Alkenone and boron-based Pliocene pCO2 records

The Pliocene period is the most recent time when the Earth was globally significantly (∼ 3 °C) warmer than today. However, the existing pCO2 data for the Pliocene are sparse and there is little agreement between the various techniques used to reconstruct palaeo-pCO2. This disagreement, coupled with the general low temporal resolution of the published records, does not allow a robust assessment of the role of declining pCO2 in the intensification of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (INHG) and a direct comparison to other proxy records are lacking. For the first time, we use a combination of foraminiferal (δ11B) and organic biomarker (alkenone-derived carbon isotopes) proxies to determine the concentration of atmospheric CO2 over the past 5 Ma. Both proxy records show that during the warm Pliocene pCO2 was between 330 and 400 ppm, i.e. similar to today. The decrease to values similar to pre-industrial times (275–285 ppm) occurred between 3.2 Ma and 2.8 Ma — coincident with the INHG and affirming the link between global climate, the cryosphere and pCO2.