2 - Past Environments

Question 1

Lecture 1 condensed

Answer 1

key
Proxy – preserved physical characteristics of the environment that can stand for a direct measurements
Assumption – modern relationship was the same in the past

Question 2

Intro to the quaternary period

Why study the auternary

Types of evidence

What about when
L1 - Why do we study past environements.

Answer 2

gives us insight into how the environment can change in the future

Question 3

L1 - How do we reconstruct past environments

Answer 3

• hard infrastructure
• ocean sediment gives lots of info
• soil cores, easier cheaper way to reconstruct past environments

Question 4

L1 - what is the timescale of past environmental change
when did pliestocene begin + holocene.
What does Cenozioc mean

Answer 4

> pl – variations in inter/ glacial scenes

> holocene – epoch of present day, human civilisation has quicked in
pliestocene began 2.5 million years ago
12,000 years ago Holocene started
- cenozoic - he current geological era of Earth, beginning 66 million years ago and continuing to the present day.

Question 5

L1 - what is the quaternary and holocene, when it began ?

Answer 5

quaternary - 2.6 mill years ago, characterised by pattern of glacial (cold) and interglacial (warm) periods
it is subdivided into two epochs
-pliestocene 2.6-12,000 years
-holocene 12,000 years ago ((11,700) to be exact to present is holocene)
holocene is our current interglacial period, it is an important period for human civialisation.

Question 6

L1 - northern glacial climate

Question 7

L1 - What are glacial and interglacial cycles

Answer 7

Graphs sawtooth pattern of climate change

‘gradual’ cooling into glacial perios

Shift to interglacial states charaterised by abrupt terminations

Evidence of very rapid and abrupt climate change
Kyr BP = thousands of years before present

Question 8

L1 - What does SSP mean = Shared socioeconomic pathway

Answer 8

What does SSP mean = Shared socioeconomic pathway

Question 9

L1 - why study the quaternary

Answer 9

Why study the quaternary

Human evolution

Geohazards

Engineering geology

Question 10

L1 - what is a proxy record for past environments

Answer 10

What is a proxy record for past environments

Proxy: preserved physical charateristics of the environment that can stand in for direct measurements.

Assumption: modern relationship was the same in the past

Question 11

L1 - what type of evidence do we get for past environments - lithological

Answer 11

lithology evidence
Peat core – evidence of changes in
wetness, bog hydrology, vegetation
change and climate change, human
activity
Saltmarshes: sea-level change,
human activity

Ice core – climate change,
atmospheric gas concentrations,
volcanic activity, dust record
(windiness

Marine sediment core – sea-level
change, palaeoceanography,
glacial history,
ocean temperatures, ice volume

Question 12

L1 - what types of evidence do we get for past environments - geomorphic

Answer 12

Geomorphic evidence:
* Onshore and offshore
* Mapping remotely
* Mapping in the field
* Coastal, fluvial, glacial etc.