Articles | Volume 18, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4475-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4475-2026
Data description article
 | 
02 Jul 2026
Data description article |  | 02 Jul 2026

Paleozoic–Mesozoic terrestrial total organic carbon and organic carbon isotope database

Yaokai Tian, Daoliang Chu, Jiankang Lai, Xiang Shu, Cidong Zhang, Fangyu Cui, Liangyu Lou, Xiaokang Liu, Yuyang Wu, Qingzhong Liang, Xinchuan Li, Hong Yao, and Haijun Song

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Cited articles

Ahm, A.-S. and Husson, J. M.: Local and global controls on carbon isotope chemostratigraphy, Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009028882, 2022. 
Akande, W. G.: Evaluation of hydrocarbon generation potential of the Mesozoic organic-rich rocks using TOC content and Rock-Eval pyrolysis techniques, Geosciences, 2, 164–169, https://doi.org/10.5923/j.geo.20120206.03, 2012. 
Algeo, T. J. and Scheckler, S. E.: Terrestrial-marine teleconnections in the Devonian: links between the evolution of land plants, weathering processes, and marine anoxic events, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. Lond. Ser. B, 353, 113–130, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1998.0194, 1998. 
Ansari, A. H., Pandey, S. K., Ahmad, S., Sharma, M., Govil, P., Chaddha, A. S., and Sharma, A.: High primary productivity in an Ediacaran shallow marine basin influenced by strong seasonal to perennial upwelling, Geol. Mag., 160, 1607–1623, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756823000614, 2023. 
Bauska, T. K., Joos, F., Mix, A. C., Roth, R., Ahn, J., and Brook, E. J.: Links between atmospheric carbon dioxide, the land carbon reservoir and climate over the past millennium, Nat. Geosci., 8, 383–387, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2422, 2015. 
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Understanding how carbon moved through ancient environments helps reconstruct past climates and predict future trends. We compiled a global database of total organic carbon and organic carbon isotope measurements from ancient land sediments spanning 350 million years. This collection of over 66 000 data points from 619 publications provides a unified resource to study carbon accumulation on ancient continents, climate shifts, and how these changes influenced life on Earth.
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