The 1960 paper by Ewing, Duplessey, and Broecker presented groundbreaking evidence of a massive abrupt global climate shift. Synthesizing deep sea sediment cores, Great Basin lake levels, and European pollen records, they documented a significant ocean temperature rise and dramatic sedimentation changes. The Mississippi River began depositing sediment creating the enormous submerged fan delta on which New Orleans now sits. They concluded this climatic threshold was one of the most distinct fluctuations in geological history. That 11,000 radiocarbon years (uncalibrated) is now known to be closer to 13,000 calendar years.
1960 paper first documented abrupt global climate shift 11,000 radiocarbon years ago
Key facts
- The paper 'Evidence for an Abrupt Change in Climate Close to 11,000 Years Ago' by Ewing, Duplessey, and Brecker (1960) presented evidence of a massive and sudden global climate shift
- The study synthesizes data from deep sea sediment cores, changing water levels in Great Basin lakes, and pollen records from Europe
- Key findings include significant rise in ocean temperature and abrupt changes in sedimentation rates in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
- The Mississippi River began dumping its sediment load creating an enormous submerged fan delta on which New Orleans is now built
- Evidence shows Earth's climate reached near-modern conditions in less than a millennium
- The authors concluded this climatic threshold represents one of the most distinct and well-documented fluctuations in geological history
- The 11,000 radiocarbon years uncalibrated date is now known to be closer to 13,000 calendar years
Sources
Massive study is first to explore historical ocean response to abrupt ...eurekalert.org
The study results suggest that future periods of global climate change may result in similar ecosystem-level effects with millennial-scale ...
Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate changeui.adsabs.harvard.edu
Broecker, Wallace S. Abstract. Observations of large and abrupt climate changes recorded in Greenland ice cores have spurred a search for clues to their cause.
Unraveling 66 million years of climate history from ocean sedimentssouthampton.ac.uk
An international team of researchers has created a new climate reference curve by reconstructing the Earth's climate since the end of the Cretaceous period.
Abrupt climate change and collapse of deep-sea ecosystemspubs.usgs.gov
Results show that deep-sea benthic community "collapses" occur with faunal turnover of up to 50% during major climatically driven oceanographic ...
[PDF] WALLACE S. BROECKER. MAURICE EWING and BRUCE C ...earth.geology.yale.edu
This paper summarizes the evidence for an abrupt world-wide change in climate close to 11,000 years ago marking the end of the Wisconsin glacial period ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.