OLSEN, Paul E., Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964.

Much recent work points to chemical weathering of continental silicates as the principal control of atmospheric CO₂. Presently, chemical weathering is mediated by plants. Vascular plants increase chemical weathering by drastically increasing acid leaching through respiration, decay, and microbial symbionts. Through the Phanerozoic the continuing evolution of terrestrial plant communities must have had a major effect on weathering rates. However, the efficacy of plant-induced-weathering is decreased by herbivory, which in turn decreases the invasion of soil by roots and leads to increased physical weathering. There is a dramatic correlation between the appearance of major plant trophic, reproductive, and defensive innovations, increased terrestrial organic carbon burial, and the onset of "ice house" conditions (presumably caused by decreased CO₂). Conversely, there is also a correlation between the appearance of major herbivore inroads on terrestrial plants and global "hot house" conditions presumably resulting from higher CO₂. I propose that the major "ice house"--"hot house" cycles of the Devonian-Quaternary were caused by the lag between plant innovations and complete compensation by herbivore-detritivore response. In this way, it seems possible that: 1) the Carboniferous coals are a consequence of limited herbivory and soil litter decomposition and the Permo-Carboniferous glaciations were caused by dramatically increased chemical weathering caused by the previous global spread of vascular plants; 2) the Mesozoic "hot house" was brought on by massive increases in megaherbivores and litter decomposers; and 3) Cenozoic cooling and Quaternary glaciations resulted from the spread of herbaceous angiosperms and most recently grasslands. Our own superherbivory, if continued for tens of millions of years, will bring us back to mid-Mesozoic "hot house" conditions, not by the burning of fossil fuels, but rather by a global increase in physical over chemical weathering.
 
 

Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 25, no. 3, p 71