Trans-Atlantic correlation of eruptive sequences and individual silicic volcanic units within the Paraná-Etendeka igneous province

The Mesozoic volcanic rocks of the Serra Geral Formation in the Paraná Basin, South America, and of the Etendeka Group in northwestern Namibia were erupted shortly before the opening of the South Atlantic. The major widespread silicic volcanic units in the Etendeka Group are interpreted as rheoignimbrites (Milner et al., 1992) and are interbedded with tholeiitic basalts and basaltic andesites.The southern portion of the Etendeka Group is subdivided into a basal Awahab Formation which is overlain disconformably by the Tafelberg Formation. Both formations contain silicic and mafic units. Bulk composition, initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios, phenocryst assemblages and mineral compositions are used to correlate silicic units of the Awahab Formation with the basal units of the Palmas silicic volcanic rocks in the southern Paraná Basin. Silicic units of the Tafelberg Formation can similarly be correlated with silicic units in the upper portion of the Palmas succession, which are also disconformable on the units below them. Not all silicic units in these successions are present in both the Etendeka and Paraná areas, but where correlation of individual units is possible, then this is found to be consistent with the overall stratigraphic sequence.Silicic units in the Awahab Formation were erupted from the Messum Igneous Complex in Namibia and their correlation into Brazil indicates that individual eruptive units must have travelled over 340 km from their source. Serial changes in the composition of silicic units in the Awahab Formation and their correlatives indicates that they were erupted from a single magma system from which a total of ˜ 8600 km³ of material was erupted.     

Is public awareness and perceived threat of climate change associated with governmental mitigation targets?

Social scientists and science communicators are concerned about the apparent discrepancy between the scientific consensus on climate change (Anderegg et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:12107–12109, 2010; Doran and Zimmerman EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 90:22–3, 2009) and the general public’s views (Knight Environ Sociol 2:101–113, 2016; Lee et al. Nat Clim Chang 5:1014–1020, 2015). It is reasoned that increased public awareness and perceived threat of climate change may pressure governments to enact policy to counteract climate change (e.g. setting stringent carbon emissions targets). Despite a logical link between public awareness and government-set emissions targets, this relationship remains untested. We examined the relationship between public awareness about and perceived threat of climate change and governmental emissions targets across 71 countries and 1 region. We found a positive association between the proportions of a country’s population that are aware of climate change and the unconditional emissions reduction targets set by that country in the Paris Agreement (Rogelj et al. Nature 534:631–639, 2016). However, the proportion of people in a country who perceive climate change as a personal threat was not associated with higher emissions reduction targets. Our results suggest that public awareness may be an important part of garnering the public support required for policies designed to mitigate climate change to succeed.     

Non-uniform interhemispheric temperature trends over the past 550 years

The warming trend over the last century in the northern hemisphere (NH) was interrupted by cooling from ad 1940 to 1975, a period during which the southern hemisphere experienced pronounced warming. The cause of these departures from steady warming at multidecadal timescales are unclear; the prevailing explanation is that they are driven by non-uniformity in external forcings but recent models suggest internal climate drivers may play a key role. Paleoclimate datasets can help provide a long-term perspective. Here we use tree-rings to reconstruct New Zealand mean annual temperature over the last 550 years and demonstrate that this has frequently cycled out-of-phase with NH mean annual temperature at a periodicity of around 30–60 years. Hence, observed multidecadal fluctuations around the recent warming trend have precedents in the past, strongly implicating natural climate variation as their cause. We consider the implications of these changes in understanding and modelling future climate change.     

Reconstruction of New Zealand Temperatures Back to AD 1720 Using Libocedrus bidwillii Tree-Rings

The longest chronology from New Zealand so faris from Libocedrus bidwillii Hook. f. (i.e.,from AD 1992 back to AD 1140, a span of 853 years). A subset of 11 chronologies was selected from anetwork of 23 sites to reconstruct past temperaturesbased on the similarity of significant responsefunctions. A comparison of climate data overdifferent seasons with these 11 chronologies wascarried out using a bootstrap transfer function. Average late-summer (February–March) temperature wasselected for reconstruction based on independentverification results. The reconstructed temperaturewas then presented for the period back to AD 1720. The chronologies reconstructed years experiencing hotsummers better than cold summers. The power spectrumof the reconstructed temperatures showed periodicitiessimilar to those of the observed temperatures. Reconstructed temperatures were significantlycorrelated with other proxy climate reconstructionsderived from tree rings in New Zealand. However,unlike the other tree ring-based reconstructions, theLibocedrus bidwillii series reconstructed boththe 1950s and 1970s warming periods. The resultsalso compared very favourably with other palaeoclimateevidence.