More Like this

1. The Role of Southeast Asian Island Topography on Indo‐Pacific Climate and Silicate Weathering

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023PA004672  

   Chiang, John CH; Maffre, Pierre; Swanson‐Hysell, Nicholas L; Macdonald, Francis A (March 2024, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology)

   The geography of the Southeast Asian Islands (SEAI) has changed over the last 15 million years, as a result of tectonic processes contributing to both increased land area and high topography. The presence of the additional land area has been postulated to enhance convective rainfall, facilitating both increased silicate weathering and the development of the modern‐day Walker circulation. Using an Earth System Model in conjunction with a climate‐silicate weathering model, we argue instead for a significant role of SEAItopographyfor both effects. SEAI topography increases orographic rainfall over land, through intercepting moist Asian‐Australian monsoon winds and enhancing land‐sea breezes. Large‐scale atmospheric uplift over the SEAI region increases by ∼14% as a consequence of increased rainfall over the SEAI and enhancement through dynamical ocean‐atmosphere feedback. The atmospheric zonal overturning circulation over the Indo‐Pacific increases modestly arising from dynamical ocean‐atmosphere feedback, more strongly over the tropical Indian Ocean. On the other hand, the effect of the SEAI topography on global silicate weathering is substantial, resulting in a ∼109 ppm reduction in equilibriumpCO₂and decrease in global mean temperature by ∼1.7ºC. The chemical weathering increase comes from both enhanced physical erosion rates and increased rainfall due to the presence of SEAI topography. The lowering ofpCO₂by SEAI topography also enhances the Indo‐Pacific atmospheric zonal overturning circulation. Our results support a significant role for the progressive emergence of SEAI topography in global cooling over the last several million years. 

   more » « less
2. A synthesis of monsoon exploration in the Asian marginal seas

   https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-31-1-2022  

   Clift, Peter D.; Betzler, Christian; Clemens, Steven C.; Christensen, Beth; Eberli, Gregor P.; France-Lanord, Christian; Gallagher, Stephen; Holbourn, Ann; Kuhnt, Wolfgang; Murray, Richard W.; et al (January 2022, Scientific Drilling)

   Abstract. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) conducted a series of expeditions between 2013 and 2016 that were designed to address thedevelopment of monsoon climate systems in Asia and Australia. Significantprogress was made in recovering Neogene sections spanning the region fromthe Arabian Sea to the Sea of Japan and southward to western Australia. Highrecovery by advanced piston corer (APC) has provided a host ofsemi-continuous sections that have been used to examine monsoonal evolution. Use of the half-length APC was successful in sampling sand-rich sediment in Indian Ocean submarine fans. The records show that humidity and seasonality developed diachronously across the region, although most regions show drying since the middle Miocene and especially since ∼ 4 Ma, likely linked to global cooling. A transition from C3 to C4 vegetation oftenaccompanied the drying but may be more linked to global cooling. WesternAustralia and possibly southern China diverge from the general trend inbecoming wetter during the late Miocene, with the Australian monsoon beingmore affected by the Indonesian Throughflow, while the Asian monsoon is tied more to the rising Himalaya in South Asia and to the Tibetan Plateau in East Asia. The monsoon shows sensitivity to orbital forcing, with many regions having a weaker summer monsoon during times of northern hemisphericGlaciation. Stronger monsoons are associated with faster continentalerosion but not weathering intensity, which either shows no trend ora decreasing strength since the middle Miocene in Asia. Marine productivityproxies and terrestrial chemical weathering, erosion, and vegetation proxiesare often seen to diverge. Future work on the almost unknown Paleogene isneeded, as well as the potential of carbonate platforms as archives ofpaleoceanographic conditions. 

   more » « less
3. Data from: The role of Southeast Asian island topography on Indo-Pacific climate and silicate weathering

   https://doi.org/10.6078/D1271P  

   Chiang, John; Maffre, Pierre (January 2023, Dryad)

   The modern configuration of the South East Asian Islands (SEAI) evolved over the last fifteen million years, as a result of subduction, arc magmatism, and arc-continent collisions, contributing to both increased land area and high topography.  The presence of the additional land area has been postulated to enhance convective rainfall, facilitating both increased silicate weathering and the development of the modern-day Walker circulation.  Using an Earth System Model in conjunction with a climate-silicate weathering model, we argue instead for a significant role of SEAI topography for both effects.  This dataset archives model output used in this investigation, including simulations using the Community Earth System Model version 1.2, and the climate-silicate weathering model GEOCLIM. All data are in Netcdf format, and were generated either by the Community Earth System Model 1.2 (Hurrell et al. 2013) or the climate-silicate weathering model GEOCLIM (Park et al. 2020).  Model output is organized into 4 tar files: 1) B1850C5.tar Contains model output for the fully coupled CESM1.2 runs, for 2D fields and for 3D pressure vertical velocity (W) between 10S-10N.  Monthly mean data for years 41-110 of the simulations.   Naming convention is No SEAI topography: B1850C5_noSEAItopo_y41-110.nc and B1850C5_noSEAItopo_W_y41-110.nc 50% SEAI topography: B1850C5_0.5SEAItopo_y41-110.nc and B1850C5_0.5SEAItopo_W_y41-110.nc 100% SEAI topography: B1850C5_y41-110.nc and B1850C5_W_y41-110.nc 150% SEAO topogaphy: B1850C5_1.5SEAItopo_y41-110.nc and B1850C5_1.5SEAItopo_W_y41-110.nc 2) E1850C5.tar Contains model output for the slab ocean CESM1.2 runs, for 2D fields and for 3D pressure vertical velocity (W) between 10S-10N.  Monthly mean data for years 21-50 of the simulations.  Naming convention is No SEAI topography: E1850C5_noSEAItopo_y21-50.nc and E1850C5_noSEAItopo_W_y21-50.nc 50% SEAI topography: E1850C5_0.5SEAItopo_y21-50.nc and E1850C5_0.5SEAItopo_W_y21-50.nc 100% SEAI topography: E1850C5_y21-50.nc and E1850C5_W_y21-50.nc 150% SEAO topogaphy:  E1850C5_1.5SEAItopo_y21-50.nc and E1850C5_1.5SEAItopo_W_y21-50.nc 3) GEOCLIM.tar Contains model output from the climate-silicate weathering model GEOCLIM.  Data is provided for all 573 parameter combinations.  All values are climatological annual means. All files contain these variables: GMST: global mean surface temperature (in K) atm_CO2_level: atmospheric pCO2 (in ppm) degassing: globally-integrated CO2 flux (in mol/yr) The files ending with 1xCO2.nc also contain these spatial fields: lithology fraction: fraction of land covered by a lithology class erosion: Regolith erosion rate (m/yr) weathering: Ca-Mg weathering rate (mol/m^2/yr) E1850C5_1xCO2.nc - GEOCLIM output using the Modern SEAI simulation as input, and for CO2 fixed to 286.7ppm.  E1850C5_noSEAI_1xCO2.nc - GEOCLIM output using the no SEAI simulation as input, and for CO2 fixed to 286.7ppm.  E1850C5_noSEAItopo_1xCO2.nc - GEOCLIM output using the flat SEAI simulation as input, and for CO2 fixed to 286.7ppm.  E1850C5_noSEAI_equil.nc - GEOCLIM output using the no SEAI simulation as input, and CO2 adjusted so that system is in carbon flux equilibrium.   E1850C5_noSEAItopo_flatSEAIslope_equil.nc - GEOCLIM output using the flat SEAI simulation as input, and CO2 adjusted so that system is in carbon flux equilibrium.   4) Surface.tar Contains land fraction and surface geopotential fields for the modern SEAI (Landfrac.nc) and no SEAI (Landfrac_noSEAI.nc) simulations References Hurrell, J.W., Holland, M.M., Gent, P.R., Ghan, S., Kay, J.E., Kushner, P.J., Lamarque, J.F., Large, W.G., Lawrence, D., Lindsay, K. and Lipscomb, W.H., 2013. The community earth system model: a framework for collaborative research. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94(9), pp.1339-1360. Park, Y., Maffre, P., Goddéris, Y., Macdonald, F.A., Anttila, E.S. and Swanson-Hysell, N.L., 2020. Emergence of the Southeast Asian islands as a driver for Neogene cooling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(41), pp.25319-25326. 

   more » « less
4. Expanded constraints on chemical weathering reactions and carbon cycling beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet

   https://doi.org/10.31223/X51H65  

   Piccione, Gavin; Blackburn, Terrence; Hain, Mathis; Tulaczyk, Slawek; Rafter, Patrick; Gagliardi, Jessica; Carney, Colin (August 2024, Earth ArXiv)

   Ice sheets may influence the global carbon cycle by releasing chemical weathering products and carbon from basal environments. However, limited data describing subglacial biogeochemical cycles beneath Antarctic and Greenland ice leaves open fundamental questions regarding the feedbacks between climate, ice sheets, and the carbon cycle. Most notably: does subglacial chemical weathering beneath ice sheets act as a source or sink of atmospheric CO2? Here, we present constraints on biogeochemical reactions beneath the Antarctic ice sheet using geochemical and geochronologic measurements of carbonate precipitates, which formed from basal waters in ten locations along the ice sheet margins and Transantarctic Mountains (TAM), since the late Miocene. Precipitate carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions reveal a consistent geographic pattern in subglacial carbon cycling and chemical weathering, where parent waters in catchments draining through the TAM source CO2 through microbial metabolism of organic matter that drives silicate weathering, while waters beneath the ice sheet periphery acquire carbon mainly through the dissolution of carbonate minerals. Proxies for parent water pH (P/Ca) and solute source (87Sr/86Sr) show that bedrock composition and reactivity are the main factors determining intensity of silicate weathering in TAM waters. While the dominance of subglacial silicate versus carbonate weathering is determined by the presence of carbonate minerals and/or basal water residence time, which can fluctuate across global climate cycles. Because carbonate and silicate dissolution have quantitively different effects on the carbon cycle, the balance between them dictates whether Antarctica acts as a positive or negative climate-carbon cycle feedback. 

   more » « less
5. The rise of New Guinea and the fall of Neogene global temperatures

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306492120  

   Martin, Peter E; Macdonald, Francis A; McQuarrie, Nadine; Flowers, Rebecca M; Maffre, Pierre_J Y (October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   The ~2,000-km-long Central Range of New Guinea is a hotspot of modern carbon sequestration due to the chemical weathering of igneous rocks with steep topography in the warm wet tropics. These high mountains formed in a collision between the Australian plate and ophiolite-bearing volcanic arc terranes, but poor resolution of the uplift and exhumation history has precluded assessments of the impact on global climate change. Here, we develop a palinspastic reconstruction of the Central Range orogen with existing surface geological constraints and seismic data to generate time–temperature paths and estimate volumes of eroded material. New (U-Th)/He thermochronology data reveal rapid uplift and regional denudation between 10 and 6 Mya. Erosion fluxes from the palinspastic reconstruction, calibrated for time with the thermochronological data, were used as input to a coupled global climate and weathering model. This model estimates 0.6 to 1.2 °C of cooling associated with the Late Miocene rise of New Guinea due to increased silicate weathering alone, and this CO₂sink continues to the present. Our data and modeling experiments support the hypothesis that tropical arc-continent collision and the rise of New Guinea contributed to Neogene cooling due to increased silicate weathering. 

   more » « less