Weathering of rocks by mosses may explain climate effects during the Late Ordovician
Thursday, July 7, 2016 - 10:11
in Earth & Climate
During the Ordovician period, the concentration of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere was about eight times higher than today. It has been hard to explain why the climate cooled and why the Ordovician glaciations took place. A new study, published in Nature Communications, shows that the weathering of rock caused by early non-vascular plants had the potential to cause such a global cooling effect.