A climate threshold for ocean deoxygenation during the Early Cretaceous

Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are historical intervals of global-scale ocean deoxygenation associated with hyperthermal climate states and biological crises1,2. Massive volcanic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions frequently associated with these events are thought to be a common driver of ocean deoxygenation through several climate-warming-related mechanisms1,3,4. The Early Cretaceous OAE1a is one of the most intense ocean deoxygenation events, persisting for more than 1 Myr (refs. 5,6). However, existing records of marine chemistry and climate across OAE1a are insufficient to fully resolve the timing and dynamics of the underlying processes, thus obscuring cause-and-effect relationships between climate forcing and ocean oxygenation states. Here we show that rapid ocean deoxygenation during OAE1a is linked to volcanic CO2 emissions and the crossing of an associated climate threshold, after which the sluggish pace of the silicate-weathering feedback and climate recovery delayed reoxygenation for >1 Myr. At the end of OAE1a, recrossing this threshold allowed for ocean reoxygenation. Following OAE1a, however, the Earth system remained sufficiently warm such that orbitally forced climate dynamics led to continued cyclic ocean deoxygenation on approximately 100-kyr timescales for another 1 Myr. Our results thus imply a tight coupling between volcanism, weathering and ocean oxygen content that is characterized by a climate threshold.