Topic
Paleoclimate research, explained
9 open-access paleoclimate studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- Ice-core oleic acid tracks sub-Antarctic sea ice
Oleic acid in a Bouvet Island ice core covaries with MSA and winter–spring sea ice, suggesting a new marine biomarker.
- Maya rainfall became harder to forecast after 500 CE
A Belize speleothem shows seasonal rainfall predictability collapsing after 500 CE and bottoming in the Terminal Classic, alongside drought.
- Why LGM methane needs a bigger wetland collapse
Ice-core CH4 and isotopes imply about a 50% source drop at the LGM; process models underpredict both concentration and isotopic shifts.
- Foram grain boundaries can reset δ18O in ~100 years
Oxygen exchanges along foraminifera nanocrystallite grain boundaries fast enough that even glassy tests can be isotopically biased.
- MPT may lag a stronger ice-age feedback
A carbon-cycle oscillator locks ice-age periods to 40, 80, then 120 kyr as feedback grows, and the period jump can lag the parameter change by up to ~10 Myr.
- Orbitally paced groundwater in the Ice Age Southwest
Devils Hole cave calcite shows Nevada’s water table rose and fell with glacial cycles for 750,000 years, with a slow long-term drop.
- Late Tang hydroclimate swings strained northern China
Cooler, drier, and flood-prone conditions after 800 CE made Yellow River crop and supply networks increasingly fragile.
- English yew rings reconstruct 300 years of drought
Southern England yew trees track spring–summer rain and Palmer drought, capturing 1710–2020 wet and dry extremes across western Europe.
- Lime mud records Toarcian ocean acidification
Micrite boron isotopes from Spain and Portugal show a transient pH drop at the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event that brachiopod shells miss.