{"id":394935,"date":"2025-08-13T11:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=394935"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:33:12","slug":"surprise-study-says-late-jurassic-co2-was-1200-ppm-dipped-to-750-ppm-in-the-cretaceous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=394935","title":{"rendered":"Surprise! Study says Late Jurassic CO2 was 1,200 ppm, dipped to 750 ppm in the Cretaceous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Anthony Watts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Press release from University of G\u00f6ttingen<\/a><\/strong>: T-Rex Dinosaur teeth give glimpse of early Earth\u2019s climate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study shows that the late Jurassic atmosphere carried about 1,200 ppm of CO\u2082, about four times the pre industrial 1850 benchmark of 280 ppm. By the late Cretaceous, CO\u2082 it had dipped to near 750 ppm.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A previously untapped source of data sheds new light on the climate of the early Earth: fossilized dinosaur teeth show that the atmosphere during the Mesozoic era, between 252 and 66 million years ago, contained far more carbon dioxide than it does today. An international research team at the Universities of G\u00f6ttingen, Mainz and Bochum made this discovery by analysing oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. They used a newly developed method that opens up opportunities for research into the Earth\u2019s climate history. In addition, the researchers found that total photosynthesis from plants around the world was twice as high as it is today. This probably contributed to the dynamic climate during the time of the dinosaurs. The results were published in the journal PNAS<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team analyzed the enamel of dinosaur teeth found in North America, Africa and Europe dating from the late Jurassic and late Cretaceous periods. Enamel is one of the most stable biological materials. It records different isotopes of oxygen that the dinosaurs inhaled with every breath that they took. The ratio of isotopes in oxygen is affected by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and photosynthesis by plants. This correlation allows researchers to draw conclusions about the climate and vegetation during the age of the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Tooth of a Tyrannosaurus rex \u2013 like the teeth analyzed in this study \u2013 found in Alberta, Canada Photo: Thomas T\u00fctken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago, the air contained around four times as much carbon dioxide as it did before industrialization \u2013 that is, before humans started emitting large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And in the late Cretaceous period, around 73 to 66 million years ago, the level was three times as high as today. Individual teeth from two dinosaurs \u2013 Tyrannosaurus rex and another known as Kaatedocus siberi which is related to Diplodocus \u2013 contained a strikingly unusual composition of oxygen isotopes. This points to CO\u2082 spikes that could be linked to major events such as volcanic eruptions \u2013 for example, the massive eruptions of the Deccan Traps in what is now India, which happened at the end of the Cretaceous period. The fact that plants on land and in water around the world were carrying out more photosynthesis at that time was probably associated with CO\u2082 levels and higher average annual temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study marks a milestone for paleoclimatology: until now, carbonates in the soil and \u201cmarine proxies\u201d were the main tools used to reconstruct the climate of the past. Marine proxies are indicators, such as fossils or chemical signatures in sediments, that help scientists understand environmental conditions in the sea in the past. However, these methods are subject to uncertainty. By analysing oxygen isotopes in tooth fossils, the researchers have now developed the first method that focuses on vertebrates on land. \u201cOur method gives us a completely new view of the Earth\u2019s past,\u201d explains lead author Dr Dingsu Feng at the University of G\u00f6ttingen\u2019s Department of Geochemistry. \u201cIt opens up the possibility of using fossilized tooth enamel to investigate the composition of the early Earth\u2019s atmosphere and the productivity of plants at that time. This is crucial for understanding long-term climate dynamics.\u201d Dinosaurs could be the new climate scientists, according to Feng: \u201cLong ago their teeth recorded the climate for a period of over 150 million years \u2013 finally we are getting the message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and by the VeWA consortium as part of the LOEWE programme of the Hessisches Ministerium f\u00fcr Wissenschaft und Forschung, Kunst und Kultur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original publication<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em> Dingsu Feng, Thomas T\u00fctken, Eva Maria Griebeler, Daniel Herwartz & Andreas Pack. Mesozoic atmospheric CO2<\/sub> concentrations reconstructed from dinosaur tooth enamel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (2025). DOI: <\/em>10.1073\/pnas.2504324122<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press release from University of G\u00f6ttingen:\u00a0T-Rex Dinosaur teeth give glimpse of early Earth\u2019s climate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":394940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Dinosaur Teeth Reveal Ancient Climate Insights: T-Rex CO2 Levels","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691837244,691837247,691837246,691837243],"class_list":["post-394935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-carbon-dioxide-co","tag-fossilized-dinosaur-teeth","tag-german-research-foundation-dfg","tag-late-jurassic-and-late-cretaceous-periods","tag-mesozoic-era"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1EJV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":453390,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=453390","url_meta":{"origin":394935,"position":0},"title":"Forgotten for 40 Years: Antarctica\u2019s First Dinosaur Bone Discovered in a Drawer","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A fossil collected in Antarctica in 1985 was recently identified as the first dinosaur bone ever found on the continent\u2014a tail vertebra from a titanosaur sauropod. 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