A Cenozoic-style scenario for the end-Ordovician glaciation.

Ghienne, Jean-François; Desrochers, André; Vandenbroucke, Thijs R. A.; Achab, Aïcha; Asselin, Esther; Dabard, Marie-Pierre; Farley, Claude; Loi, Alfredo; Paris, Florentin; Wickson, Steven et Veizer, Jan (2014). A Cenozoic-style scenario for the end-Ordovician glaciation. Nature Communications , vol. 5 . Article number 4485. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5485.

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Résumé

The end-Ordovician was an enigmatic interval in the Phanerozoic, known for massive glaciation potentially at elevated CO2 levels, biogeochemical cycle disruptions recorded as large isotope anomalies and a devastating extinction event. Ice-sheet volumes claimed to be twice those of the Last Glacial Maximum paradoxically coincided with oceans as warm as today. Here we argue that some of these remarkable claims arise from undersampling of incomplete geological sections that led to apparent temporal correlations within the relatively coarse resolution capability of Palaeozoic biochronostratigraphy. We examine exceptionally complete sedimentary records from two, low and high, palaeolatitude settings. Their correlation framework reveals a Cenozoic-style scenario including three main glacial cycles and higher-order phenomena. This necessitates revision of mechanisms for the end-Ordovician events, as the first extinction is tied to an early phase of melting, not to initial cooling, and the largest δ13C excursion occurs during final deglaciation, not at the glacial apex.

Type de document:	Article
Informations complémentaires:	Article en libre accès sur le site de 'éditeur
Mots-clés libres:	earth sciences; climate science; geology and geophysics; Ordovician
Centre:	Centre Eau Terre Environnement
Date de dépôt:	31 août 2017 20:33
Dernière modification:	27 nov. 2019 16:15
URI:	https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/3587

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