The earth's climate system. Climate archives and proxy records. Models. Tectonics-scale climate change. Plate tectonics and long-term climate. “Greenhouse” climate. From “Greenhouse” to “Icehouse”. The Messinian salinity crisis. Pliocene warmth: are we seeing the future? Orbital-scale climate change. Millennial oscillations of climate. Northern Emisphere glaciation. Historical and future climate change.
Earth’s Climate Past and Future, second edition (2008), William F. Ruddiman, W.H. Freeman and Company New York.
Reconstructing Earth’s Climate History. Inquiry-Based Exercises for Lab and Class. Kristen St John, R Mark Leckie, Kate Pound, Megan Jones and Lawrence Krissek. A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication. (Chapters 1, 5, 13 and 14).
Material included in the lectures (powerpoint, articles) in E-learning.
Learning Objectives
The course provides methodological and scientific knowledge on causes, modalities and time of natural climatic changes on the Earth by the study of the geological record (natural archives) and with respect to the future climatic changes including their impact on the environment
At the end of the course students should be able to:
1. Integrate complex data for summary palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
2. Correlate several biological and physical-chemical data.
3. Understand the applicability and potential of the main palaeoclimatic analyses for future research activities or professional carrers.
Prerequisites
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Teaching Methods
Lectures (with multimedia content integration) and seminarial activities.
Ongoing learning: student-instructor interaction and student-student interaction.
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab: attendance is highly recommended, but not mandatory; attendance is expected at least 2/3 of practical classes and at lab classes as well.
Type of Assessment
Oral test
Course program
NOTE: Updated version.
OVERVIEW ON PALEOCLIMATOLOGY: climate and climate change; the components of the climate system, forcings, responses, feedbacks.
CLIMATE ARCHIVES AND PROXY RECORDS: marine and terrestrial sediments (with focus on loess, travertines, calcareous tufas and speleothems), ice sheets; corals, dinocysts, tree rings, ice cores, phytolites, packrat middens, pollen, isotopes, ... Physical and geochemical models.
TECTONIC SCALE CLIMATE CHANGE: CO2 and long-term climate. Plate-tectonics and long-term climate: Polar Position hypothesis, Tectonic control of CO2 input: BLAG spreading-rate hypothesis. Tectonic control of CO2 removal: Uplift weathering hypothesis.
“GREENHOUSE” CLIMATE: what explains the warmth at 100 Ma? Sea level change and climate. The events at 65Ma e 50 Ma.
FROM GREENHOUSE TO ICEHOUSE: the last 50 Ma (ice and vegetation), oxygen isotopes, Mg/Ca, ...). Paleogeographic changes and cooling effects. (“Gateway Hypothesis”, CO2 changes: BLAG spreading, Uplift).
THE MESSINIAN SALINITY CRISIS: paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes.
PLIOCENE WARMTH: are we seeing the future?
ORBITAL SCALE CLIMATIC CHANGE: orbital parameters (precession, obliquity and eccentricity), orbital-scale interactions, feedbacks. Insolation and its control of Monsoons and Ice sheets.
NORTHERN EMISPHERE GLACIATION: characteristics and possible causes of glaciation during the Cenozoic.
MILLENNIAL OSCILLATIONS OF CLIMATE: examples from Greenland ice cores and Nord Atlantic sedimentary cores. Bond cycle, Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events.
HISTORICAL AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate and human evolution, human impact, historical records, climate changes since 1000. Global warming and future climatic change.