Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the Late Miocene
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Abstract
Arctic warming is happening at nearly four times the global average rate. Long-term trends of permafrost dynamics cannot be estimated directly from monitoring of present-day thaw processes, requiring paleoclimate-proxy information. Here we use cave carbonates (speleothems) from a northern Siberian cave to determine when the Northern Hemisphere was mostly permafrost-free. At present, thick continuous permafrost in this region prevents speleothem growth. In a series of partially eroded caves, speleothems grew during the late Tortonian stage (8.68 ± 0.09 Ma), a time when the geographic position of this site was already similar to today. Paleotemperatures reconstructed from speleothems show that mean annual air temperatures (MAAT) in the region were + 6.6°C to + 11.1°C, when contemporary global MAAT were ~ 4.5 °C higher than modern. Our findings provide direct evidence that warming to Tortonian-like temperatures would leave most of the Northern Hemisphere permafrost-free. This may release up to ~ 130 petagrams of carbon, enhancing further warming.
Suggested Citation
Vaks, A., Mason, A., Breitenbach, S., Giesche, A., Osinzev, A., Adrian, I., Kononov, A., Umbo, S., Lechleitner, F., Rosensaft, M., Henderson, G., 2025, Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the Late Miocene: Nature Communications, v. 16, 5483, 13 p., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60381-5.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the Late Miocene |
| Series title | Nature Communications |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41467-025-60381-5 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Publication Date | July 01, 2025 |
| Year Published | 2025 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Nature |
| Contributing office(s) | Alaska Science Center Geology Minerals |
| Description | 5483, 13 p. |
| Country | China, Mongolia, Russia |
| Other Geospatial | Siberia |