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Seafloor rocks along the Pacific edge of South America preserve both the fallout from those eruptions and signs of unusually productive ocean water.<\/p>\n
Working through those layered deposits, Mark T. Clementz at the University of Wyoming<\/a> linked repeated volcanic bursts offshore to the nutrient delivery described in the study.<\/p>\n The same interval that saw volcanic activity intensify around 7 million years ago also records a drop in atmospheric carbon.<\/p>\n That overlap points to a powerful connection, but it also leaves the article\u2019s next question in place: how ash turned a regional eruption pattern into a broader climate effect.<\/p>\n Productivity in the Southern Ocean <\/p>\n Volcanic ash carries key nutrients that help ocean plant life grow when surface waters run low. Much of the Southern Ocean<\/a> is iron-limited, meaning plant life stalls even when other nutrients remain available.<\/p>\n Fresh ash changed that bottleneck because even brief nutrient pulses can trigger rapid growth across cold, nutrient-rich waters.<\/p>\n The team investigated where the extra carbon went and whether it stayed buried. The strongest response was found in diatoms, single-celled algae with glassy shells, thriving when ash adds iron and silicon.<\/p>\n As blooms expanded, photosynthesis pulled carbon dioxide from surface water, and sinking organic matter carried some of that carbon downward.<\/p>\n Simulations showed that diatom chlorophyll more than doubled after ash pulses, matching productivity spikes seen in Southern Ocean records.<\/p>\n Cooling follows that response only when living material sinks deep enough to stay stored for years.<\/p>\n Whales got bigger<\/p>\n Whale evolution changed during the same stretch of time, with baleen species<\/a> trending toward much larger bodies as oceans reorganized.<\/p>\n In the study\u2019s fossil synthesis, median whale length rose from roughly 16 feet to 39 feet as smaller forms disappeared.<\/p>\n Cerro Ballena in northern Chile preserves repeated marine strandings<\/a> that researchers linked to harmful algal blooms, toxic outbreaks that kill animals.<\/p>\n Through feces and sinking carcasses, whales likely amplified the carbon story, although the new climate models did not include that feedback.<\/p>\n Far-reaching impacts of ash<\/p>\n To test whether the overlap reflected a real cause-and-effect link, the team combined fossils, chemical evidence, wind patterns, and global climate simulations.<\/p>\n Modern wind patterns matter because they show where ash travels, and most plumes move east across the South Atlantic.<\/p>\n Some material also fell near Chile\u2019s coast, but the broadest fertilizing signal reached waters circling Antarctica and beyond.<\/p>\n A local ash cloud could disturb one coast, but a wider plume can influence how the ocean<\/a> absorbs and stores carbon far beyond it.<\/p>\n The response of marine life <\/p>\n When researchers added four ash pulses across 300 years, marine life responded within the first two years after each blast.<\/p>\n Cold southern waters showed a surge in microscopic plant growth, and the ocean pulled in more carbon dioxide from the air.<\/p>\n Across one 75-year volcanic cycle, the extra drawdown reached about 0.66 parts per million in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n Still, those gains were modest on their own, but repetition let the effect stack instead of fading away.<\/p>\n Frequent eruptions were key<\/p>\n Longer simulations stretched the story to 20,000 years and showed why frequent eruptions matter more than single blasts.<\/p>\n Fresh nutrients vanish fast as particles sink or get buried, so another ash pulse has to arrive before recovery finishes.<\/p>\n When these eruptions kept happening, carbon dioxide in the air dropped by a small but measurable amount.<\/p>\n During especially violent intervals around 8.4 million years ago, some eruptive bursts may have been 12 times stronger than the average scenario tested.<\/p>\n What models may miss<\/p>\n Not every part of the chain fit neatly inside a model, and the authors flagged important uncertainties.<\/p>\n They used conservative values for ash nutrients, which guards against overstatement but may underplay the strongest eruptions.<\/p>\n Injection height, ash<\/a> chemistry, and the ocean\u2019s slower circulation can all change how long extra carbon stays buried.<\/p>\n Whale-driven recycling also sat outside the main simulations, so the real marine feedback may have been larger or messier.<\/p>\n Implications for Earth\u2019s climate <\/p>\n The finding does not offer a fix for modern warming, because volcanoes bring destruction and today\u2019s climate is driven by human emissions.<\/p>\n Instead, it shows how small nutrient changes cascade through food webs and alter how much carbon the ocean stores.<\/p>\n \u201cThis work improves our understanding of how natural processes can regulate Earth\u2019s climate, which is directly relevant to anticipating future climate change and its impacts on society,\u201d said\u00a0 Clementz.<\/p>\n By linking volcanic activity to surges in ocean life and the removal of carbon<\/a> dioxide from the air, the study clarifies how these processes can shape Earth\u2019s climate over long periods.<\/p>\n From seafloor ash layers to long climate runs, the evidence points to eruptions feeding life and life cooling the climate.<\/p>\n Researchers will now need tighter records of eruption timing, ash chemistry, and ocean response to judge that planetary effect more precisely.<\/p>\n The study is published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read?\u00a0Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on\u00a0EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by\u00a0Eric Ralls<\/a>\u00a0and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eruptions in the Andes, a long volcanic mountain chain along South America\u2019s western edge, likely helped cool 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