A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

Alan Cooper; Chris S.M. Turney; Jonathan Palmer; Alan Hogg; Matt McGlone; Janet Wilmshurst; Andrew M. Lorrey; Timothy J. Heaton; James M. Russell; Ken McCracken; Julien G. Anet; Eugene Rozanov; Marina Friedel; Ivo Suter; Thomas Peter; Raimund Muscheler; Florian Adolphi; Anthony Dosseto; J. Tyler Faith; Pavla Fenwick; Christopher J. Fogwill; Konrad Hughen; Mathew Lipson; Jiabo Liu; Norbert Nowaczyk; Eleanor Rainsley; Christopher Bronk Ramsey; Paolo Sebastianelli; Yassine Souilmi; Janelle Stevenson; Zoë Thomas; Raymond Tobler; Roland Zech

doi:10.1126/science.abb8677

A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

Alan Cooper^*, Chris S.M. Turney^*, Jonathan Palmer, Alan Hogg, Matt McGlone, Janet Wilmshurst, Andrew M. Lorrey, Timothy J. Heaton, James M. Russell, Ken McCracken, Julien G. Anet, Eugene Rozanov, Marina Friedel, Ivo Suter, Thomas Peter, Raimund Muscheler, Florian Adolphi, Anthony Dosseto, J. Tyler Faith, Pavla FenwickChristopher J. Fogwill, Konrad Hughen, Mathew Lipson, Jiabo Liu, Norbert Nowaczyk, Eleanor Rainsley, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Paolo Sebastianelli, Yassine Souilmi, Janelle Stevenson, Zoë Thomas, Raymond Tobler, Roland Zech

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

74 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth’s magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	811-818
Number of pages	8
Journal	Science
Volume	371
Issue number	6531
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb8677
Publication status	Published - 19 Feb 2021

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Cooper, A., Turney, C. S. M., Palmer, J., Hogg, A., McGlone, M., Wilmshurst, J., Lorrey, A. M., Heaton, T. J., Russell, J. M., McCracken, K., Anet, J. G., Rozanov, E., Friedel, M., Suter, I., Peter, T., Muscheler, R., Adolphi, F., Dosseto, A., Tyler Faith, J., ... Zech, R. (2021). A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago. Science, 371(6531), 811-818. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb8677

@article{3c293ad1238640969a27725570913b7d,

title = "A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago",

abstract = "Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth{\textquoteright}s magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.",

author = "Alan Cooper and Turney, {Chris S.M.} and Jonathan Palmer and Alan Hogg and Matt McGlone and Janet Wilmshurst and Lorrey, {Andrew M.} and Heaton, {Timothy J.} and Russell, {James M.} and Ken McCracken and Anet, {Julien G.} and Eugene Rozanov and Marina Friedel and Ivo Suter and Thomas Peter and Raimund Muscheler and Florian Adolphi and Anthony Dosseto and {Tyler Faith}, J. and Pavla Fenwick and Fogwill, {Christopher J.} and Konrad Hughen and Mathew Lipson and Jiabo Liu and Norbert Nowaczyk and Eleanor Rainsley and Ramsey, {Christopher Bronk} and Paolo Sebastianelli and Yassine Souilmi and Janelle Stevenson and Zo{\"e} Thomas and Raymond Tobler and Roland Zech",

year = "2021",

month = feb,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1126/science.abb8677",

language = "English",

volume = "371",

pages = "811--818",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

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Cooper, A, Turney, CSM, Palmer, J, Hogg, A, McGlone, M, Wilmshurst, J, Lorrey, AM, Heaton, TJ, Russell, JM, McCracken, K, Anet, JG, Rozanov, E, Friedel, M, Suter, I, Peter, T, Muscheler, R, Adolphi, F, Dosseto, A, Tyler Faith, J, Fenwick, P, Fogwill, CJ, Hughen, K, Lipson, M, Liu, J, Nowaczyk, N, Rainsley, E, Ramsey, CB, Sebastianelli, P, Souilmi, Y, Stevenson, J, Thomas, Z, Tobler, R & Zech, R 2021, 'A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago', Science, vol. 371, no. 6531, pp. 811-818. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb8677

TY - JOUR

T1 - A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

AU - Cooper, Alan

AU - Turney, Chris S.M.

AU - Palmer, Jonathan

AU - Hogg, Alan

AU - McGlone, Matt

AU - Wilmshurst, Janet

AU - Lorrey, Andrew M.

AU - Heaton, Timothy J.

AU - Russell, James M.

AU - McCracken, Ken

AU - Anet, Julien G.

AU - Rozanov, Eugene

AU - Friedel, Marina

AU - Suter, Ivo

AU - Peter, Thomas

AU - Muscheler, Raimund

AU - Adolphi, Florian

AU - Dosseto, Anthony

AU - Tyler Faith, J.

AU - Fenwick, Pavla

AU - Fogwill, Christopher J.

AU - Hughen, Konrad

AU - Lipson, Mathew

AU - Liu, Jiabo

AU - Nowaczyk, Norbert

AU - Rainsley, Eleanor

AU - Ramsey, Christopher Bronk

AU - Sebastianelli, Paolo

AU - Souilmi, Yassine

AU - Stevenson, Janelle

AU - Thomas, Zoë

AU - Tobler, Raymond

AU - Zech, Roland

PY - 2021/2/19

Y1 - 2021/2/19

N2 - Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth’s magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.

AB - Geological archives record multiple reversals of Earth’s magnetic poles, but the global impacts of these events, if any, remain unclear. Uncertain radiocarbon calibration has limited investigation of the potential effects of the last major magnetic inversion, known as the Laschamps Excursion [41 to 42 thousand years ago (ka)]. We use ancient New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis) to develop a detailed record of atmospheric radiocarbon levels across the Laschamps Excursion. We precisely characterize the geomagnetic reversal and perform global chemistry-climate modeling and detailed radiocarbon dating of paleoenvironmental records to investigate impacts. We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101409528&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/science.abb8677

DO - 10.1126/science.abb8677

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 371

SP - 811

EP - 818

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6531

ER -

A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

Abstract

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