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

The context for understanding global climate change today lies in the records of Earth’s past. This is demonstrated by decades of paleoclimate research by scientists in organizations such as the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL), and many others.

The purpose of this full colour textbook is to put key data and published case studies of past climate change at your fingertips, so that you can experience the nature of paleoclimate reconstruction.

Using foundational geologic concepts, students explore a wide variety of topics, including:  marine sediments, age determination, stable isotope paleoclimate proxies, Cenozoic climate change, climate cycles, polar climates, and abrupt warming and cooling events, students are invited to evaluate published scientific data, practice developing and testing hypotheses, and infer the broader implications of scientific results.

It is our philosophy that addressing how we know is as important as addressing what we know about past climate change. Making climate change science accessible is the goal of this book.

This book is intended for earth science students at a variety of levels studying paleoclimatology, oceanography, Quaternary science, or earth-system science.

Additional resources for this book can be found at:http://www.wiley.com/go/stjohn/climatehistory.

Acknowledgments

Book Introduction for Students and Instructors

Geologic Timescale

Chapter 1. Introduction to Paleoclimate Records.

Part 1.1. Archives and Proxies

Part 1.2. Owens Lake – An Introductory Case Study of Paleoclimate Reconstruction

Part 1.3. Coring Glacial Ice and Seafloor Sediments

Chapter 2. Seafloor Sediments.

Part 2.1. Sediment Predictions

Part 2.2. Core Observations and Descriptions

Part 2.3. Sediment Composition

Part 2.4. Geographic Distribution and Interpretation

Chapter 3. Microfossils and Biostratigraphy.

Part 3.1. What are Microfossils? Why are they Important in Climate Change Science?

Part 3.2. Microfossils in Deep-sea Sediments

Part 3.3. Application of Microfossil First and Last Occurrences

Part 3.4. Using Microfossil Datums to Calculate Rates

Part 3.5. How Reliable are Microfossil Datums?

Chapter 4. Paleomagnetism and Magnetostratigraphy.

Part 4.1. Earth's Magnetic Field Today and the Paleomagnetic Record of Deep-Sea Sediments

Part 4.2. Paleomagnetism in Ocean Crust

Part 4.3. Using Paleomagnetism to Test the Seafloor Spreading Hypothesis

Part 4.4. The Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale

Chapter 5. CO₂ as a Climate Regulator during the Phanerozoic and Today.

Part 5.1. The Short Term Global Carbon Cycle

Part 5.2. CO₂ and Temperature

Part 5.3. Recent Changes in CO₂

Part 5.4. The Long-term Global Carbon Cycle, CO_2, and Phanerozoic Climate History

Chapter 6. The Benthic Foraminiferal Oxygen Isotope Record of Cenozoic Climate Change.

Part 6.1. Introduction

Part 6.2. Stable Isotope Geochemistry

Part 6.3. A Biogeochemical Proxy

Part 6.4. Patterns, Trends and Implications for Cenozoic Climate

Chapter 7. Scientific Drilling in the Arctic Ocean: A Lesson on the Nature of Science.

Part 7.1. Climate Models and Regional Climate Change

Part 7.2. Arctic Drilling Challenges and Solutions

Part 7.3. The Need for Scientific Drilling

Part 7.4. Results of the Arctic Drilling Expedition

Chapter 8. Climate Cycles.

Part 8.1. Patterns and Periodicities

Part 8.2. Orbital Metronome

Part 8.3. A Break in the Pattern

Chapter 9. The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) Event.

Part 9.1. The Cenozoic δ¹³C Record and an Important Discovery

Part 9.2. Global Consequences of the PETM

Part 9.3. Bad Gas: Is Methane to Blame?

Part 9.4. How fast? How long?

Part 9.5. Global Warming Today and Lessons from the PETM

Chapter 10. Glaciation of Antarctica: The Oi1 Event.

Part 10.1. Initial Evidence

Part 10.2. Evidence for Global Change

Part 10.3. Mountain Building, Weathering, CO₂ and Climate

Part 10.4. Legacy of the Oi1 Event: The Development of the Psychrosphere

Chapter 11. Antarctica and Neogene Global Climate Change.

Part 11.1. What do we Think we Know about the History of Antarctic Climate?

Part 11.2. What is Antarctica's Geographic & Geologic Context?

Part 11.3. Selecting Drillsites to Best Answer our Questions

Chapter 12. Interpreting Antarctic Sediment Cores: A Record of Dynamic Neogene Climate.

Part 12.1. What Sediment Facies are Common on the Antarctic Margin?

Part 12.2. ANDRILL 1-B The BIG Picture

Part 12.3. Pliocene Sedimentary Patterns in the ANDRILL 1-B Core

Ch. 13. Pliocene Warmth: Are We Seeing Our Future?

Part 13.1. The last 5 million years

Part 13.2. Sea Level Past, Present, and Future

Chapter 14. Northern Hemisphere Glaciation.

Part 14.1. Concepts & Predictions

Part 14.2. What is the Evidence?

Part 14.3. What Caused It?

Index

Dr. R. Mark Leckie is a Professor of Geology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Leckie is a marine micropaleontologist and specializes in paleoceanography, particularly reconstructing ocean-climate history of the past 120 million years. He has participated in six DSDP/ODP scientific expeditions, and served as Co-Chief Scientist of ODP Leg 165. His teaching responsibilities include: Introductory Oceanography; History of the Earth; Introductory Field Methods; Paleoceanography; and Marine Micropaleontology.

Dr. Kate Pound is a Professor of Geology, and a member of the Science Education Group at St. Cloud State University. Pound leads hands-on education and outreach programs for teachers in Minnesota, and was a science educator in the ANDRILL program in Antarctica. Her research focuses on provenance studies and regional tectonics. Her teaching responsibilities include: Physical Geology, Glacial Geology, Field Geology, Rocks & Minerals, Sedimentology, General Education Geology courses, and Science for Elementary Teachers.

Dr. Megan Jones is a Professor of Geology at North Hennepin Community College, a diverse, open-access institution. Jones' broad background and experience in marine micropaleontology/paleoceanography, sed/strat and field geology offers her students options to pursue field experiences and undergraduate research. Her research interest focuses on the connections between student motivation and succes