Coupled Models of Geochemical Cycles and Climate

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Coupled Models of Geochemical Cycles and Climate Global models of climate and geochemistry must be integrated in order to understand geochemical cycles. Operated independently, these models have made concordant predictions of paleoenvironmental conditions. Yet in nature, the are dynamically coupled. Climate is a function of the CO2 content of the atmosphere, which is controlled over millions of years by the balance of production during the decarbonation of sedimentary rocks and consumption during crustal weathering. Weathering rates, on the other hand, are dependent on temperature and rainfall. The modelling will address the nature and impact of this coupling. The first year will study the effect of climate on chemical weathering rates. In the second year a weathering rate subroutine will be integrated with the climate model, a equilibrium CO2 pressure calculated, with the objective of analyzing the importance of feedbacks and relationships between climate, weathering, and atmospheric CO2.