The emission of carbon dioxide in low latitudes could not permanently exceed the absorption in high latitudes. After the present type of circulation was finally established, which might take tens of thousands of years, the two would gradually become equal. Then the conditions which originally caused the oceanic circulation to be reversed would again destroy the balance; the atmospheric carbon dioxide would be depleted; the air would grow cooler; and the cycle of glaciation would be repeated. Each cycle would be shorter than the last, for not only would the swings diminish like those of a pendulum, but the agencies that were causing the main depletion of the atmospheric carbon dioxide would diminish in intensity. Finally as the lands became lower through erosion and submergence, and as the processes of weathering became correspondingly slow, the air would gradually be able to accumulate carbon dioxide; the temperature would increase; and at length the oceanic circulation would be
reversed again. When the warm saline waters of low latitudes finally began to sink and to set up a flow of warm water poleward in the depths of the ocean, a glacial period would definitely come to an end.
This hypothesis has been so skillfully elaborated, and contains so many important elements that one can scarcely study it without profound admiration. We believe that it is of the utmost value as a step toward the truth, and especially because it emphasizes the great function of oceanic circulation. Nevertheless, we are unable to accept it in full for several reasons, which may here be stated very briefly. Most of them will be discussed fully in later pages.
(1) While a reversal of the deep-sea circulation would undoubtedly be of great climatic importance and would produce a warm climate in high latitudes, we see no direct evidence of such a reversal. It is equally true that there is no conclusive evidence against it, and the possibility of a reversal must not be overlooked. There seem, however, to be other modifications of atmospheric and oceanic circulation which are able to produce the observed results.
(2) There is much, and we believe conclusive, evidence that a mere lowering of temperature would not produce glaciation. What seems to be needed is changes in atmospheric circulation and in precipitation. The carbon dioxide hypothesis has not been nearly so fully developed on the meteorological side as in other respects.
(3) The carbon dioxide hypothesis seems to demand that the oceans should have been almost as saline as now in the Proterozoic era at the time of the first known glaciation. Chamberlin holds that such was the case, but the constant supply of saline material brought to the ocean by rivers and the relatively small deposition of
such material on the sea floor seem to indicate that the early oceans must have been much fresher than those of today.
(4) The carbon dioxide hypothesis does not attempt to explain minor climatic fluctuations such as post-glacial stages and historic pulsations, but these appear to be of the same nature as glacial epochs, differing only in degree.
(5) Another reason for hesitation in accepting the carbon dioxide hypothesis as a full explanation of glacial fluctuations is the highly complex and non-observational character of the explanation of the alternation of glacial and inter-glacial epochs and of their constantly decreasing length.
(6) Most important of all, a study of the variations of weather and of climate as they are disclosed by present records and by the historic past suggests that there are now in action certain other causes which are competent to explain glaciation without recourse to a process whose action is beyond the realm of observation.