Goals and Learning Outcomes

Goals

On completing this module, students are expected to be able to:

explain how sediments, ice cores, and tree rings record geological time;
explain how proxy information on past climates is extracted from geological materials;
infer the nature of climate change from proxy records;
consider how ancient events can inform us of changes to come in the future.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this module, students should be able to answer the following questions (hint: each of these topics is the subject of one quiz question!):

In what materials is evidence of ancient geologic environment recorded?
What is the "Hockey Stick"?
What gases do ice bubbles contain?
What is a piston corer?
What are the processes that fractionate oxygen and carbon isotopes?
What are the other proxies for temperature?
How do tree rings record climate?
What are foraminifera?
What are the characteristics of leaves from tropical environments?
What is moraine?
What are the changes that occurred during glacial-interglacial cycles?
How was the PETM initiated and what happened during the event?
What was the impact of global warming during the PETM on life?