Advances in Earth Science ›› 2006, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (4): 338-345. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2006.04.0338

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Interactions Between the Earth Spheres: Deep-Sea Processes and Records(II) Tropical Forcing of Climate Changes and Carbon Cycling

Wang Pinxian,Jian Zhimin,Liu Zhifei   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  • Received:2006-02-12 Revised:2006-03-08 Online:2006-04-15 Published:2006-04-15

Wang Pinxian,Jian Zhimin,Liu Zhifei. Interactions Between the Earth Spheres: Deep-Sea Processes and Records(II) Tropical Forcing of Climate Changes and Carbon Cycling[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2006, 21(4): 338-345.

The theory of orbital forcing of glacial cycles is an outstanding breakthrough of paleoclimate research in the 20th century. However, the classical orbital forcing theory was based on solar radiation at 65°N and failed to take the low latitudes and carbon cycling into consideration. The present project of “deep-sea processes and records” targets at the ignored aspects of the theory. Combining the geological records with climatic numerical modeling, we recognized the step-wise process of development of the “Western Pacific Warm Pool” and the East Asian monsoon system, and found that the sea surface warming in the Warm Pool was leading the melting process of the boreal ice-sheet during the deglaciation. We discovered a long periodicity of 400-500 ka in the carbon isotope records from the Nansha area, southern south China sea. After a global comparison and analyses of the Pliocene sections in Italy, we were able to prove that this is a response of the oceanic carbon reservoir to the long eccentricity cycle, and hypothetically explained the carbon reservoir changes by “rain ratio” variations induced by phytoplankton composition. Our studies demonstrated the critical role played by tropical forcing and carbon cycling in the global climate changes, and their recognition is prerequisite to any scientific prediction of the long-term trends in climate changes. The present is the second paper following the first one providing a general description of the project.

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