Climate forcing of terrestrial carbon sink during the Middle Jurassic greenhouse climate: Chronostratigraphic analysis of the Yan’an Formation, Ordos Basin, North China

Author(s):  
Zhihui Zhang ◽  
Tiantian Wang ◽  
Jahandar Ramezani ◽  
Dawei Lv ◽  
Chengshan Wang

Exploring the relationship between coal deposits as an important terrestrial carbon sink and orbital forcing of climate is critical for understanding the global carbon cycle and climate change. The Jurassic greenhouse period, characterized by extensive coal reserves widely distributed in the mid-latitude terrestrial basins, marks a significant coal-forming interval in Earth’s history. However, understanding of the processes that controlled the formation and distribution of coal at this time is inadequate. The Yan’an Formation of the Ordos Basin in north central China is among the largest and most extensively studied Jurassic coal reservoirs of the world. Here we establish a high-resolution age framework for the Yan’an Formation derived from integrated, high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology using chemical abrasion-isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) on interstratified ash beds and cyclostratigraphy based on centimeter-scale magnetic susceptibility. Accordingly, the main coal-forming interval of the Yan’an Formation spanned ca. 174.0 Ma to <171.7 Ma, which coincided with the onset of the Middle Jurassic. The spectral analyses of the Yan’an Formation coal seams demonstrate a strong correlation to minima in the 405 k.y. orbital eccentricity cycles, suggesting a strong climate control on lake level fluctuations and clastic sediment input. Finally, we explore the cyclicity of a large set of published marine carbon isotope data from western Tethys and its phase relationship to cyclic coal deposition in the Ordos Basin. Our resutls underscore the role of terrestrial organic carbon burial in the global carbon cycle during the Middle Jurassic.

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 869-873
Author(s):  
M. Heimann

Abstract. Becker et al. (2013) argue that an afforestation of 0.73 109 ha with Jatropha curcas plants would generate an additional terrestrial carbon sink of 4.3 PgC yr−1, enough to stabilise the atmospheric mixing ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) at current levels. However, this is not consistent with the dynamics of the global carbon cycle. Using a well established global carbon cycle model, the effect of adding such a hypothetical sink leads to a reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels in the year 2030 by 25 ppm compared to a reference scenario. However, the stabilisation of the atmospheric CO2 concentration requires a much larger additional sink or corresponding reduction of anthropogenic emissions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Heimann

Abstract. Becker et al. (2013) argue that an afforestation of 0.73 × 109 ha with Jatropha curcas plants would generate an additional terrestrial carbon sink of 4.3 PgC yr−1, enough to stabilise the atmospheric mixing ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) at current levels. However, this is not consistent with the dynamics of the global carbon cycle. Using a well-established global carbon cycle model, the effect of adding such a hypothetical sink leads to a reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels in the year 2030 by 25 ppm compared to a reference scenario. However, the stabilisation of the atmospheric CO2 concentration requires a much larger additional sink or corresponding reduction of anthropogenic emissions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Subhajit Bandopadhyay ◽  
Dany A. Cotrina Sánchez

An unprecedented number of wildfire events during 2019 throughout the Brazilian Amazon caught global attention, due to their massive extent and the associated loss in the Amazonian forest—an ecosystem on which the whole world depends. Such devastating wildfires in the Amazon has strongly hampered the global carbon cycle and significantly reduced forest productivity. In this study, we have quantified such loss of forest productivity in terms of gross primary productivity (GPP), applying a comparative approach using Google Earth Engine. A total of 12 wildfire spots have been identified based on the fire’s extension over the Brazilian Amazon, and we quantified the loss in productivity between 2018 and 2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) GPP and MODIS burned area satellite imageries, with a revisit time of 8 days and 30 days, respectively, have been used for this study. We have observed that compared to 2018, the number of wildfire events increased during 2019. But such wildfire events did not hamper the natural annual trend of GPP of the Amazonian ecosystem. However, a significant drop in forest productivity in terms of GPP has been observed. Among all 11 observational sites were recorded with GPP loss, ranging from −18.88 gC m−2 yr−1 to −120.11 gC m−2 yr−1, except site number 3. Such drastic loss in GPP indicates that during 2019 fire events, all of these sites acted as carbon sources rather than carbon sink sites, which may hamper the global carbon cycle and terrestrial CO2 fluxes. Therefore, it is assumed that these findings will also fit for the other Amazonian wildfire sites, as well as for the tropical forest ecosystem as a whole. We hope this study will provide a significant contribution to global carbon cycle research, terrestrial ecosystem studies, sustainable forest management, and climate change in contemporary environmental sciences.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Scholze ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Wouter Dorigo ◽  
Luis Guanter ◽  
Shaun Quegan

Abstract. The global carbon cycle is an important component of the Earth system and it interacts with the hydrological, energy and nutrient cycles as well as ecosystem dynamics. A better understanding of the global carbon cycle is required for improved projections of climate change including corresponding changes in water and food resources and for the verification 5 of measures to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. An improved understanding of the carbon cycle can be achieved by model-data fusion or data assimilation systems, which integrate observations relevant to the carbon cycle into coupled carbon, water, energy and nutrient models. Hence, the ingredients for such systems are a carbon cycle model, an algorithm for the assimilation, and systematic and 10 well error-characterized observations relevant to the carbon cycle. Relevant observations for assimilation include various in-situ measurements in the atmosphere (e.g. concentrations of CO2 and other gases) and on land (e.g. fluxes of carbon water and energy, carbon stocks) as well as remote sensing observations (e.g. atmospheric composition, vegetation and surface properties).We briefly review the different existing data assimilation techniques and contrast them to model 15 benchmarking and evaluation efforts (which also rely on observations). A common requirement for all assimilation techniques is a full description of the observational data properties. Uncertainty estimates of the observations are as important as the observations themselves because they similarly determine the outcome of such assimilation systems. Hence, this article reviews the requirements of data assimilation systems on observations and provides a non-exhaustive overview of current 20 observations and their uncertainties for use in terrestrial carbon cycle data assimilation. We report on progress since the review of model-data synthesis in terrestrial carbon observations by Raupach et al. (2005) emphasising the rapid advance in relevant space-based observations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Fantasia ◽  
Thierry Adatte ◽  
Jorge E. Spangenberg ◽  
Emanuela Mattioli ◽  
Enrique Bernárdez ◽  
...  

<p>The Jurassic was punctuated by several episodes of abrupt environmental changes associated with climatic instabilities, severe biotic crisis, and perturbations of the global carbon cycle. Over the last decades, the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (Early Jurassic, ~183 Ma) and the early Bajocian Event (Middle Jurassic, ~170–168 Ma) have attracted much attention because they represent such episodes of global and severe environmental change. Bracketed in between the Toarcian and the Bajocian, the Aalenian stage (Middle Jurassic, ~174-170 Ma) has received less attention, although there is some evidence from Tethyan and Boreal records that it was a time of environmental changes marked by marine biotic turnovers. The lack of knowledge about the Aalenian palaeoenvironments leaves a gap in our understanding of the wider context of the Toarcian and Bajocian events and hence of environmental feedback mechanisms surrounding Mesozoic carbon cycle perturbations. In this study, we provide a high-resolution, biostratigraphically well-defined carbon isotope records (<em>δ</em><sup>13</sup>C<sub>org </sub>and <em>δ</em><sup>13</sup>C<sub>carb</sub>) combined to Rock-Eval data for the upper Toarcian–lower Bajocian interval from two expanded marl/limestone alternation successions from France (French Subalpine Basin) and Chile (Andean Basin). The comparison with available records from the Tethyan and Boreal domains highlights that medium-term <em>δ</em><sup>13</sup>C fluctuations are reproducible across different palaeoceanographic settings from both hemispheres and between different carbon substrates. The new high-resolution dataset highlights the complexity of the Aalenian <em>δ</em><sup>13</sup>C record, including previously identified <em>δ</em><sup>13</sup>C shifts and hitherto undescribed fluctuations. This study provides one of the most expanded high-resolution chemostratigraphic reference records for the entire Aalenian stage, and shows compelling evidence from both hemispheres that it was a time marked by recurrent perturbations to the global carbon cycle and environmental changes.</p><p> </p>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna B. Harper ◽  
Andrew J. Wiltshire ◽  
Peter M. Cox ◽  
Pierre Friedlingstein ◽  
Chris D. Jones ◽  
...  

Abstract. Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) are used for studying historical and future changes to vegetation and the terrestrial carbon cycle. JULES (the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) represents the land surface in the Hadley Centre climate models and in the UK Earth System Model. Recently the number of plant functional types (PFTs) in JULES were expanded from 5 to 9 to better represent functional diversity in global ecosystems. Here we introduce a more mechanistic representation of vegetation dynamics in TRIFFID, the dynamic vegetation component of JULES, that allows for any number of PFTs to compete based solely on their height, removing the previous hardwired dominance hierarchy where dominant types are assumed to outcompete subdominant types. With the new set of 9 PFTs, JULES is able to more accurately reproduce global vegetation distribution compared to the former 5 PFT version. Improvements include the coverage of trees within tropical and boreal forests, and a reduction in shrubs, which dominated at high latitudes. We show that JULES is able to realistically represent several aspects of the global carbon cycle. The simulated gross primary productivity (GPP) is within the range of observations, but simulated net primary productivity (NPP) is slightly too high. GPP in JULES from 1982–2011 was 133 PgC yr−1, compared to observation-based estimates between 123±8 (over the same time period) and 150–175 PgC yr−1. NPP from 2000–2013 was 72 PgC yr−1, compared to satellite-derived NPP of 55 PgC yr−1 over the same period and independent estimates of 56.2±14.3 PgC yr−1. The simulated carbon stored in vegetation is 542 PgC, compared to an observation-based range of 400–600 PgC. Soil carbon is much lower (1422 PgC) than estimates from measurements (>2400 PgC), with large underestimations of soil carbon in the tropical and boreal forests. We also examined some aspects of the historical terrestrial carbon sink as simulated by JULES. Between the 1900s and 2000s, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels enhanced vegetation productivity and litter inputs into the soils, while land-use change removed vegetation and reduced soil carbon. The result was a simulated increase in soil carbon of 57 PgC but a decrease in vegetation carbon by of PgC. JULES simulated a loss of soil and vegetation carbon of 14 and 124 PgC, respectively, due to land-use change from 1900–2009. The simulated land carbon sink was 2.0±1.0 PgC yr−1 from 2000–2009, in close agreement to estimates from the IPCC and Global Carbon Project.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3215-3235 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Zhao ◽  
S. Liu ◽  
Z. Li ◽  
T. L. Sohl

Abstract. Land use change is critical in determining the distribution, magnitude and mechanisms of terrestrial carbon budgets at the local to global scales. To date, almost all regional to global carbon cycle studies are driven by a static land use map or land use change statistics with decadal time intervals. The biases in quantifying carbon exchange between the terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere caused by using such land use change information have not been investigated. Here, we used the General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS), along with consistent and spatially explicit land use change scenarios with different intervals (1 yr, 5 yrs, 10 yrs and static, respectively), to evaluate the impacts of land use change data frequency on estimating regional carbon sequestration in the southeastern United States. Our results indicate that ignoring the detailed fast-changing dynamics of land use can lead to a significant overestimation of carbon uptake by the terrestrial ecosystem. Regional carbon sequestration increased from 0.27 to 0.69, 0.80 and 0.97 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 when land use change data frequency shifting from 1 year to 5 years, 10 years interval and static land use information, respectively. Carbon removal by forest harvesting and prolonged cumulative impacts of historical land use change on carbon cycle accounted for the differences in carbon sequestration between static and dynamic land use change scenarios. The results suggest that it is critical to incorporate the detailed dynamics of land use change into local to global carbon cycle studies. Otherwise, it is impossible to accurately quantify the geographic distributions, magnitudes, and mechanisms of terrestrial carbon sequestration at local to global scales.


2019 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 02002
Author(s):  
Llerena Silvia ◽  
Tarko Alexander ◽  
Kurbatova Anna ◽  
Kozhevnikova Polina

Conservation and sustainable development of forests are mitigation mechanisms against climate change due to the forest carbon sink capacity. Therefore, biomass estimation allows to assess forest productivity and control carbon budgets. In Ecuador, biomass and carbon sequestration studies are scarce. Thus, we estimated and forecasted changes in biomass of Ecuadorian forests through the Mathematical Spatial Model of Global Carbon Cycle and the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index. The mathematical model describes the processes of growth and decay of vegetation in terms of carbon exchange between the atmosphere, plants and soil under anthropogenic impacts. The vegetation map and the biomass of 2017 (4,86 Gt) were developed with remote sensing methodology in ENVI 5.3 and ArcGIS 10.3 programs. The observed biomass decrease between 2000 and 2010 was due to the high deforestation rate. Thanks to conservation and reforestation policies and the compensatory effect between the atmosphere and forests, a biomass increase is expected until 2060. According to the vegetation map, Amazon region has a better plant vigor, followed by Andean and Coast regions, where scattered vegetation predominates. This information is useful for planning environmental practices such as forest conservation and reforestation in order to increase carbon storage.


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