Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene
Abstract Arctic warming is happening at nearly four times the global average rate. Long-term trends of permafrost dynamics cannot be estimated directly from monitoring of present-day thaw processes, requiring paleoclimate-proxy information. Here we use cave carbonates (speleothems) from a northern S...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60381-5 |
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| author | Anton Vaks Andrew Mason Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach Alena Giesche Alexander Osinzev Irina Adrian Aleksandr Kononov Stuart Umbo Franziska A. Lechleitner Marcelo Rosensaft Gideon M. Henderson |
| author_facet | Anton Vaks Andrew Mason Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach Alena Giesche Alexander Osinzev Irina Adrian Aleksandr Kononov Stuart Umbo Franziska A. Lechleitner Marcelo Rosensaft Gideon M. Henderson |
| author_sort | Anton Vaks |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Arctic warming is happening at nearly four times the global average rate. Long-term trends of permafrost dynamics cannot be estimated directly from monitoring of present-day thaw processes, requiring paleoclimate-proxy information. Here we use cave carbonates (speleothems) from a northern Siberian cave to determine when the Northern Hemisphere was mostly permafrost-free. At present, thick continuous permafrost in this region prevents speleothem growth. In a series of partially eroded caves, speleothems grew during the late Tortonian stage (8.68 ± 0.09 Ma), a time when the geographic position of this site was already similar to today. Paleotemperatures reconstructed from speleothems show that mean annual air temperatures (MAAT) in the region were + 6.6°C to + 11.1°C, when contemporary global MAAT were ~ 4.5 °C higher than modern. Our findings provide direct evidence that warming to Tortonian-like temperatures would leave most of the Northern Hemisphere permafrost-free. This may release up to ~ 130 petagrams of carbon, enhancing further warming. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-20bab0aa0d8a4a30816dfb884bc3c8be |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-20bab0aa0d8a4a30816dfb884bc3c8be2025-08-20T03:03:29ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111310.1038/s41467-025-60381-5Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late MioceneAnton Vaks0Andrew Mason1Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach2Alena Giesche3Alexander Osinzev4Irina Adrian5Aleksandr Kononov6Stuart Umbo7Franziska A. Lechleitner8Marcelo Rosensaft9Gideon M. Henderson10Geochemistry and Environmental Geology Division, Geological Survey of IsraelDepartment of Earth Sciences, Oxford UniversityDepartment of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria UniversityU.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science CenterSpeleoclub ArabikaLena Delta Wildlife ReserveIrkutsk National Research Technical UniversityDepartment of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria UniversityDepartment of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Oeschger Centre for Climate Change ResearchGeological Mapping Division, Geological Survey of IsraelDepartment of Earth Sciences, Oxford UniversityAbstract Arctic warming is happening at nearly four times the global average rate. Long-term trends of permafrost dynamics cannot be estimated directly from monitoring of present-day thaw processes, requiring paleoclimate-proxy information. Here we use cave carbonates (speleothems) from a northern Siberian cave to determine when the Northern Hemisphere was mostly permafrost-free. At present, thick continuous permafrost in this region prevents speleothem growth. In a series of partially eroded caves, speleothems grew during the late Tortonian stage (8.68 ± 0.09 Ma), a time when the geographic position of this site was already similar to today. Paleotemperatures reconstructed from speleothems show that mean annual air temperatures (MAAT) in the region were + 6.6°C to + 11.1°C, when contemporary global MAAT were ~ 4.5 °C higher than modern. Our findings provide direct evidence that warming to Tortonian-like temperatures would leave most of the Northern Hemisphere permafrost-free. This may release up to ~ 130 petagrams of carbon, enhancing further warming.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60381-5 |
| spellingShingle | Anton Vaks Andrew Mason Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach Alena Giesche Alexander Osinzev Irina Adrian Aleksandr Kononov Stuart Umbo Franziska A. Lechleitner Marcelo Rosensaft Gideon M. Henderson Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene Nature Communications |
| title | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene |
| title_full | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene |
| title_fullStr | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene |
| title_short | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the late Miocene |
| title_sort | arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost free northern hemisphere in the late miocene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60381-5 |
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