Lyell Collection

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WRIGHT, V. P. Articles by VANSTONE, S. D. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Assessing the carbon dioxide content of ancient atmospheres using palaeocalcretes: theoretical and empirical contraints

Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology The University, PO Box 227, Whiteknights,Reading RG6 2AB, UK

Recent suggestions that the ¹³C composition of calcretes can be used to determine the P(CO₂) of ancient atmospheres is critically evaluated. The problem of differentiating pedogenic calcretes from groundwater ones (which could not be used for P(CO₂) determinations) is considered a critical problem. A basic tenet of the use of calcretes for assessing P(CO₂) is that plants using C₄ or cras-sulacean acid metabolism photosynthetic pathways were unimportant until the Miocene. This view is questioned, and evidence is presented from Carboniferous calcified root mats that non-C₃ plants were probably present at this time, confirming speculations by palaeobotanists that crassulacean acid metabolism or C₄ photosynthesis may have arisen numerous times during the evolution of higher plants.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. P Osborne and D. J Beerling Nature's green revolution: the remarkable evolutionary rise of C4 plants Phil Trans R Soc B, 2006; 361: 173 - 194. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A. Robinson, S. A. Robinson, and S. P. Hesselbo Fossil-wood carbon-isotope stratigraphy of the non-marine Wealden Group (Lower Cretaceous, southern England) Journal of the Geological Society, 2004; 161: 133 - 145. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A. Robinson, S. A. ROBINSON, J. E. ANDREWS, S. P. HESSELBO, J. D. RADLEY, P. F. DENNIS, I. C. HARDING, and P. ALLEN Atmospheric pCO2 and depositional environment from stable-isotope geochemistry of calcrete nodules (Barremian, Lower Cretaceous, Wealden Beds, England) Journal of the Geological Society, 2002; 159: 215 - 224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. J. Beerling and D. J. BEERLING Interpreting environmental and biological signals from the stable carbon isotope composition of fossilized organic and inorganic carbon Journal of the Geological Society, 1997; 154: 303 - 309. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Vanstone The influence of climatic change on exposure surface development: a case study from the Late Dinantian of England and Wales Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1996; 107: 281 - 301. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. E. ANDREWS, S. K. TANDON, and P. F. DENNIS Concentration of carbon dioxide in the Late Cretaceous atmosphere Journal of the Geological Society, 1995; 152: 1 - 3. [Abstract] [PDF]

				V.P. WRIGHT, M.S. TURNER, J.E. ANDREWS, and B. SPIRO Morphology and significance of super-mature calcretes from the Upper Old Red Sandstone of Scotland Journal of the Geological Society, 1993; 150: 871 - 883. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. van der Burgh, J. Van Der Burgh, H. Visscher, D. L. Dilcher, and W. M. Kurschner Paleoatmospheric Signatures in Neogene Fossil Leaves Science, 1993; 260: 1788 - 1790. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Further comments on using carbon isotopes in palaeosols to estimate the CO2 content of the palaeo-atmosphere Journal of the Geological Society, 1992; 149: 673 - 676. [Abstract] [PDF]

• Home  |  
• Current issue  |  
• Table of contents  |  
• Archive  |  
• Search  |  
• Feedback

• Copyright policy  |  
• Permissions request   |  
• Terms of use   |  
• Feedback   |  
• HighWire Press