Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles

Sinusoidal Milankovitch orbital variations do not match the sawtooth pattern of descent into glaciation followed by abrupt termination to greenhouse interglacials seen in records of marine shale, speleothems, and ice cores. Also, climatic response for the past million years has fallen on the weakest...

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Main Author: Gregory J. Retallack
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Geoderma
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001582
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author Gregory J. Retallack
author_facet Gregory J. Retallack
author_sort Gregory J. Retallack
collection DOAJ
description Sinusoidal Milankovitch orbital variations do not match the sawtooth pattern of descent into glaciation followed by abrupt termination to greenhouse interglacials seen in records of marine shale, speleothems, and ice cores. Also, climatic response for the past million years has fallen on the weakest Milankovitch forcing of eccentricity (100 ka). Strong obliquity forcings (42 ka) dominate early Pleistocene and Tertiary paleoclimatic records. Both the saw-tooth pattern and mid-Pleistocene switch have been blamed on thermal inertia of large ice sheets or Antarctic bottom water, but this study advances a new pedogenic hypothesis. Interglacial Oxisols and Mollisols were unidirectional engines of atmospheric carbon consumption, albedo, and transpiration, that became more effective and resilient in resisting orbital and volcanic terminations due to grass-grazer coevolution. Diminished carbon consumption in a world of widespread Gelisols and Aridisols allowed abrupt glacial termination by accumulated volcanic CO2.
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spelling doaj-art-3c09b65b001c42909f12c6eacfea82a22025-08-20T03:53:52ZengElsevierGeoderma1872-62592025-06-0145811732010.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117320Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cyclesGregory J. Retallack0Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USASinusoidal Milankovitch orbital variations do not match the sawtooth pattern of descent into glaciation followed by abrupt termination to greenhouse interglacials seen in records of marine shale, speleothems, and ice cores. Also, climatic response for the past million years has fallen on the weakest Milankovitch forcing of eccentricity (100 ka). Strong obliquity forcings (42 ka) dominate early Pleistocene and Tertiary paleoclimatic records. Both the saw-tooth pattern and mid-Pleistocene switch have been blamed on thermal inertia of large ice sheets or Antarctic bottom water, but this study advances a new pedogenic hypothesis. Interglacial Oxisols and Mollisols were unidirectional engines of atmospheric carbon consumption, albedo, and transpiration, that became more effective and resilient in resisting orbital and volcanic terminations due to grass-grazer coevolution. Diminished carbon consumption in a world of widespread Gelisols and Aridisols allowed abrupt glacial termination by accumulated volcanic CO2.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001582CO2 greenhousePaleosolsPleistoceneMilankovitch cycles
spellingShingle Gregory J. Retallack
Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
Geoderma
CO2 greenhouse
Paleosols
Pleistocene
Milankovitch cycles
title Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
title_full Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
title_fullStr Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
title_full_unstemmed Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
title_short Soil modulation of Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles
title_sort soil modulation of quaternary glacial interglacial cycles
topic CO2 greenhouse
Paleosols
Pleistocene
Milankovitch cycles
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125001582
work_keys_str_mv AT gregoryjretallack soilmodulationofquaternaryglacialinterglacialcycles