Reconstructing Earth''s Climate History - Inquiry-Based Exercises for Lab and Class

Reconstructing Earth's Climate History
 
There has never been a more critical time for students to understand the record of Earth's climate history, as well as the relevance of that history to understanding Earth's present and likely future climate. There also has never been a more critical time for students, as well as the public-at-large, to understand how we know, as much as what we know, in science. This book addresses these needs by placing you, the student, at the center of learning. In this book, you will actively use inquiry-based explorations of authentic scientific data to develop skills that are essential in all disciplines: making observations, developing and testing hypotheses, reaching conclusions based on the available data, recognizing and acknowledging uncertainty in scientific data and scientific conclusions, and communicating your results to others.
 
The context for understanding global climate change today lies in the records of Earth's past, as preserved in archives such as sediments and sedimentary rocks on land and on the seafloor, as well as glacial ice, corals, speleothems, and tree rings. These archives have been studied for decades by geoscientists and paleoclimatologists. Much like detectives, these researchers work to reconstruct what happened in the past, as well as when and how it happened, based on the often-incomplete and indirect records of those events preserved in these archives. This book uses guided-inquiry to build your knowledge of foundational concepts needed to interpret such archives. Foundational concepts include: interpreting the environmental meaning of sediment composition, determining ages of geologic materials and events (supported by a new section on radiometric dating), and understanding the role of CO2 in Earth's climate system, among others. Next, this book provides the opportunity for you to apply your foundational knowledge to a collection of paleoclimate case studies. The case studies consider: long-term climate trends, climate cycles, major and/or abrupt episodes of global climate change, and polar paleoclimates. New sections on sea level change in the past and future, climate change and life, and climate change and civilization expand the book's examination of the causes and effects of Earth's climate history.
 
In using this book, we hope you gain new knowledge, new skills, and greater confidence in making sense of the causes and consequences of climate change. Our goal is that science becomes more accessible to you. Enjoy the challenge and the reward of working with scientific data and results!
 
Reconstructing Earth's Climate History, Second Edition, is an essential purchase for geoscience students at a variety of levels studying paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, oceanography, historical geology, global change, Quaternary science and Earth-system science.

List of contents

The Authors viii
 
Foreword from First Edition x
 
Acknowledgments xi
 
Book Introduction to the Second Edition for Students and Instructors xii
 
About the Companion Website xvii
 
1 Chapter 1. Introduction to Paleoclimate Records
 
3 Part 1.1. Archives and Proxies
 
13 Part 1.2. Obtaining Cores from Terrestrial and Marine Paleoclimate Archives
 
27 Part 1.3. Owens Lake - An Introductory Case Study of Paleoclimate Reconstruction
 
31 Chapter 2. Seafloor Sediments
 
33 Part 2.1. Sediment Predictions
 
34 Part 2.2. Core Observation and Description
 
41 Part 2.3. Sediment Composition
 
52 Part 2.4. Seafloor Sediment Synthesis
 
57 Chapter 3. Geologic Time and Geochronology
 
59 Part 3.1. The Geologic Timescale
 
62 Part 3.2. Principles of Stratigraphy and Determining Relative Ages
 
64 Part 3.3. Radiometric Age Dating Fundamentals
 
69 Part 3.4. Using 40K - 40Ar Dating to Determine the Numerical Ages of Layered Volcanic Rocks
 
76 Part 3.5. Using Uranium Series Dating to Determine Changes in Growth Rate of Speleothems
 
89 Chapter 4. Paleomagnetism and Magnetostratigraphy
 
91 Part 4.1. Earth's Magnetic Field Today and the Paleomagnetic Record of Deep-Sea Sediments
 
100 Part 4.2. History of Discovery: Paleomagnetism in Ocean Crust and Marine Sediments
 
108 Part 4.3. Using Paleomagnetism to Test the Seafloor Spreading Hypothesis
 
114 Part 4.4. The Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale
 
119 Chapter 5. Microfossils and Biostratigraphy
 
121 Part 5.1. What Are Microfossils? Why Are They Important in Climate Change Science?
 
130 Part 5.2. Microfossils in Deep-Sea Sediments
 
137 Part 5.3. Application of Microfossil First and Last Occurrences
 
144 Part 5.4. Using Microfossil Datums to Calculate Sedimentation Rates
 
149 Part 5.5. How Reliable Are Microfossil Datums?
 
156 Part 5.6. Organic-Walled Microfossils: Marine Dinoflagellates and Terrestrial Pollen and Spores
 
165 Chapter 6. CO2 as a Climate Regulator During the Phanerozoic and Today
 
167 Part 6.1. The Short-Term Global Carbon Cycle
 
169 Part 6.2. CO2 and Temperature
 
179 Part 6.3. Recent Changes in CO2
 
183 Part 6.4. The Long-Term Global Carbon Cycle, CO2, and Phanerozoic Climate History
 
191 Part 6.5. Carbon Isotopes as a Tool for Tracking Changes in the Carbon Cycle
 
200 Chapter 7. Oxygen Isotopes as Proxies of Climate Change
 
202 Part 7.1. Introduction to Oxygen Isotope Records from Ice and Ocean Sediments
 
205 Part 7.2. The Hydrologic Cycle and Isotopic Fractionation
 
209 Part 7.3. delta18O in Meteoric Water and Glacial Ice
 
218 Part 7.4. delta18O in Marine Sediments
 
226 Chapter 8. Climate Cycles
 
228 Part 8.1. Patterns and Periodicities
 
245 Part 8.2. Orbital Metronome
 
250 Part 8.3. Glacial-Interglacial Periods and Modern Climate Change
 
255 Chapter 9. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) Event
 
257 Part 9.1. An Important Discovery
 
260 Part 9.2. Global Consequences of the PETM
 
296 Part 9.3. Two Hypotheses for the Cause of the PETM
 
299 Part 9.4. Rates of Onset and Duration of Event
 
306 Part 9.5. Global Warming Today and Lessons from the PETM
 
314 Chapter 10. Glaciation of Antarctica: The Oi1 Event
 
316 Part 10.1. Initial Evidence
 
321 Part 10.2. Evidence for Global Change
 
342 Part 10.3. Mountain Building, Weathering, CO2 and Climate
 
349 Part 10.4. Legacy of the Oi1 Event: The Development of the Psychrosphere
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About the author

About the Authors Dr Kristen St. John is a Professor of Geology at James Madison University. Dr R. Mark Leckie is a Professor of Geology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Dr Kate Pound is a Professor of Geology and a member of the Science Education Group at St. Cloud State University. Dr Megan Jones is a Professor of Geology at North Hennepin Community College. Dr Lawrence Krissek is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University.

Summary

Reconstructing Earth's Climate History

There has never been a more critical time for students to understand the record of Earth's climate history, as well as the relevance of that history to understanding Earth's present and likely future climate. There also has never been a more critical time for students, as well as the public-at-large, to understand how we know, as much as what we know, in science. This book addresses these needs by placing you, the student, at the center of learning. In this book, you will actively use inquiry-based explorations of authentic scientific data to develop skills that are essential in all disciplines: making observations, developing and testing hypotheses, reaching conclusions based on the available data, recognizing and acknowledging uncertainty in scientific data and scientific conclusions, and communicating your results to others.

The context for understanding global climate change today lies in the records of Earth's past, as preserved in archives such as sediments and sedimentary rocks on land and on the seafloor, as well as glacial ice, corals, speleothems, and tree rings. These archives have been studied for decades by geoscientists and paleoclimatologists. Much like detectives, these researchers work to reconstruct what happened in the past, as well as when and how it happened, based on the often-incomplete and indirect records of those events preserved in these archives. This book uses guided-inquiry to build your knowledge of foundational concepts needed to interpret such archives. Foundational concepts include: interpreting the environmental meaning of sediment composition, determining ages of geologic materials and events (supported by a new section on radiometric dating), and understanding the role of CO2 in Earth's climate system, among others. Next, this book provides the opportunity for you to apply your foundational knowledge to a collection of paleoclimate case studies. The case studies consider: long-term climate trends, climate cycles, major and/or abrupt episodes of global climate change, and polar paleoclimates. New sections on sea level change in the past and future, climate change and life, and climate change and civilization expand the book's examination of the causes and effects of Earth's climate history.

In using this book, we hope you gain new knowledge, new skills, and greater confidence in making sense of the causes and consequences of climate change. Our goal is that science becomes more accessible to you. Enjoy the challenge and the reward of working with scientific data and results!

Reconstructing Earth's Climate History, Second Edition, is an essential purchase for geoscience students at a variety of levels studying paleoclimatology, paleoceanography, oceanography, historical geology, global change, Quaternary science and Earth-system science.

Product details

• Authors: Megan Jones, Jones Megan, Lawrence Krissek, Krissek Lawrence, R Mar Leckie, R Mark Leckie, R. Mark Leckie, Leckie R. Mark, Kate Pound, Kate et al Pound, Pound Kate, Kriste St John, Kristen St John, K St. John, Kristen St. John, Kristen (James Madison University) Lecki St. John, Kristen Leckie St. John, St. John Kristen
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.02.2021
• EAN: 9781119544111
• ISBN: 978-1-119-54411-1
• No. of pages: 560
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences; Geowissenschaften, Klimatologie, Ozeanographie, Earth Sciences, Quaternary Science & Glaciology, Quartärforschung, Glaziologie, Oceanography & Paleoceanography, Ozeanographie u. Paläozeanographie, Climatology & Palaeoclimatology, Klimatologie u. Paläoklimatologie, Quartärforschung