Weathering History and Cenozoic Landscape Evolution in Northern Queensland and New Caledonia. Rates of rock weathering impose a major control on the CO2 global budget. Increased weathering rates consume atmospheric CO2, possibly resulting in cooler climates. We intend to determine rock weathering rates on similar lithologies currently placed on equatorial positions, Northeastern Australia and New Caledonia, but possibly differing in climatic history. Geochronology of continental weathering prof ....Weathering History and Cenozoic Landscape Evolution in Northern Queensland and New Caledonia. Rates of rock weathering impose a major control on the CO2 global budget. Increased weathering rates consume atmospheric CO2, possibly resulting in cooler climates. We intend to determine rock weathering rates on similar lithologies currently placed on equatorial positions, Northeastern Australia and New Caledonia, but possibly differing in climatic history. Geochronology of continental weathering profiles in the areas will permit correlating known paleoclimatic cycles, derived from the isotopic composition of ocean floor sediments, with the variation in continental weathering rates. This comparison will test current models proposing that cooling of Cenozoic climates results from increase rates of rock weathering.Read moreRead less