Oxygen levels in the ancient oceans were surprisingly resilient to climate change, new research suggests.
Oxygen levels in the ancient oceans were surprisingly resilient to climate change, new research suggests.
Scientists used geological samples to estimate ocean oxygen during a period of global warming 56 million years ago – and found "limited expansion" of seafloor anoxia (absence of oxygen).
Global warming – both past and present – depletes ocean oxygen, but the new study suggests warming of 5°C in the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) led to anoxia covering no more than 2% of the global seafloor.
However, conditions are different today to the PETM – today’s rate of carbon emissions is much faster, and we are adding nutrient pollution to the oceans – both of which could drive more rapid and expansive oxygen loss.
Read more at University of Exeter
Photo Credit: PublicCo via Pixabay
