Trends, Rhythms, and Aberrations in Global Climate 65 Ma to Present
Abstract
Since 65 million years ago (Ma), Earth's climate has undergone a significant and complex evolution, the finer details of which are now coming to light through investigations of deep-sea sediment cores. This evolution includes gradual trends of warming and cooling driven by tectonic processes on time scales of 10(5) to 10(7) years, rhythmic or periodic cycles driven by orbital processes with 10(4)- to 10(6)-year cyclicity, and rare rapid aberrant shifts and extreme climate transients with durations of 10(3) to 10(5) years. Here, recent progress in defining the evolution of global climate over the Cenozoic Era is reviewed. We focus primarily on the periodic and anomalous components of variability over the early portion of this era, as constrained by the latest generation of deep-sea isotope records. We also consider how this improved perspective has led to the recognition of previously unforeseen mechanisms for altering climate.
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A recent study marks the first step toward building a Δi-based curve of absolute seawater temperatures through the Cenozoic to replace the iconic δ18Oc curve.
“A recent study (Meckler et al. 2022) marks the first step toward building a i -based curve of absolute seawater temperatures through the Cenozoic to replace the iconic δ 18 O C curve (Zachos et al. 2001).”
From Frontiers of Carbonate Clumped Isotope Thermometry (2023) · cites this paper as Zachos et al. 2001
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- Authors
- Zachos, J., Pagani, M., Sloan, L., Thomas, E., & Billups, K.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Earth Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
- Wesleyan University (US)
- University of Delaware (US)
- Corresponding author
- Zachos, James
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2001-04-27
- Volume
- 292
- Issue
- 5517
- Pages
- 686-693
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2115575384
- Cited by
- 10,458
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 384 · 2025: 502 · 2024: 532 · 2023: 501 · 2022: 526 · 2021: 644 · 2020: 629 · 2019: 551 · 2018: 531 · 2017: 526 · 2016: 496 · 2015: 507 · 2014: 478 · 2013: 510 · 2012: 496
- FWCI
- 13.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Keywords
- Cenozoic climate, orbital forcing, Milankovitch cycles, deep-sea sediment core, oxygen isotopes, tectonic forcing, paleoclimate variability
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Carbon Isotopes, Climate, Ice, Oxygen Isotopes, Plankton, Temperature, Time, Greenhouse Effect, Geologic Sediments, Eukaryota
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