Obliquity-forced climate during the Early Triassic hothouse in China

What is it about?

After the Great Dying 251.9 million years ago, the Earth was marked by 5 million years of repeated ecosystem upheavals, global warming and ocean anoxia. The causes of these catastrophes are unknown. Now, we provide a new view: the global catastrophes in the aftermath of the Great Dying are linked to Earth’s astronomical forcing. We evaluate two marine sections in South China for astronomically forced paleoclimate change. In these sections, enhanced obliquity-forced sedimentation over prolonged intervals, characterized by a 32,800 year periodicity and modulated by 1.2-million-year cycles. This suggests a 22-hour length-of-day, a 398-day year, and a 1.2-million-year interaction between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Comparing the 1.2-million-year cycling with Early Triassic records of global temperature, ocean redox state and biotic evolution suggests that long-term astronomical forcing influenced the repeated climatic and biotic upheavals that took place in the Early Triassic Epoch.

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Why is it important?

As our reviewer pointed out: In this (Siberian Traps) trigger "void", the prospect of external forcing is extremely attractive, with this manuscript leading what is sure to be an extensive literature.