Exploring Neoproterozoic climate and biogeochemical evolution in the SCION model

Mills, Benjamin J.W., le Hir, Guillaume, Merdith, Andrew, Gurung, Khushboo, Bowyer, Fred T., Krause, Alexander J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9771-8101, Sanchez-Baracaldo, Patricia, Hunter, Stephen J. and Zhang, Yinggang 2025. Exploring Neoproterozoic climate and biogeochemical evolution in the SCION model. Global and Planetary Change 249 , 104791. 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2025.104791

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Abstract

The Neoproterozoic Era (1000–539 Ma) saw extreme changes in climate and biogeochemical cycles, but the drivers of these changes remain poorly understood. In this paper, we extend the Spatial Continuous Integration (SCION) global climate-biogeochemical model beyond the Phanerozoic and into the Neoproterozoic using a set of GCM simulations to update the model's climate emulator and a plate tectonic model to estimate tectonic input fluxes. We use the model to explore to what degree changes in paleogeography and degassing rates—which are key drivers of Phanerozoic climate—can explain the broad pattern of Neoproterozoic environmental change. We find that while the known Neoproterozoic climate changes are generally within the model uncertainty envelope, and the model predicts cooling between the later Tonian and Earliest Cryogenian, we do not reproduce a clear greenhouse to icehouse transition here, or any long-term increases in atmospheric oxygen levels before the Ediacaran. Several key model limitations currently prevent it from testing these ideas in more detail and should be improved in future work. These include: dynamic continental lithology, climate simulations which include dynamic continental ice sheets, a more comprehensive estimate of degassing rates, a better representation of the evolution of primary producer groups (i.e. planktonic cyanobacteria and green algae) and the spatial structure of marine biogeochemistry, and a dynamic calcium cycle. We anticipate that these can all be tested in the future within the SCION framework.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0921-8181
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 April 2025
Date of Acceptance:	9 March 2025
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2025 09:46
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/177621

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