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I’m not convinced from what is presented here, but note that it is saying a drop in CO2 precedes mass extinction. By implication, CO2 is good. Well, of course CO2 is good. It is one of the absolutely essential ingredients of life!

Watts Up With That?

From the UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA:

Paleoclimate researchers find connection between carbon cycles, climate trends
Carbon cycling research can help scientists predict global warming and cooling trends

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Making predictions about climate variability often means looking to the past to find trends. Now paleoclimate researchers from the University of Missouri have found clues in exposed bedrock alongside an Alabama highway that could help forecast climate variability. In their study, the researchers verified evidence suggesting carbon dioxide decreased significantly at the end of the Ordovician Period, 450 million years ago, preceding an ice age and eventual mass extinction. These results will help climatologists better predict future environmental changes.

A comparison of δ13Ccarb trends and the GICE from Iowa (Ludvigson et al., 2000), Missouri (Metzger and Fike, 2013), Oklahoma (Young et al., 2005), Alabama (this study), West Virginia (Young et al., 2005), and Pennsylvania (Patzkowsky et al., 1997) [note: carbon isotopic trends from Iowa, Missouri, and Alabama are plotted on the same vertical scale while δ13Ccarb trends from Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania are plotted on a different vertical scale]. The Deicke and Millbrig K-bentonite beds are identified in the sections from Iowa (Ludvigson et al., 2000), West Virginia (Sell et al., 2015), and Pennsylvania (Sell et al., 2015) and tentatively identified in the Oklahoma section (Bergström et al., 2010). A map of the eastern United States indicates study locations and lithofacies distribution during deposition of the Deicke and Millbrig K-bentonites (modified from Holmden et al., 1998 and Panchuk et al., 2006). Red dashed lines indicate boundaries between the three aquafacies identified by Holmden et al. (1998). Bulk carbonate δ13Ccarb values for the Midcontinent aquafacies, Taconic aquafacies, and Southern aquafacies range from -2‰ to + 1.5‰, 0‰ to + 3‰, and 0‰ to + 3‰ respectively (Holmden et al., 1998 and Panchuk et al., 2006). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Figue 7 A comparison of δ13Ccarb trends and the GICE from Iowa (Ludvigson et al., 2000), Missouri (Metzger and Fike, 2013), Oklahoma (Young et al., 2005), Alabama (this study), West Virginia (Young et al., 2005), and Pennsylvania (Patzkowsky et al., 1997) [note:…

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