Marine and Terrestrial Evidence for Glaciation during the Pliocene – a Global Synthesis

Abstract:

The Pliocene climate is globally warm and characterized by high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Nevertheless, considerable evidence for substantial glaciation events has been identified in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere prior to the Quaternary. Evidence on land is fragmentary, but marine records of glaciation present a more complete history of Pliocene glaciation. A global compilation of glacial evidence (De Schepper et al. 2014) demonstrates that there are four large glaciation events in the Southern and/or Northern Hemisphere prior to the latest Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Two global glacial events are identified in the early Pliocene, one around the early/late Pliocene transition, and one during the late Pliocene Marine Isotope Stage M2.

Reference

De Schepper, S., Gibbard, P.L., Salzmann, U., Ehlers, J., 2014. A global synthesis of the marine and terrestrial evidence for glaciation during the Pliocene Epoch. Earth-Science Reviews 135, 83–102.