Knowledge of past hydrological cycling and continental weathering under greenhouse climate conditions helps understand extreme climatic events that are currently occurring. Previous studies of marine strata have reported enhanced hydrological cycling and continental weathering during the Jenkyns Event (JE, also known as the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event; ca. 183 Ma). We undertook a sedimentological

The driver of the Early–Middle Triassic biotic recovery on land following the end-Permian crisis is puzzling. Here, we show the biotic recovery was gradual and spanned up to 8 Myr after the end-Permian mass extinction, based on continuous, well-dated sections over large areas in the northeastern Ordos Basin, North China. Initial recovery began in the Olenekian, marked by the disappearance of microbially

Deep-time records from greenhouse climate periods (e.g., the Late Cretaceous) provide a reference point for understanding how high atmospheric CO2 concentrations influence precipitation in the mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere (e.g., East Asia). In this study, we quantitatively reconstruct mean annual precipitation (MAP) in East Asia during the latest Cretaceous through the earliest Paleogene (~76–65

The evolution of the Neo-Tethys Ocean had a profound effect on global climate change and the evolution of life. To better constrain the Cretaceous paleogeographic position of the Tethyan Himalaya and evolution of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, combined paleomagnetic and detrital zircon UPb geochronological research was performed on samples from the Gyabula Formation, constrained at ca. 117.7–94.4 Ma, in the

The Devonian experienced radiations of plants and animals, as well as a major mass extinction event during the Frasnian–Famennian (FF) interval. Proposed triggers have been linked to volcanism, extraterrestrial impact, sea-level fluctuations, and climate cooling, etc. However, the nature of the wildfires and its role in the biotic evolution have been rarely investigated for the FF interval. Here, we

A paucity of detailed relative sea-level (RSL) reconstructions from low latitudes hinders efforts to understand the global, regional, and local processes that cause RSL change. We reconstruct RSL change during the past ~5 ka using cores of mangrove peat at two sites (Snipe Key and Swan Key) in the Florida Keys. Remote sensing and field surveys established the relationship between peat-forming mangroves

Understanding how ocean circulation has varied around Antarctica in the past is vital because significant volumes of ice are grounded below sea level, and therefore ice sheet variations are strongly coupled with oceanographic variability at the continental shelf margin. This study investigates the 11.75 m sediment core RS15-LC42, retrieved from the Central Basin of the Ross Sea. A magneto-biostratigraphic

The hydroclimatic patterns in eastern China (EC) over the past millennium, both influenced by solar activity and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), are presented based on the climatic reconstructions and simulations. For strong solar activity, a consistent pattern exists where drought appears in the majority of EC initialized from the cold PDO phase, which is related to less moisture caused by the

The coastal upwelling zones, occupying only ~0.5% of the global ocean, account for ~10% of the global primary productivity. The CO2 fixation by primary producers amplifies in the upwelling zones during global warming due to the higher nutrient supply. Based on the presumption that the nutrient-deficient coastal ocean is less productive, the state of the oligotrophic coastal ocean is often neglected

Cosmopolitanism represents the formation of globally homogenous biotas, usually of low-diversity, and normally form under unusual environmental conditions. But the factors driving such important biogeographic states remain unclear. The Carboniferous to Triassic encompasses the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) and a hothouse beginning in the latest Permian and persisting through the Early Triassic. These

Rapid denudation and uplift of eastern Tibet have accelerated during the Late Miocene due to lateral lower crustal flow, without a significant contribution from upper crustal shortening. However, growing lines of evidence have revealed that Early Cenozoic faulting controlled enhanced denudation and shortening. Here, we report 51 new zircon and apatite (UTh)/He and apatite fission-track ages from seven

Reconstructing Cenozoic lacustrine astrochronology is essential for understanding climatic and environmental change around northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Existing models attribute the driving mechanism of regional precipitation and aridification to the Tibetan Plateau uplift and global climate change. However, in northeastern Tibet lacustrine astrochronology has a gap from 17 Ma to 14 Ma. To bridge

Mineral dust records distant from dust sources are crucial in establishing wider atmospheric dust loads in the past. However, detailed, independent chronologies for loess-palaeosol sequences distant from local dust sources are still rare in Europe. In this study we present a high-resolution OSL and pIRIR290 chronology and multi-proxy investigation of the Irig loess-palaeosol sequence (LPS), Vojvodina

Geographical names and the entities they represent act as a fundamental cornerstone across numerous disciplines. However, inconsistent geographical names and arbitrarily defined regional geographical scales are common, hindering cross-disciplinary communication and synthesis. The Pan-Tibetan Highlands, comprising the Tibetan Plateau, Himalaya, Hengduan Mountains and Mountains of Central Asia, is a

The impact of global environmental change on coral reef islands is uncertain, with few studies having resolved the critical controls on island formation and change. Based on detailed, topographic surveys, sediment analysis and radiometric dating, we present a multi-phase model of the formation of two reef islands in Jaluit atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. The initial phase of island building

The Last Interglacial (LIG, 129–116 thousand years ago) is an excellent case study for global warming scenarios and a target for proxy-model comparisons. The LIG global average sea surface temperature (SST) was ~0.5 °C higher than pre-industrial (PI). Contrary to the global average, tropical SST proxy compilations and model simulations show a negative anomaly in LIG SST relative to PI. Here, we present

This review forms the preface of a special issue dealing with Environmental stresses and biotic responses during the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic transition, and develops an improved understanding of the sequence of catastrophe events associated with the Permian-Triassic (P–Tr) transition in particular. The 16 papers that comprise this special issue mostly focus on the Paleo-Tethys and Panthalassia regions

This special issue deals with Extreme environments and biotic responses during the Neoproterozoic-Phanerozoic transition and comprises 23 papers. In this preface, we summarise the major findings and place them in a wider context. Some key discoveries are as follows: (1) After the Marinoan global glaciation (end-Cryogenian), a rise in seawater carbon isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon

The present-day morpho-stratigraphy of the Ross Sea is the result of Cenozoic tectonic and cryospheric events, and constitutes a key record of Antarctica's cryospheric evolution. An enduring problem in interpreting this record in a broader regional context is that the correlation between eastern and western Ross Sea stratigraphy has remained uncertain due to the limited number of drill sites. We correlate

Beringia today is a partly submerged Arctic region bordered by the Lena River in East Siberia and the Mackenzie River in North America. Whilst emergent at times of eustatic sea-level fall, the northern Beringian Margin was affected by the repeated growth and decay of regional ice sheets. The size and dynamism of these ice sheets are a subject of some debate that can be addressed using geophysical data

The early Toarcian, as registered in a variety of sedimentary archives, was characterized by an abrupt negative carbon-isotope excursion (CIE) typically superimposed on a long-term positive trend, and was accompanied by significant climatic and environmental changes. However, the changes in continental weathering influx and oceanic deoxygenation in shallow waters and their possible role in causing

The early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE 1a; ca. 120 Ma) was accompanied by a massive eruption of the Ontong Java Plateau, doubling atmospheric pCO₂, and increasing sea surface temperature by 4–8 °C. In this study, we attempted a palynological analysis of the Hauterivian to Cenomanian deep–sea chert from the Goshikinohama site, and successfully obtained a variety of microremains, mainly represented

The early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE, ~183 Ma) was characterized by marine deoxygenation and the burial of organic-rich sediments at numerous localities worldwide. However, the extent of marine anoxia and its impact on the sulfur cycle during the T-OAE is currently poorly understood. Here, stable sulfur isotopes of reduced metal-bound sulfur (δ34Spyrite) and pyrite sulfur concentrations (SPY)

The Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2, ca. 94 Ma) was one of the most extreme carbon cycle and climatic perturbations of the Phanerozoic Eon. Widespread deposition of organic-rich shales during OAE 2 has been attributed to a rapid rise in atmospheric CO2, global heating, and marine anoxia triggered by intense large igneous province (LIP) volcanism. Here, we present new Hg and Zn elemental

The role of volcanism as a driver of climate change remains widely debated. Following the end-Permian mass extinction, the protracted Early Triassic recovery interval was characterized by extreme climatic and environmental perturbations (hyperwarming, intense subaerial weathering, and extensive marine euxinia) and large carbon- and sulfur-cycle perturbations. Although a magmatic trigger is widely accepted

The Great Unconformity across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary records a significant change of the Earth's continents, atmosphere, environment and life. Its origin has been assumed to be glacioeustatic mechanism in the cratonic interior. On the contrary, we provide evidences for the sub-Cambrian Great Unconformity that can be traced across the Tarim Craton (NW China) from recent geochronological

During the Neoproterozoic snowball Earth events, the climate was cold and the oceans were covered by marine ice of ~1000 m thick (sea glacier). Extremely high CO2 level was required in order to trigger the deglaciation these events. It is unclear how long it would take for the sea-ice cover to be completely ablated after the deglaciation started, and what the physical state of the ocean looked like

We have analyzed the teleconnection of total cloud fraction (TCF) with global sea surface temperature (SST) in multi-model ensembles (MME) of the fifth and sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects (CMIP5 and CMIP6). CMIP6-MME has a more robust and realistic teleconnection (TCF and global SST) pattern over the extra-tropics (R ~ 0.43) and North Atlantic (R ~ 0.39) region, which in turn resulted

The end-Triassic extinction event (ETE) marks one of the “Big five” mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic, yet the timing and nature of environmental changes on a global scale remain elusive. Here we report a mm-scale high-resolution δ30Si profile of sea surface-dwelling radiolaria, preserved as moulds, spanning the end-Triassic radiolarian turnover interval of the deep-sea succession at the Katsuyama

A progressive warming or a long-term cooling trend during the Holocene remain controversial both at a regional and global scale. One possible reason for this discrepancy could be seasonality and uncertainties in the biases of various temperature proxies. Here, we present the distributions of archaeal isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (iGDGTs) from two soil transects in Arid Central Asia

Char and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can serve as proxies for wildfire frequency and/or intensity, are widely present in Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) strata, providing information on volcanism or on climatic control of fuel availability (linked to vegetation type and density) or combustibility (linked to aridity). Here, we present evidence to separate temporal from geographic

The early Eocene is thought to be the warmest period of the Cenozoic Era, with global temperatures ~10 °C higher than today. Few studies have focused on the paleoclimatic history of the early Eocene southeastern Neo-Tethys Ocean despite its tectonic significance. Here, we report new geochemical data that reveal the paleoclimate conditions of the early Eocene (~ 53.7 to 52.6 Ma) from the Qumiba section

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is referred to as the world's “Third Pole” and the “Asian Water Tower”. It is dominated by herbaceous plants, with sparse to no vegetation cover in its central and western parts. Only 12% of the TP land mass is covered by forest on its eastern edge where most of the human population is distributed. Understanding forest evolution and its driving forces in this region is essential

Today's cryosphere reflects an extreme climate state that developed through stepwise global Cenozoic cooling. In this context the opening of the Fram Strait, the Atlantic-Arctic Gateway (AAG), enabled deep-water exchange between the northern North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean and thereby influenced global ocean circulation and climate. Here we present a new age model for Ocean Drilling Program Site

Pliocene diachronism and mismatches between planktic foraminifera and nannofossil bioevents are clearly observed in the Mediterranean Sea. Hence, astronomical tuning combined with calcareous nannofossils and plankton foraminiferal biozones constitutes one of the important tools for regional correlation between different paleolatitudes. Consecutive and high-resolution well logs from the Sapphire-Dd

The impact of climate change on soil moisture (SM) dynamics is uncertain. Changes in the Earth's SM during recent decades have been studied globally and in different regions, but little attention has been given to Europe. In addition, most previous works have just relied on a monotonic behavior of SM changes, which is a strong assumption and not always valid. We argue that this fact, together with

Ocean ventilation change in the subarctic Pacific Ocean is critical for regulating nutrients, heating, and ocean–atmosphere CO2 exchange. Debate continues over whether direct ventilation in the subarctic Pacific Ocean has reached the deep/bottom oceans on different time scales over the last millions of years. Here, we studied the main and trace elements, including Si, Ca, Ba, Zn, Zr, and Rb, and stable

To reconstruct changes in vegetation, temperature, and sediment geochemistry through the last 6.5 cal ka BP, in the Subcarpathian belt of the Eastern Carpathians (Romania), pollen, branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) and X-ray fluorescence analyses have been integrated. Pollen and brGDGTs (a bacterial lipid biomarker proxy) are used as paleothermometers for reconstructing the mean

The Early Jurassic Jenkyns Event (~183 Ma) represents a major environment perturbation event, characterized by the negative carbon isotope excursion during the early Toarcian. Reconstruction of redox conditions, especially in the mega-lakes, across the Jenkyns Event is of significance to understand the biogeochemical dynamics on land at the time. Here, we report iron speciation and trace metal data

Glauconite forms abundantly within the Paleogene warm climatic intervals. However, the role of warm climate on glauconitization is yet to be explored. Glauconitic shales are ubiquitous in transgressive shallow marine deposits of Cambay, Kutch, Jaisalmer, and Barmer basins at the western margin of India. Although the glauconite is most abundant in upper Paleocene-lower Eocene sedimentary deposits in

Wildfires are an important source of disturbances in the Earth's system and are of great significance for understanding the interactions between environmental, atmospheric and vegetation changes over deep time. The early Cretaceous was a “high-fire” interval with frequent and widespread wildfires globally, but the timing and global significance of these wildfire events during this time remain uncertain

Quantifying the interactions between topography, climate and plant diversity within one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, remains elusive due to few reliable quantitative paleoelevation reconstructions, precise geological age constraints and well-preserved plant fossils. The Lühe Basin, on the southeastern margin of Tibetan Plateau has yielded abundant

Continental records of the Permian–Triassic boundary are characterized by intense chemical weathering, likely due to global warming and acid rainfall associated with volcanism. However, the weathering history throughout the late Permian has not been interrogated in time-equivalent continental successions because of the lack of stratigraphically continuous deposits. Here, we present comparative investigations

The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ~56 Ma) is a large negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE) that testifies to a massive perturbation of the global carbon cycle and has been considered to be an ancient, deep-time analogue for present and future climate change. However, the environmental and carbon isotopic response to the PETM in shallow-water carbonate platforms has remained largely elusive

The 4.2 ka event was the most abrupt climatic event during the transition between the middle and late Holocene. It had a profound influence on the regional ecological environment and human cultural development and was characterized by the rapid onset of aridification in the mid- and low-latitudes regions of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the nature, structure and spatial expression of the 4.2 ka

Understanding past climate and vegetation changes is essential to assessing the role of climate and human activity in dominating regional vegetation compositions. Here we show a wetting trend from mid- to late-Holocene over subtropical East Asia based on peat cellulose δ18O and a compilation of other robust hydroclimatic records. Under such a wetter condition, subtropical East Asia is expected to be

During the Mississippian period, metazoan reefs and other marine faunas gradually recovered from the Late Devonian mass extinctions and reached a peak in the late Visean (~334–332 Ma). Faunal diversity started to decline from the latest Visean (~332–330 Ma) through Serpukhovian (~330–323 Ma), with significant genera/species losses and ecosystem reconstruction. This Middle-Late Mississippian biodiversity

The northwestern South China Sea (NW-SCS) presents a spatial-temporal evolution of its source-to-sink (S2S) system, that recorded the movement of the Indochina block and the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates. However, complex tectonic movements and topographic evolution have led to controversial studies about the spatial-temporal distribution of allogenic materials and autogenic sediments

The early Eocene greenhouse climate maintained by high atmospheric CO2 concentrations serves as a testbed for future climate changes dominated by increasing CO2 forcing. In particular, the early Eocene Arctic region is important in the context of future CO2 driven climate warming in the northern polar region and associated shrinking Arctic sea ice. Here, we present early Eocene Arctic sea ice simulations

Loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) from the Lower Danube area are valuable terrestrial archives of environmental change in SE Europe during the Pleistocene. A twenty-seven meters thick sequence has been sampled in Central North Bulgaria near the city of Pleven within the Suhia Kladenetz (SK) quarry. The sedimentary sequence consists of seven loess units and six interbedded paleosol complexes covering the

Eustatic controls on Early Cretaceous (Aptian) sedimentation in the western Tethys are discerned in outcrops of carbonate platforms that developed in the Maestrat rift basin located at the eastern margin of the Iberian Plate. The relative sea-level fluctuations with a dominant eustatic contribution investigated had estimated magnitudes of between 50 and 60 m in <0.9 My and ≥115 m in <3 My, and occurred

Compound day-night heat waves (CohotEs) have more adverse effects on human health and ecosystem, and the consequences vary with humidity. This study classifies the CohotEs over Chinese mainland into wet and dry CohotEs, and compares their characteristics and associated circulation anomalies. Here, a populated region of mid-eastern China (MEC) with higher occurrence of both types of CohotEs is mainly

The molecular distributions and isotopic ratios (δ13C and δD) of n-alkanes in sediments deposited during the last 35 cal kyr BP in Saci Lake, southeastern Amazonia, have been measured and interpreted for their paleoclimate information. A terrestrial origin for the odd carbon-numbered long-chain (>C27) n-alkanes has been inferred from molecular distributions. A shift in the n-alkane δ13C values across

Relationships between geomagnetic field (GF) variations, paleoclimates, and Milankovitch cycles have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers mainly because of the assumption that GF may have acted as a climate forcing, suggesting that GF variations and orbital forcing may be linked in a complex synergistic way, especially, during interglacials and interstadials. We first performed an exhaustive

Driftwood supply was a pivotal factor for the Norse expansion in medieval times and still exhibits an essential resource for Arctic settlements. The physical causes and societal consequences of long-term changes in the distribution of Arctic driftwood are, however, poorly understood. Here, we use dendrochronology to reconstruct the age and origin of 289 driftwood samples that were collected at remote

The Cenozoic depositional history of the Pelotas Basin was driven by the interaction between the spreading processes of the Atlantic Ocean and the formation of the Andean Cordillera. We integrated seismic interpretation and backstripping techniques with evaluation of spreading rates in the South Atlantic and subduction beneath the Andes to unveil the main climatic, eustatic and active tectonic events

The Yellow River, the second longest river in China, originates in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, flows in a contorted square-bend-shaped path through the Loess Plateau, then enters the Fenwei Graben before discharging through the Sanmen Gorge onto the North China Plain. Prior to its connection through the Sanmen Gorge, which cuts through the drainage divide of the Hua and Taihang mountain belt