Testing the Response of Earth’s Carbon Cycle to Volcanic Perturbations

Abstract:

Volcanic CO2 emissions likely play an important role in regulating the long-term carbon cycle, but the significance of individual eruptions is uncertain. We use the LOSCAR carbon cycle model (Zeebe et al., 2009; Zeebe, 2012) to calculate perturbations in the ocean-atmosphere system following CO2 emissions associated with both large explosive eruptions and large igneous province emplacement. We focus initially on case studies of the Bishop Tuff, the Fish Canyon Tuff, and the Siberian Traps. We consider the response to these events in multiple climate states. Additionally, we use estimates of the localized rates of silicate weathering following each of these events to explicitly model the extended CO2 drawdown without a parameterized global silicate weathering feedback.