Vegetation was booming compared to now. ‘Far higher’ CO2 levels were a help, not a so-called crisis.
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A previously unexploited source of information is now throwing new light on Earth’s climate during the age of dinosaurs, says Phys.org.
Fossilized dinosaur teeth show that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the Mesozoic Era, i.e., 252 to 66 million years ago, were far higher than they are today.
This has been determined by researchers at the universities in Göttingen, Mainz, and Bochum following the analysis of oxygen isotopes in the dental enamel of dinosaur teeth.
The scientists used a new innovative method to detect the relative ratios of all three natural oxygen isotopes, opening new prospects for geological climate research.
In addition, the isotope data shows that the primary production of all plants at the time was double that of the current yield. This probably contributed to a climate that was particularly dynamic when dinosaurs roamed Earth.
The results of the research project have been published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The team of researchers investigated the tooth enamel of dinosaur teeth found in North America, Africa and Europe and dating back to the late Jurassic and the late Cretaceous periods. Tooth enamel is one of the most stable biological materials. It contains three isotopes of the oxygen that a dinosaur would have inhaled with the air during respiration.
The ratios of individual isotopes in airborne oxygen are determined by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the photosynthetic activity of vegetation. The resultant connection means that dinosaur teeth can be used to draw conclusions with regard to the nature of the climate and vegetation during the dinosaur age.
During the Late Jurassic, roughly 150 million years ago, the atmosphere contained a concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) four times that in the period before industrialization commenced, i.e., before human activity resulted in the release of large quantities of greenhouse gases into the air. [Talkshop comment – not ‘large’ at all compared to the Jurassic period].
Some 73 to 66 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, the corresponding concentration of CO₂ was three times higher than the preindustrial level.
Full article here.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
August 6, 2025 at 05:26AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 