YSB 617E - Paleoclimatology

Course Objectives

1. Nature of climate changes and paleoclimate variations;
2. Ice cores, dating ice cores; paleoclimate reconstructions from ice cores;
3. Oxygen isotopes stratigraphy, Sea-level change and Oxygen-18;
4. Glaciations and paleoclimate reconstructions;
5. Lake-level fluctuations;

Course Description

Paleoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses a variety of proxy methods from the Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within rocks, sediments, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells and microfossils; it then uses these records to determine the past states of the Earth's various climate regions and its atmospheric system. Studies of past changes in the environment and biodiversity often reflect on the current situation, and specifically the impact of climate on mass extinctions and biotic recovery.