Download this lab worksheet as a Word document:Earth 103 Lab 1 Practice Word Document [1] (Please download required files below.)
In this lab, we explore the magnitude of the warming that took place during the PETM based on proxy data. We compare PETM temperatures with current temperatures. We will look at Mg/Ca, oxygen isotope, and TEX-86 proxy temperatures from a number of cores of marine PETM sediments drilled in the oceans and on land, as well as margin analysis of leaves from land sections, to determine the temperature change. If you have not read the relevant material on proxies and the PETM in this module, please go back and do this before you begin the lab.
Note: The data for this lab are provided in Google Earth files. The goals of this lab are:
If you have not worked through the Google Earth Tutorial in the Orientation [2], you must do so now.
Get used to manipulating these files in Google Earth. This short video shows you the basics of how you will need to do this for the lab (and it will be critical for future labs too):
Load the PETM Data.kmz [3] file into Google Earth. The map shows continental positions and the extent of the ocean during the PETM. The red markers show the site positions that you will use for this lab. If you click on them, you will get several pieces of information: (1) the proxy used to determine temperature; (2) the temperature just before the PETM (pre-event) and (3) the PETM temperature. I recommend you make a table similar to the example below, that shows all of the data, as well as your calculated temperature change.
Site Positions | Proxy | Pre-event Temperature | PETM Temperature | Temperature Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
Next, practice turning on the modern sea surface temperature (SST) map in the Modern SST.kmz [5] file to compate the PETM temperatures with those of today.
Note that since the continents have moved a long way in 55 million years since the PETM, there are places in the PETM ocean which now lie in the position of the modern continents and thus don’t have equivalent modern temperatures (you will see some PETM sites in the dark blue area of the modern continents). But if you turn on the PETM Paleogeography kmz file, you will see more accurate reconstructions of the margins of the continents and the locations of the sites relative to them.
After you have made the table from the data that you collected and feel comfortable comparing the data with temperatures read from the temperature kmz maps, please answer the practice questions below. Once you feel good about your answers, go to Lab 1 in Module 1. There will be two labs available to you, Lab 1 Submission (Practice) and Lab 1 Submission (Graded). You will have a chance to answer practice questions and get the correct answers before taking the Lab 1 Graded questions for credit. Please make sure you fully understand the practice questions before you start the graded questions for credit. You may want to review some of the content in Module 1 to help prepare. Keep in mind that you will only get one chance to complete the graded labs.
Which oceanic site (i.e., only sites with numbers located in the ocean basins) has the smallest temperature difference between PETM and modern?
Links
[1] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth103/files/module01/Earth%20103%20Lab%201_PETM_WordDoc_2_0_0revised2023.docx
[2] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/orientation/googleearth
[3] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth103/files/module01/PETM%20Data.kmz
[4] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth103/files/module01/PETM%20Paleogeography.kmz
[5] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/sites/www.e-education.psu.edu.earth103/files/module01/Modern%20SST.kmz
[6] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/