LARAMIE, Wyo., April 14 -- The University of Wyoming issued the following news release:
Mark Clementz, a professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Geology and
Geophysics, and colleagues have produced a compelling study that shows that an increase
in volcanic activity in the Andes in the Late Miocene Epoch likely resulted in a cooling
of the Earth between 5.4 million and 7 million years ago.
The volcanic activity produced a biological boom in the Southern Ocean, which led
to a drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide that resulted in global cooling, Clementz
and co-authors concluded. Their findings are in a new article, titled "Andean volcanism,
ocean fertilization, marine ecosystem turnover, and global cooling in the Late Miocene...