A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0014-8753, Dosseto, Anthony, Tyler Faith, J., Fenwick, Pavla, Fogwill, Christopher J., Hughen, Konrad, Lipson, Mathew, Liu, Jiabo, Nowaczyk, Norbert, Rainsley, Eleanor, Ramsey, Christopher Bronk, Sebastianelli, Paolo, Souilmi, Yassine, Stevenson, Janelle, Thomas, Zoë, Tobler, Raymond and Zech, Roland
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Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth's magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion 41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka). We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0014-8753, Dosseto, Anthony, Tyler Faith, J., Fenwick, Pavla, Fogwill, Christopher J., Hughen, Konrad, Lipson, Mathew, Liu, Jiabo, Nowaczyk, Norbert, Rainsley, Eleanor, Ramsey, Christopher Bronk, Sebastianelli, Paolo, Souilmi, Yassine, Stevenson, Janelle, Thomas, Zoë, Tobler, Raymond and Zech, Roland
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AWI Organizations > Geosciences > Young Investigator Group CLOC
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