BIOMARKER-BASED SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTIONS DURING THE MID-MIOCENE CLIMATIC OPTIMUM
Studying the warm periods in geological history is essential to reveal the mechanism of natural variation and response process in climate system. Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO, 17-14.5 Ma) is a global warming episode in Cenozoic climate evolution however related research focused on this time interval is very limited. In this study, we reconstructed biomarker-based sea surface temperature (SST) records from 4 sites in both northern and southern hemisphere, with an attempt to provide some kind of insight into the mechanism of MMCO climate change inferred from zonal and meridional SST gradients between our records and other published results.