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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
Sea-floor hydrothermal activity links climate to tectonics: the Eocene carbon dioxide greenhouse
1Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.
Abstract:
Two important findings of recent ocean floor drilling in the southeast Pacific (Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 92) are (i) that sea-floor hydrothermal activity may fluctuate through time by as much as an order of magnitude and (ii) that episodes of greatest hydrothermal flux correspond to times when ridge-transform plate boundaries are undergoing major changes in their configuration rather than to known times of increased spreading rate or volcanism. Evidence is presented here in support of the hypothesis that heightened hydrothermal activity induced by the Eocene tectonic activity caused a global greenhouse effect, which may represent the long-sought-after historical analog to the carbon dioxide-induced global warming expected to occur by the middle of the next century.
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