miocene and accelerated into the early Pliocene Epoch, 5.3 million years
ago. During this period the Northern Hemisphere remained ice-free, and
paleobotanical studies show cool-temperate Pliocene floras at high latitudes
on Greenland and the Arctic Archipelago.
 The Northern Hemisphere glaciation, which began 3.2 million years ago, was
driven by tectonic events, such as the closing of the Panama seaway and
the uplift of the Andes, the Tibetan Plateau, and western parts of North
America. These tectonic events led to changes in the circulation of the oceans
and the atmosphere, which in turn fostered the development of persistent ice
at high northern latitudes.
 Climate during Oligocene to Holocene
 Small-turn fostered the development of persistent ice at
high northern latitudes. Small-magnitude variations in
carbon dioxide concentrations, which had been relatively
low since at least the mid-Oligocene (27.8 million years
ago), are also thought to have contributed to this glaciation.
 Early Pliocene
Central and South America not connected.
Atlantic and Pacific same salinity

5.5 mya
Land in polar latitudes but Arctic still warm due Gulf Stream
 Late Pliocene - Gulf stream Saltier
1. 3.5 mya Subduction, Volcanic Arc,
Isthmus of Panama
closed, North Atlantic isol.,
higher salinity, dense cool
water sinks before it
reaches Arctic, polar sea freezes Sudden Cold & Dry
Late Pliocene

2. Caused Formation of the modern Gulf Stream Current in the Atlantic

3. Dramatic cooling, dry in Mediterranean dries out thick evaporites

 Eustatic Sea-level Change Since 450 kyr

Eustatic sea level changes are global sea level changes related to changes in the
volume of water in the ocean. These can be due to changes in the volume of glacial ice
on land, thermal expansion of the water, or to changes in the shape of the seafloor
caused by plate tectonic processes.
LGM: Last Glacial Maximum , also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the
most recent time during the which the ice sheets were at their greatest extent. LGM
occurred about 20,000 years ago. At that time, global sea level was about 125 m lower
than it is today, and glaciers covered approximately 8% of Earth's surface.
Sea-level Rise Post LGM
 Summary
 Convection currents in the lithosphere
move the continents.
 Continent positions deflect ocean
convection currents and change ocean
basin salinity. These change weather 
climate
 We are currently in an interglacial because
our spin axis tilt is 23.5 degrees, headed
toward 24.5.
 It will get much warmer as the interglacial
continues, but then COLDER.
 Thank You

Pillow lava at CIR observed during manned submersible dive