Reading

Question 1

Paterson 1993

Answer 1

Tibet = warm for 250 million years (glacial periods up to 15 million years ago)
- CO2 drops as plateau rises =’dynamic balance’ (Berner, 1983)

Question 2

Berner 1983

Answer 2

Dynamic balance between processes removing CO2 and restoring it

• CO2 dissolved in rainwater (carbonic acid), reacts with limestone and granite (calcium/silica) = deposited on sea floor and CO2 eventually released again
• Failed to predict timing of global thermostat turndown (40 and 15 million years ago)

Question 3

Raymos and Ruddiman 1988

Answer 3

• Rising Tibetan plateau = more energy radiated by earth = cooling
• Uplift = air circulation brings water-laden air off Indian Ocean in summer and therefore monsoon in India
• CO2 dissolved in rain water
• However, according to theory there would be no CO2 left in the atmosphere

Question 4

Coates 1980

Answer 4

Rise of Panama = series of volcanic eruptions that formed an archipelago SW of Central American Seaway

• Plate drifted north and east and archipelago entered seaway, partly closing the gap
• Closure changed ocean circulation patterns salinity could not mix therefore Atlantic saltier and Pacific more dilute = GULF STREAM (warm Atlantic currents flowed through gap and deflected north

Question 5

Adams 2007

Answer 5

Climate vary

1. energy from sun = lines of latitude (angle of sun) = also explains seasons, mountains colder = lapse rate
2. circulation of atmosphere and oceans that carry heat between places (ITCZ = air rises convection)

Question 6

McGuire et al 2002

Answer 6

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