Probing the exchange of CO2 and O2 in the shallow critical zone during weathering of marl and black shale

Chemical weathering of sedimentary rocks can release carbon dioxide (CO2) and consume oxygen (O2) via the oxidation of petrogenic organic carbon and sulfide minerals. These pathways govern Earth’s surface system and climate over geological timescales, but the present-day weathering fluxes and their environmental controls are only partly constrained due to a lack of in situ measurements. Here, we investigate the gaseous exchange of CO2 and O2 during the oxidative weathering of black shales and marls exposed in the French southern Alps. On six fieldtrips over one year, we use drilled headspace chambers to measure the CO2 concentrations in the shallow critical zone, and quantify CO2 fluxes in real-time. Importantly, we develop a new approach to estimate the volume of rock that contributes CO2 to a chamber, and assess effective diffusive gas exchange, by first quantifying the mass of CO2 that is stored in a chamber and connected rock pores. Both rock types are characterized by similar contributing rock volumes and diffusive movement of CO2. However, CO2 emissions differed between the rock types, with yields over rock outcrop surfaces (inferred from the contributing rock volume and the local weathering depths) ranging between 166 tC km-2 yr-1 and 2,416 tC km-2 yr-1 for black shales and between 83 tC km-2 yr-1 and 1,558 tC km-2 yr-1 for marls over the study period. Having quantified diffusive processes, chamber-based O2 concentration measurements are used to calculate O2 fluxes. The rate of O2 consumption increased with production of CO2, and with increased temperature, with an average O2 : CO2 molar ratio of 10 : 1. If O2 consumption occurs by both rock organic carbon oxidation and sulfide oxidation, either an additional O2 sink needs to be identified, or significant export of dissolved inorganic carbon occurs from the weathering zone. Together, our findings refine the tools we have to probe CO2 and O2 exchange in rocks at Earth’s surface and shed new light on CO2 and O2 fluxes, their drivers and the fate of rock-derived carbon

Orbital and Suborbital‐Scale Variations of Productivity and Sea Surface Conditions in the Gulf of Alaska During the Past 54,000 Years: Impact of Iron Fertilization by Icebergs and Meltwater

As a high-nutrient and low-chlorophyll region, the modern Gulf of Alaska (GoA) is strongly impacted by the limitation of iron. Paleostudies along the Alaskan slope have mainly focused on reconstructing environmental conditions over the past 18 ka. Based on micropaleontological, biogeochemical, and sedimentological parameters, we explore a sediment record covering the past 54 ka at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1419 to understand the impact of orbital- and suborbital-scale climate variability on productivity and sea-surface conditions. Close to the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS), Site U1419 is ideally located to elucidate how the evolution of a large ice mass and glacial processes affected orbital- and suborbital-scale changes in nutrients (e.g., iron) supply. Meltwater discharge from the northern CIS impacted sea surface dynamics of GoA coastal waters. The corresponding increases in bulk biogenic concentrations during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and MIS 2 (54–17 ka) suggests a direct impact from iron fertilization. The lack of a consistent relationship between productivity and SST suggests that cooling of surface waters was not the dominant control on primary producers. The inundation of the subaerially exposed continental shelf during the last deglacial (17–10 ka) warming could have served as a major micronutrient source, accounting for a deglacial peak in production. Low productivity after the last deglaciation suggests reduced iron availability, which we link to reduced meltwater inputs from smaller ice masses onshore. Our multiproxy approach reveals a more comprehensive picture of late Quaternary productivity variations compared to earlier studies along the Alaskan margin. The impact of tidewater glaciers and meltwater discharge on past marine productivity and nutrient budget dynamics of high-latitude coastal regions is discussed

Late Pliocene Cordilleran Ice Sheet development with warm northeast Pacific sea surface temperatures

The initiation and evolution of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet are relatively poorly constrained. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 341 recovered marine sediments at Site U1417 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Here we present alkenone-derived sea surface temperature (SST) analyses alongside ice-rafted debris (IRD), terrigenous, and marine organic matter inputs to the GOA through the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. The first IRD contribution from tidewater glaciers in southwest Alaska is recorded at 2.9 Ma, indicating that the Cordilleran Ice Sheet extent increased in the late Pliocene. A higher occurrence of IRD and higher sedimentation rates in the GOA during the early Pleistocene, at 2.5 Ma, occur in synchrony with SSTs warming on the order of 1 degrees C relative to the Pliocene. All records show a high degree of variability in the early Pleistocene, indicating highly efficient ocean-climate-ice interactions through warm SST-ocean evaporation-orographic precipitation-ice growth mechanisms. A climatic shift towards ocean circulation in the subarctic Pacific similar to the pattern observed during negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) conditions today occurs with the development of more extensive Cordilleran glaciation and may have played a role through increased moisture supply to the subarctic Pacific. The drop in atmospheric CO2 concentrations since 2.8 Ma is suggested as one of the main forcing mechanisms driving the Cordilleran glaciation

Are spherulitic lacustrine carbonates an expression of large-scale mineral carbonation? : A case study from the East Kirkton Limestone, Scotland

BP Exploration Co. is thanked for funding, and particularly the Carbonate Team for supporting this research and for fruitful discussions. West Lothian Council and Scottish Natural Heritage are thanked for allowing access and permission for sampling the site. The Core Store Team at BGS Keyworth is particularly acknowledged for their assistance. Mark Anderson, Tony Sinclair (University of Hull), and Bouk Lacet (VU University Amsterdam) are thanked for technical support. Anne Kelly (SUERC) for carrying out the Strontium Isotope analyses. Mark Tyrer is thanked for his advice on PHREEQC modelling.Peer reviewedPostprin

Antarctic Intermediate Water properties since 400 ka recorded in infaunal (Uvigerina peregrina) and epifaunal (Planulina wuellerstorfi) benthic foraminifera

Reconstruction of intermediate water properties is important for understanding feedbacks within the ocean-climate system, particularly since these water masses are capable of driving high–low latitude teleconnections. Nevertheless, information about intermediate water mass evolution through the late Pleistocene remains limited. This paper examines changes in Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), the most extensive intermediate water mass in the modern ocean through the last 400 kyr using the stable isotopic composition (δ18O and δ13C) and trace element concentration (Mg/Ca and B/Ca) of two benthic foraminiferal species from the same samples: epifaunal Planulina wuellerstorfi and infaunal Uvigerina peregrina. Our results confirm that the most reasonable estimates of AAIW temperature and Δ[CO2−3] are generated by Mg/CaU. peregrina and B/CaP. wuellerstorfi, respectively. We present a 400 kyr record of intermediate water temperature and Δ[CO2−3] from a sediment core from the Southwest Pacific (DSDP site 593; 40°30′S, 167°41′E, 1068 m water depth), which lies within the core of modern AAIW. Our results suggest that a combination of geochemical analyses on both infaunal and epifaunal benthic foraminiferal species yields important information about this critical water mass through the late Pleistocene. When combined with two nearby records of water properties from deeper depths, our data demonstrate that during interglacial stages of the late Pleistocene, AAIW and Circumpolar Deep Water (CPDW) have more similar water mass properties (temperature and δ13C), while glacial stages are typified by dissimilar properties between AAIW and CPDW in the Southwest Pacific. Our new Δ[CO2−3] record shows short time-scale variations, but a lack of coherent glacial–interglacial variability indicating that large quantities of carbon were not stored in intermediate waters during recent glacial periods

Biomarker proxies for reconstructing Quaternary climate and environmental change

To reconstruct past environmental changes, a range of indirect or proxy approaches can be applied to Quaternary archives. Here, we review the complementary and novel insights which have been provided by the analysis of chemical fossils (biomarkers). Biomarkers have a biological source that can be highly specific (e.g., produced by a small group of organisms) or more general. We show that biomarkers are able to quantify key climate variables (particularly water and air temperature) and can provide qualitative evidence for changes in hydrology, vegetation, human-environment interactions and biogeochemical cycling. In many settings, biomarker proxies provide the opportunity to simultaneously reconstruct multiple climate or environmental variables, alongside complementary and long-established approaches to palaeo-environmental reconstruction. Multi-proxy studies have provided rich sets of data to explore both the drivers and impacts of palaeo-environmental change. As new biomarker proxies continue to be developed and refined, there is further potential to answer emerging questions for Quaternary science and environmental change

Long-term patterns of hillslope erosion by earthquake-induced landslides shape mountain landscapes

Widespread triggering of landslides by large storms or earthquakes is a dominant mechanism of erosion in mountain landscapes. If landslides occur repeatedly in particular locations within a mountain range, then they will dominate the landscape evolution of that section and could leave a fingerprint in the topography. Here, we track erosion provenance using a novel combination of the isotopic and molecular composition of organic matter deposited in Lake Paringa, New Zealand. We find that the erosion provenance has shifted markedly after four large earthquakes over 1000 years. Postseismic periods eroded organic matter from a median elevation of 722 +329/−293 m and supplied 43% of the sediment in the core, while interseismic periods sourced from lower elevations (459 +256/−226 m). These results are the first demonstration that repeated large earthquakes can consistently focus erosion at high elevations, while interseismic periods appear less effective at modifying the highest parts of the topography

The role of atmospheric CO2 in controlling sea surface temperature change during the Pliocene,

We present the role of CO2 forcing in controlling Late Pliocene sea surface temperature (SST) change using six models from Phase 2 of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP2) and palaeoclimate proxy data from the PlioVAR working group. At a global scale, SST change in the Late Pliocene relative to the pre-industrial is predominantly driven by CO2 forcing in the low and mid-latitudes and non-CO2 forcing in the high latitudes. We find that CO2 is the dominant driver of SST change at the vast majority of proxy data sites assessed (17 out of 19), but the relative dominance of this forcing varies between all proxy sites, with CO2 forcing accounting for between 27 % and 82 % of the total change seen. The dearth of proxy data sites in the high latitudes means that only two sites assessed here are predominantly forced by non-CO2 forcing (such as changes to ice sheets and orography), both of which are in the North Atlantic Ocean.We extend the analysis to show the seasonal patterns of SST change and its drivers at a global scale and at a site-specific level for three chosen proxy data sites. We also present a new estimate of Late Pliocene climate sensitivity using site-specific proxy data values. This is the first assessment of site-specific drivers of SST change in the Late Pliocene and highlights the strengths of using palaeoclimate proxy data alongside model outputs to further develop our understanding of the Late Pliocene. We use the best available proxy and model data, but the sample sizes remain limited, and the confidence in our results would be improved with greater data availability

Amplified surface warming in the south-west Pacific during the mid-Pliocene (3.3–3.0 Ma) and future implications

Based on Nationally Determined Contributions concurrent with Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) 2-4.5, the IPCC predicts global warming of 2.1–3.5 ∘C (very likely range 10–90th percentile) by 2100 CE. However, global average temperature is a poor indicator of regional warming and global climate models (GCMs) require validation with instrumental or proxy data from geological archives to assess their ability to simulate regional ocean and atmospheric circulation, and thus, to evaluate their performance for regional climate projections. The south-west Pacific is a region that performs poorly when GCMs are evaluated against instrumental observations. The New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM) was developed from the United Kingdom Earth System Model (UKESM) to better understand south-west Pacific response to global change, by including a nested ocean grid in the south-west Pacific with 80 % greater horizontal resolution than the global-scale host.Here, we reconstruct regional south-west Pacific sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) for the mid-Pliocene warm period (mPWP; 3.3–3.0 Ma), which has been widely considered a past analogue with an equilibrium surface temperature response of +3 ∘C to an atmospheric CO2 concentration of ∼350–400 ppm, in order to assess the warming distribution in the south-west Pacific. This study presents proxy SSTs from seven deep sea sediment cores distributed across the south-west Pacific. Our reconstructed SSTs are derived from molecular biomarkers preserved in the sediment – alkenones (i.e. U index) and isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (i.e. TEX86 index) – and are compared with SSTs reconstructed from the Last Interglacial (125 ka), Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) outputs and transient climate model projections (NZESM and UKESM) of low- to high-range SSPs for 2090–2099 CE.Mean interglacial equilibrium SSTs during the mPWP for the south-west Pacific sites were on average 4.2 ∘C (1.8–6.1 ∘C likely range) above pre-industrial temperatures and show good agreement with model outputs from NZESM and UKESM under mid-range SSP 2–4.6 conditions. These results highlight that not only is the mPWP an appropriate analogue when considering future temperature change in the centuries to come, but they also demonstrate that the south-west Pacific region will experience warming that exceeds that of the global mean if atmospheric CO2 remains above 350 ppm