Algal δ13C reveals climate changes during the Cambrian Explosion
Chao Chang, Mingyu Zhao, Pengcheng Ju, Dongjing Fu, Ruiyun Li, Junfeng Guo, Kangjun Huang, Mingkun Wang, Linhao Cui, Yuning Yang, Mengyin Wu, Elena Yu Golubkova, Dmitrii V Grazhdankin, Robert R Gaines, Xingliang Zhang · 2026
Read Algal δ13C reveals climate changes during the Cambrian Explosion by Chao Chang, Mingyu Zhao, Pengcheng Ju, Dongjing Fu, Ruiyun Li, Junfeng Guo, Kangjun Huang, Mingkun Wang, Linhao Cui, Yuning Yang, Mengyin Wu, Elena Yu Golubkova, Dmitrii V Grazhdankin, Robert R Gaines, Xingliang Zhang (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13438615.txt.
Description
Chao Chang and a large team read ancient air from algae fossils to reconstruct carbon dioxide levels during the Cambrian Explosion. Air carbon dioxide steers climate, yet its level through that burst was poorly pinned. Their 2026 study measured carbon isotope ratios in algal remains from eight deposits spanning the Ediacaran to Cambrian changeover, roughly 553 to 508 million years ago. A model of the Earth system converted the ratios into air values.
The curve rose first, roughly tripling to a peak the authors class as a hyper-greenhouse state around 529 million years ago. It then ebbed in two steps over the next twenty million years. Strontium isotope shifts in the sea moved in step, fitting a story of tectonic forces and mountain weathering driving the carbon cycle. A three-act climate would have warmed and reworked the oceans just as animals were inventing shells, limbs, and eyes.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Chao Chang, Mingyu Zhao, Pengcheng Ju, Dongjing Fu, Ruiyun Li, Junfeng Guo, Kangjun Huang, Mingkun Wang, Linhao Cui, Yuning Yang, Mengyin Wu, Elena Yu Golubkova, Dmitrii V Grazhdankin, Robert R Gaines, Xingliang Zhang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 35962 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |