Publication Date:
2018-05-02
Description:
Although long assumed that the glacial-interglacial cycles of atmospheric CO2 occurred despite a constant active carbon inventory, there are signs that the geological CO2 supply rates varied. However, changes of the carbon inventory cannot be assessed without constraining the removal rates from the system, which mainly occurs in marine sediments. Here, we present the first global reconstruction of carbon and alkalinity burial in deep-sea sediments over the last glacial cycle. Although subject to large uncertainties, the reconstruction provides a first order constraint on changes in carbon and alkalinity inventories over the last glacial cycle. The results suggest that reduced burial of carbonate in the Atlantic Ocean was not entirely compensated by the increased burial in the Pacific basin during the last glacial period. The burial-driven inventory variations are likely to have significantly altered the δ13C of the ocean-atmosphere carbon, as well as the DIC and alkalinity budget, confirming that the active carbon inventory was a dynamic, interactive component of the glacial cycles.
Print ISSN:
1814-9340
Electronic ISSN:
1814-9359
Topics:
Geosciences