Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific
<p>The Late Miocene Cooling (LMC) has been recognized as a global event in the climate record and posited as the start of modern ecosystems. Whereas climate shifts in modern tropical terrestrial ecosystems around 7.0–5.4 Ma are known, little is known about the impact of the LMC on coral reefs,...
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Copernicus Publications
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Climate of the Past |
| Online Access: | https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/405/2025/cp-21-405-2025.pdf |
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| author | B. F. Petrick L. Reuning M. Pfeiffer G. Auer L. Schwark |
| author_facet | B. F. Petrick L. Reuning M. Pfeiffer G. Auer L. Schwark |
| author_sort | B. F. Petrick |
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| description | <p>The Late Miocene Cooling (LMC) has been recognized as a global event in the climate record and posited as the start of modern ecosystems. Whereas climate shifts in modern tropical terrestrial ecosystems around 7.0–5.4 Ma are known, little is known about the impact of the LMC on coral reefs, where few good proxy records exist. During the Pliocene, a stratigraphic interval is present in the Central Indo-Pacific, where reefs that were present at the start of the Messinian disappeared by the Early Pliocene. This “Pliocene Reef Gap” has often been ascribed to non-climatic factors. However, a lack of proxy data prevents an understanding of climatic changes during this time. Here, we present a TEX<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><msubsup><mi/><mn mathvariant="normal">86</mn><mi mathvariant="normal">H</mi></msubsup></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="11pt" height="17pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="2a07f66c340e5ca419639b2784f7d244"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="cp-21-405-2025-ie00001.svg" width="11pt" height="17pt" src="cp-21-405-2025-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>-based sea surface temperature (SST) record for the Coral Sea, suggesting that the LMC is present across the Central Indo-Pacific. During the LMC, SST at ODP Site 811 declined by about 2 °C, while cooling lasted from 7.0 to 5.4 Ma. This cooling has also been seen in other parts of the Central Indo-Pacific. The LMC caused many changes in the Central Indo-Pacific, including a southwest shift in the monsoon belt, changes in terrestrial inputs, and changes in the strength of ocean currents. All of these factors can be stressors affecting coral reef growth. This suggests the overall impact of the LMC was to increase the stress on reef systems, which could have provided a driver for the collapse of individual reefs and therefore a potential cause for the Pliocene Reef Gap. The change in SST and other stressors associated with the cooling caused coral reef systems to collapse across the Central Indo-Pacific.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f0bd3f06e4f84e10b0c65d03a6f0e845 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1814-9324 1814-9332 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
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| series | Climate of the Past |
| spelling | doaj-art-f0bd3f06e4f84e10b0c65d03a6f0e8452025-02-07T09:24:13ZengCopernicus PublicationsClimate of the Past1814-93241814-93322025-02-012140541710.5194/cp-21-405-2025Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-PacificB. F. Petrick0L. Reuning1M. Pfeiffer2G. Auer3L. Schwark4Institute of Geosciences, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118 Kiel, GermanyInstitute of Geosciences, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118 Kiel, GermanyInstitute of Geosciences, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118 Kiel, GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, NAWI Graz Geocenter, Heinrichstrasse 26, 8010 Graz, AustriaInstitute of Geosciences, Kiel University, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118 Kiel, Germany<p>The Late Miocene Cooling (LMC) has been recognized as a global event in the climate record and posited as the start of modern ecosystems. Whereas climate shifts in modern tropical terrestrial ecosystems around 7.0–5.4 Ma are known, little is known about the impact of the LMC on coral reefs, where few good proxy records exist. During the Pliocene, a stratigraphic interval is present in the Central Indo-Pacific, where reefs that were present at the start of the Messinian disappeared by the Early Pliocene. This “Pliocene Reef Gap” has often been ascribed to non-climatic factors. However, a lack of proxy data prevents an understanding of climatic changes during this time. Here, we present a TEX<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><msubsup><mi/><mn mathvariant="normal">86</mn><mi mathvariant="normal">H</mi></msubsup></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="11pt" height="17pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="2a07f66c340e5ca419639b2784f7d244"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="cp-21-405-2025-ie00001.svg" width="11pt" height="17pt" src="cp-21-405-2025-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>-based sea surface temperature (SST) record for the Coral Sea, suggesting that the LMC is present across the Central Indo-Pacific. During the LMC, SST at ODP Site 811 declined by about 2 °C, while cooling lasted from 7.0 to 5.4 Ma. This cooling has also been seen in other parts of the Central Indo-Pacific. The LMC caused many changes in the Central Indo-Pacific, including a southwest shift in the monsoon belt, changes in terrestrial inputs, and changes in the strength of ocean currents. All of these factors can be stressors affecting coral reef growth. This suggests the overall impact of the LMC was to increase the stress on reef systems, which could have provided a driver for the collapse of individual reefs and therefore a potential cause for the Pliocene Reef Gap. The change in SST and other stressors associated with the cooling caused coral reef systems to collapse across the Central Indo-Pacific.</p>https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/405/2025/cp-21-405-2025.pdf |
| spellingShingle | B. F. Petrick L. Reuning M. Pfeiffer G. Auer L. Schwark Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific Climate of the Past |
| title | Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific |
| title_full | Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific |
| title_fullStr | Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific |
| title_short | Impact of the Late Miocene Cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the Central Indo-Pacific |
| title_sort | impact of the late miocene cooling on the loss of coral reefs in the central indo pacific |
| url | https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/405/2025/cp-21-405-2025.pdf |
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