GEO 351 - Paleoclimatology

Credits: 3

The goal of this course is to present an overview of the methods used to reconstruct the earth’s climate history and the techniques used to determine the timing of environmental changes. Paleoclimate data from proxy records, such as ice cores or tree rings, provides a longer perspective on climatic variability than is possible from instrumental or historical records. Particular emphasis will be given to the natural controls on Earth’s climate across a variety of timescales, including plate tectonic, orbital, and millennial, to centennial and sub-decadal variations. The course will focus on the climatic changes during the late Cenozoic - the time of the ice ages. Topics to be discussed will include: paleoclimatic reconstruction, climate and climatic variation, dating methods, ice cores, marine and lake sediments, corals, speleothems, soils, pollen, dendrochronology, documentary data, and paleoclimate models.

Pre-Requisites: GEO 101 and GEO 103, or permission of instructor.
Repeatable: May not be repeated for credit
Lecture: 2 hours per week
Lab: 2 hours per week
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