A key theory of climate change may have been discredited

A new study conducted by Rutgers states that a key theory attributing early climate change to the degradation of Himalayan rocks may not explain the cooling over the past 15 million years.

The study could help us understand the causes of long-term climate change caused by natural causes.

RELATED: STUDY FINDS THAT CLIMATE CHANGE MAY CAUSE AN EXHAUST OF CIVILIZATION BEFORE 2050

Long-term climate change

The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, is focused on the long – term cooling that occurred before the recent global warming caused by emissions released into the atmosphere by man.

"The findings of our study, if corroborated, raise more questions than answers," said lead author Yair Rosenthal in a press release.

"If the cooling is not due to the improved weathering of the Himalayan rock, what processes have been forgotten?"

The dominant hypothesis

For decades, the fundamental theory of cooling over the past 15 million years has been that the collision of the Indian and Asian continents, causing the rise of the Himalayas, has resulted in new rocks on the surface of the Earth. These rocks were exposed to the elements, making them vulnerable to the weather that stored carbon dioxide.

Although this has not been confirmed, this assumption has been fundamental for years.

Lead author Weimin Si, a former Rutgers doctoral student at Brown University, and Rosenthal have now disputed this hypothesis in a new study in which they are studying sediments of water. deep rich in calcium carbonate.

Algae and climate change

For millennia, the alteration of the rocks has allowed them to capture carbon dioxide. The rivers then transported CO2 into the ocean as dissolved inorganic carbon. The algae then use it to build calcium carbonate shells.

When the algae die, they fall on the seabed, their skeletons trap carbon dioxide in the Earth and prevent it from entering the atmosphere.

The hypothesis is that if atmospheric conditions increase, the calcium carbonate levels in the deep sea are also expected to increase. However, after studying several cores of deep-water sediments as part of an international ocean drilling program, Si discovered that calcium carbonate in shells had actually decreased significantly over the past few years. 15 million years.

This suggests that rock weathering may not be responsible for long-term climate cooling. The Rosenthal lab is studying in more detail the evolution of calcium in the ocean in order to learn more about long-term climate change.