Skip to main content
Log in

Palaeo-variations in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and the relationship to extinctions

Speculations in Science and Technology

Abstract

It has been established from geological studies that change in the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide gas commenced about one hundred million years ago. The likely origin of this change is advanced as being the onset of the Brewer circulation caused by the rise in terrain induced by tectonic plate movement. It is demonstrated that tectonic plate movement can be affected by impacts from external bodies which penetrate the crust of the Earth. The consequences of the change in atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide are proposed as first, extinctions and reductions in animal numbers, including primates, as a result of changes in body chemistry of these animals and second, a change in the rate of weathering of rocks giving rise to changes in the availability of chemicals such as calcium and potassium which are essential for plant and animal life. This latter change contributing to the extinctions and reductions in animal numbers. It is shown that the change in weathering can account for the rise to dominance of angiosperm plants. It is concluded that there were several simultaneous evolutionary environments on Earth which were a function of altitude which gave rise to a vertical variation in atmospheric content of carbon dioxide. This variation disappeared with rise of terrain and the onset of the Brewer circulation. Such changes are advanced and being much more important than any changes in temperature caused by greenhouse effects since the disappearance of atmospheric variations in carbon dioxide allowed animal migration. It is demonstrated that the conditions of extinction could be reintroduced by human activities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Newell, N.D. (1967) Revolutions in the History of Life, Special Paper 89, Geological Society of America.

  2. Courtillot, V.E. (1990) A volcanic eruption, Scientific American, pp. 53–60.

  3. Raup, D.M. (1991) Extinction, Bad Genes or Bad Luck, London: W.W. Norton Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Skelton, P. (1993) Evolution, A Biological and Paleontological Approach, Wokenham and Open University.

  5. Stanely, S.M. (1989) Earth and Life Through Time, New York: W.H. Freeman Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Alvarez, W. (1992) Catastrophes, J. Bourriau ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Yabushita, S. and Allen, A.J. (1997) Did an impact kill the dinosaurs? Astro. and Geophys. Roy, Astro Soc., 38, 15–19.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clube, V. and Napier, W. (1990) Cosmic Winter, London: Basil Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Swisher III, C.C., Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., Montanari, A., Margolis, S.V., Claeys, P., Alvarez, W., Renne, P., Cedillo-Pardo, E., Maurasse, F.J.-M.R., Curtis, G.H., Smit, J. and McWilliams, M.O. (1992) Coveal 40Ar/39Ar ages of the 65.0 million years from the Chicxulub crater melt rock and the Creataceous Boundary Tektites, Science, 257, pp. 954–958.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Rae, H.O.C. The Planets, Their Origin and Development, New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 245.

  11. Safranov, V.S. Evolution of the Protoplanetary Cloud and the Formation of the Earth and Planets, Nikko, Moscow, 1969, Israel Pro. Sci Translations, 1972.

  12. Cameron, A.G.W. (1982) Icarus, 49, 298–312.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Walker, J.C.G. (1982) The earliest atmosphere of the earth, Precam. Res. 17, pp. 147–171.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hunten, D.M., Pepin, R.O. and Owen, T.C. (1988) Meteorites and the Early Solar System, Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Imbrie, J. and Imbrie, K.P. (1979) Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ziegler, A.M., Scotese, C.R. and Barnett, S.F. (1982) Mesozoic and cenozoic paleographic maps, in Tidal Friction and the Earth's Rotation. P. Brosche, J. Sundermann (eds.) New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kaye, G.W.C. and Laby, T.H. (1959) Physical and Chemical constants, 12th Edition, London: Longmans Green Company.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Simkin, T. (1993) Terrestrial volcanism in space and time, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet Sci., 21, pp. 427–452.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Chatterjee, S. (1984) The drift of India: a conflict in plate tectonics, Memoirs of the French Geological Society, 147, pp. 43–48.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Frakes, L.A. (1979) Climates Through Geologic Time, Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Brewer, A.W. (1949) Evidence for a world circulation provided by the measurement of helium and water distribution in the stratosphere, Quart J. Roy. Meteor. Soc. 75, Part 326 pp. 351–363.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Budyko, M.I. and Ronov, A.B. (1979) Chemical evolution of atmosphere in the phanerozoic, Geochem. Int., pp. 1–9.

  23. Berner, R.A., Lasaga, A.C., and Garrels, R.M. (1983) Carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on the atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years, Amer. J. Sci., 283, pp. 641–683.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Slack, A.V. (ed.) (1968) Phosphoric Acid Vol 1., Part II, New York: Dekker Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Riley, J.P. and Chester, R. (1971) Introduction to Marine Chemistry, London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rubey, W.W. (1951) Geologic history of sea water, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., 62, pp. 1111–1148.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Lambert, R.J.W. (1972) The nuclear submarine environment, Proc. Roy. Soc. Medicine, 65,No. 9, pp. 795–800.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Conroy, G.C. (1990) Primate Evolution, New York: W.W. Norton Co.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Friis, E.M., Chalconer, W.G. and Crane, P.R. (eds) (1987) The origins of Angiosperms and their Biological Consequences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Swain, T. (1976) Angiosperm-reptile co-evolution, Linnean Society Symposia, Vol 3 pp. 107–22.

  31. Bolin, B., Houghton, J. and Meira Filho, L.G. (1994) Radiative Forcing of Climate Change. IPCC Report of S.A.W Group. U.K. Meterological Office, Reading, England.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Robertson, D.S. Palaeo-variations in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and the relationship to extinctions. Speculations in Science and Technology 21, 171–185 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005466408465

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005466408465

Navigation