Dry hydroclimates in the late Palaeocene-early Eocene hothouse world
Dry hydroclimates in the late Palaeocene-early Eocene hothouse world
Extreme global warming can produce hydroclimate changes that remain poorly understood for sub-tropical latitudes. Late Palaeocene-early Eocene (LPEE; ~58-52 Ma) proto-Mediterranean zones of the western Tethys offer opportunities to assess hydroclimate responses to massive carbon cycle perturbations. Here, we reconstruct LPEE hydroclimate conditions of these regions and find that carbon cycle perturbations exerted controls on orbitally forced hydroclimate variability. Long-term (~6 Myr) carbon cycle changes induced a gradual precipitation/moisture reduction, which was exacerbated by some short-lived (<200 kyr) carbon cycle perturbations that caused rapid warming and exceptionally dry conditions in western Tethyan continental areas. Hydroclimate recovery following the greatest short-lived global warming events took ~24-27 kyr. These observations support the notion that anthropogenically driven warming can cause widespread aridification with impacts that may last tens of thousands of years.
Piedrahita, Victor A.
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Roberts, Andrew P.
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Rohling, Eelco
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Heslop, David
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Zhao, Xiang
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Galeotti, Simone
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Florindo, Fabio
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Grant, Katharine
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Hu, Penxiang
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Li, Jinhua
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15 August 2024
Piedrahita, Victor A.
d1155bb8-cea6-4817-8aef-859237c130cd
Roberts, Andrew P.
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Rohling, Eelco
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Heslop, David
146166ec-e8dc-4d6b-8118-b03473c27feb
Zhao, Xiang
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Galeotti, Simone
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Florindo, Fabio
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Grant, Katharine
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Hu, Penxiang
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Li, Jinhua
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Piedrahita, Victor A., Roberts, Andrew P., Rohling, Eelco, Heslop, David, Zhao, Xiang, Galeotti, Simone, Florindo, Fabio, Grant, Katharine, Hu, Penxiang and Li, Jinhua
(2024)
Dry hydroclimates in the late Palaeocene-early Eocene hothouse world.
Nature Communications, 15, [7042].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51430-6).
Abstract
Extreme global warming can produce hydroclimate changes that remain poorly understood for sub-tropical latitudes. Late Palaeocene-early Eocene (LPEE; ~58-52 Ma) proto-Mediterranean zones of the western Tethys offer opportunities to assess hydroclimate responses to massive carbon cycle perturbations. Here, we reconstruct LPEE hydroclimate conditions of these regions and find that carbon cycle perturbations exerted controls on orbitally forced hydroclimate variability. Long-term (~6 Myr) carbon cycle changes induced a gradual precipitation/moisture reduction, which was exacerbated by some short-lived (<200 kyr) carbon cycle perturbations that caused rapid warming and exceptionally dry conditions in western Tethyan continental areas. Hydroclimate recovery following the greatest short-lived global warming events took ~24-27 kyr. These observations support the notion that anthropogenically driven warming can cause widespread aridification with impacts that may last tens of thousands of years.
Text
s41467-024-51430-6
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Accepted/In Press date: 6 August 2024
Published date: 15 August 2024
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 504273
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504273
ISSN: 2041-1723
PURE UUID: 9e183996-bffc-4671-ba3e-9315cda914fb
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Date deposited: 02 Sep 2025 16:59
Last modified: 03 Sep 2025 01:34
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Contributors
Author:
Victor A. Piedrahita
Author:
Andrew P. Roberts
Author:
David Heslop
Author:
Xiang Zhao
Author:
Simone Galeotti
Author:
Fabio Florindo
Author:
Katharine Grant
Author:
Penxiang Hu
Author:
Jinhua Li
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