ABSTRACT

The Middle Miocene Climate Transition (14 Ma) followed the Miocene Climate Optimum(16.8-14.7 Ma). It caused drastic global cooling and cryosphere advance and retreat, turning Antarctica from a tundra to a polar desert climate. In this paper, the factors of the important ice sheet expansion in Antarctica during MMCT are explored based on published literature. The papers investigated mainly used stable isotopic information and modelling to determine the factors. The geochemical proxies from the Southern Ocean indicate that temperature,reorganization of water, orbital force, heat/moisture, pCO2 concentrations, and climate feedbacks are all reasons for the expansion. One modelling paper uses the observational information to simulate the ice sheet and thus estimate the threshold of glaciation and deglaciation pCO2_. While the Southern Ocean evidence suggested some atmospheric, oceanic and orbital factors, the modelling furthered the discussion and provided numerical support.  

Keywords: MMCT, pCO2,MCO 

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