Global climate forcing on late Miocene establishment of the Pampean aeolian system in South America
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Wind-blown dust from southern South America links the terrestrial, marine, atmospheric, and biological components of Earth's climate system. The Pampas of central Argentina (~33°-39° S) contain a Miocene to Holocene aeolian record that spans an important interval of global cooling. Upper Miocene sediment provenance based on n = 3299 detrital-zircon U-Pb ages is consistent with the provenance of Pleistocene-Holocene deposits, indicating the Pampas are the site of a long-lived fluvial-aeolian system that has been operating since the late Miocene. Here, we show the establishment of aeolian sedimentation in the Pampas coincided with late Miocene cooling. These findings, combined with those from the Chinese Loess Plateau (~33°-39° N) underscore: (1) the role of fluvial transport in the development and maintenance of temporally persistent mid-latitude loess provinces; and (2) a global-climate forcing mechanism behind the establishment of large mid-latitude loess provinces during the late Miocene.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,290
Funder: National Science Foundation
Awards: Collaborative Research: Deconvolving the southern South American Pleistocene-Holocene dust production pathways, Collaborative Research: Deconvolving the southern South American Pleistocene-Holocene dust production pathways, OCE-PRF Unraveling Southern Hemisphere westerly wind variability through the last ~150 ky using Tasman Sea sediments, PIRE: DUST stimulated drawn-down of atmospheric CO2 as a trigger for Northern Hemisphere Glaciation
OpenAlex ID: W4388014609