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Science 5 January 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5808, pp. 87 - 91
DOI: 10.1126/science.1134207
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Reports

CO2-Forced Climate and Vegetation Instability During Late Paleozoic Deglaciation

Isabel P. Montañez,1* Neil J. Tabor,2 Deb Niemeier,3 William A. DiMichele,4 Tracy D. Frank,5 Christopher R. Fielding,5 John L. Isbell,6 Lauren P. Birgenheier,5 Michael C. Rygel5{dagger}

The late Paleozoic deglaciation is the vegetated Earth's only recorded icehouse-to-greenhouse transition, yet the climate dynamics remain enigmatic. By using the stable isotopic compositions of soil-formed minerals, fossil-plant matter, and shallow-water brachiopods, we estimated atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and tropical marine surface temperatures during this climate transition. Comparison to southern Gondwanan glacial records documents covariance between inferred shifts in pCO2, temperature, and ice volume consistent with greenhouse gas forcing of climate. Major restructuring of paleotropical flora in western Euramerica occurred in step with climate and pCO2 shifts, illustrating the biotic impact associated with past CO2-forced turnover to a permanent ice-free world.

1 Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
2 Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA.
3 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
4 Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
5 Department of Geosciences, 214 Bessey Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
6 Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Post Office Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Geology, State University of New York, College at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY 13676, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: montanez{at}geology.ucdavis.edu

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