Global CO2 cycle and it's impacts on the world's oceans

Last semester USD hosted distinguished professor Barbel Honish from Columbia University, and those fortunate enough to attend her presentation overheard her speak about the wide variety of examples imprinting the geologic record, showing natural perturbations to both global carbon cycling and climate change. Elevated atmospheric CO2, global warming, and ocean acidification over the past ~300 million years of Earth's history were a couple of the prime events that were covered in her discussion, and which can be found in great detail in her article. The majority of Honish's research pertains directly to the chemistry of the world's oceans, in particular ocean acidification, by which she studies both calcareous and organic fossil lineages, leading her to assess the affects of increased carbon dioxide uptake by the world's oceans. The image below displays the carbon cycle and it's interplay with the oceans, along with processes leading to ocean acidification, and anthropogenic perturbations. In her article, Honish explains how global carbon cycle models can be used to infer the magnitude of carbon release through the observations of changes in calcium carbonates and organic remnants, in addition to the analysis of arctic ice cores. Lastly, Honish states that the current rate of fossil fuel carbon dioxide release is capable of driving ocean geochemical changes potentially unparallel to those of the past 300 million years of Earth's history, and in turn, we might be entering unknown territory in regards to marine ecosystem change.