Paleoclimatology (eBook)

Cover 1
CONTENTS 8
PREFACE 14
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 16
Chapter 1. Paleoclimatic Reconstruction 18
1.1 Introduction 18
1.2 Sources of Paleoclimatic Information 21
1.3 Levels of Paleoclimatic Analysis 25
1.4 Modeling in Paleoclimatic Research 26
Chapter 2. Climate and Climatic Variation 28
2.1 The Nature of Climate and Climatic Variation 28
2.2 The Climate System 32
2.3 Feedback Mechanisms 39
2.4 Energy Balance of the Earth and its Atmosphere 41
2.5 Timescales of Climatic Variation 49
2.6 Variations of the Earth's Orbital Parameters 52
Chapter 3. Dating Methods I 64
3.1 Introduction and Overview 64
3.2 Radioisotopic Methods 65
Chapter 4. Dating Methods II 108
4.1 Paleomagnetism 108
4.2 Dating Methods Involving Chemical Changes 116
4.3 Biological Dating Methods 133
Chapter 5. Ice Cores 142
5.1 Introduction 142
5.2 Stable Isotope Analysis 143
5.3 Dating Ice Cores 159
5.4 Paleoclimatic Reconstruction from Ice Cores 170
Chapter 6. Marine Sediments and Corals 208
6.1 Introduction 208
6.2 Paleoclimatic Information from Biological Material in Ocean Cores 210
6.3 Oxygen Isotope Studies of Calcareous Marine Fauna 215
6.4 Relative Abundance Studies 233
6.5 Paleotemperature Records from Alkenones 250
6.6 Dissolution of Deep-sea Carbonates 253
6.7 Paleoclimatic Information from Inorganic Material in Ocean Cores 259
6.8 Coral Records of Past Climate 264
6.9 Thermohaline Circulation of the Oceans 271
6.10 Ocean Circulation Changes and Climate over the Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle 277
6.11 Changes in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: the Role of the Oceans 293
6.12 Orbital Forcing: Evidence from the Marine Record 297
Chapter 7. Non-marine Geological Evidence 302
7.1 Introduction 302
7.2 Loess 303
7.3 Periglacial Features 310
7.4 Snowlines and Glaciation Thresholds 314
7.5 Mountain Glacier Fluctuations 321
7.6 Lake-level Fluctuations 327
7.7 Lake Sediments 341
7.8 Speleothems 343
Chapter 8. Non-marine Biological Evidence 354
8.1 Introduction 354
8.2 Former Vegetation Distribution from Plant Macrofossils 354
8.3 Insects 365
Chapter 9. Pollen Analysis 374
9.1 Introduction 374
9.2 The Basis of Pollen Analysis 375
9.3 How Rapidly Does Vegetation Respond to Changes in Climate? 382
9.4 Pollen Analysis of a Site: the Pollen Diagram 387
9.5 Mapping Vegetation Change: Isopolls and Isochrones 390
9.6 Quantitative Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based on Pollen Analysis 392
9.7 Paleoclimatic Reconstruction from Long Quaternary Pollen Records 401
Chapter 10. Dendroclimatology 414
10.1 Introduction 414
10.2 Fundamentals of Dendroclimatology 415
10.3 Dendroclimatic Reconstructions 440
10.4 Isotope Dendroclimatology 451
Chapter 11. Documentary Data 456
11.1 Introduction 456
11.2 Historical Records and Their Interpretation 458
11.3 Regional Studies Based on Historical Records 476
11.4 Records of Climate Forcing Factors 484
Chapter 12. Paleoclimate Models 488
12.1 Introduction 488
12.2 Types of Models 489
12.3 Sensitivity Experiments Using General Circulation Models 497
12.4 Model Simulations: 18 KA B.P. to the Present 512
12.5 Coupled Ocean-atmosphere Model Experiments 516
12.6 General Circulation Model Paleoclimate Simulations and the Paleorecord 522
APPENDIX A. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON RADIOCARBON DATING 524
A.l Calculation of Radiocarbon Age and Standardization Procedure 524
A.2 Fractionation Effects 526
APPENDIX B. WORLDWIDE WEB-BASED RESOURCES IN PALEOCUMATOLOGY 528
REFERENCES 530
INDEX 617