PP43E-02:
Statistical signal analysis of the Phanerozoic ð13C curve: implications for Earth system evolution
Thursday, 18 December 2014: 1:55 PM
Lee Robert Kump1, Aviv Bachan1, Jonathan Payne2, Matthew Saltzman3 and Ellen Thomas4, (1)Pennsylvania State Univ, University Park, PA, United States, (2)Stanford University, Los Altos Hills, CA, United States, (3)Ohio State University Main Campus, School of Earth Sciences, Columbus, OH, United States, (4)Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
Abstract:
In recent years, vast amounts of carbon isotopic data have been collected allowing the construction of the Phanerozoic δ13C curve in unprecedented detail. Our dataset comprises 8143 points spanning the last 541 m.y., with a mean spacing of 66 k.y. The average δ13C of Phanerozoic carbonate is 1 ‰ ± 2 ‰, in accordance with the canonical values measured in the past. However, the record also shows numerous, highly resolved, large (± 6 ‰) excursions whose magnitude declines through time, especially going into the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic. When the magnitude – distribution of the excursions is tabulated we find that it follows a power law: plotting the min-max differences vs. number of bins in which a particular value occurs reveals that the data fall on a semilogarithmic line with a slope of -0.23 and R2 = 0.99. The result is insensitive to outliers: smoothing the data with lowess, spline, Savitzky-Golay, and Butterworth filters yields similar results. The continuity from small variation to large perturbations, both positive and negative, suggests that, despite the numerous proposed causes for individual carbon isotopic evens, there is likely an underlying mechanism which governs the magnitude of δ13C response to perturbations. We suggest that a mechanism acting to amplify carbon cycle perturbations is the key to explaining the power-law distribution, and identify the anoxia-productivity feedback as the most likely candidate. Establishment of sulfidic conditions is accompanied by increased release of phosphate to the water column, which allows for further productivity, and thus acts as a destabilizing, positive, feedback. This feedback would act to increase carbon cycle swings irrespective of their proximal trigger. The decline in frequency of anoxic-sulfidic bottom waters in the world’s oceans, and potential disappearance in the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic, may account for a reduction in the Earth system's gain and increase in its resilience.
