Utrecht University
Quaternary Climate and
Global Change
Lecture notes
Naam: Sanne Maas
Solis-id: 5133017
Periode 3
Utrecht University
Bachelor Aardwetenschappen
Naam cursus: Quaternary Climate and Global Change
Docent: Dr. K. M. Cohen
,Contents
Lecture 1 - Introduction........................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 2 – Latitude responses Milankovitch Forcings – NH glaciations .............................................. 10
Lecture 3 – NH glaciations conceptual models ..................................................................................... 15
Lecture 4 – Oxygen isotopes, ocean circulation and carbon pump ...................................................... 22
Lecture 5 – Division of Quaternary, Climato-chronostratigraphy ......................................................... 31
Lecture 6 – Radiometric dating methods part 1 (theory and 14C) ......................................................... 36
Lecture 7 – Radiometric dating methods part 2 (Uranium-Thorium and 210Pb-Potassium-Argon) ...... 48
Lecture 8 – Non-radiometric dating methods (luminescence, lichenometry, varvesicecylo) .............. 58
Lecture 9 – Ice cores and their dating ................................................................................................... 65
Lecture 10 – Millennial oscillations, LGM, Last Termination ................................................................ 74
Lecture 11 – Termination Mechanisms, Last Termination, Sea Level Rise, Meltwaterpulses .............. 79
Lecture 12 – Palynology Pollen record .................................................................................................. 85
Lecture 13 – Centennial variations, lateglacial, early Holocene ........................................................... 97
Part 2 of the course ............................................................................................................................. 101
Lecture 15 – Sea Level Rise mechanisms ............................................................................................ 101
Lecture 16 – Holocene and Last Millennium ....................................................................................... 110
Lecture 17 – Anthropocene, some introduction ................................................................................. 123
Lecture 20 – Recent Climate ............................................................................................................... 130
Lecture 21 – Future Climate scenario’s ............................................................................................... 145
Lecture 22 – Future climate changes and impacts .............................................................................. 158
Wrap up lecture................................................................................................................................... 164
Q&A lecture ......................................................................................................................................... 168
2
,Lecture 1 - Introduction
A landscape unseen in over 40.000 years
- Photo with snow and mountains from Canadian Artic
- Unseen – ice has molten and now you can see the
landscape f.a.
- Shadows look like a climate graph
Time scales and global events in this course
- Pleistocene – Holocene – Anthropocene
- Past – present – future
- Young geologic – historic – recent – 21th century
- Ice ages – interglacials – human impact
- Climate change – global change
- Geological course, where we look at what the records
are and at proxies – not an atmospheric course!
o Methods
o Cause = external
→ supernova f.a.
o Mechanism = internal
→ functioning in the system
To use the key ‘the present is the key to the past’, you have to
be really aware of the steps in history
How do we know ages, durations?
- Instrumental records (300y)
- Proxy date
o Not an actual measurement, but of something else
o Something measured, we see it as an instrumental measurement for something else
o Reaching back
▪ Preservation limits to resolution
• Historic sources (103 y)
• Dendro-climatology (104 y)
• Varved lake records (104 y)
• Pollen analysis (106 y)
▪ Dating method limits to resolution
3
, • Isotope analysis cave deposits (105 y)
• Isotope analysis continental ice sheets (105 y)
• Isotope analysis ocean cores (106 y)
• Geologic/geomorphologic research ()
Ruddiman book
- Paleoclimatologic book
- Skip the long term climate & start with the chapters indicated (Pleistocene etc.)
- If we are explaining things in the climate of the past, very often we use things we see today
- After midterm other books
Quaternary=
youngest geological time, including the present
→ last 2,58 Ma
Climate=
atmospheric conditions prevailing over areas
→ how most is the air, how fast does it move etc., so you do have climate in a cave
- Varies over historic and geological time
- Varies over the earth surfaces (zones)
- General conditions defined over a set time window
o In meteorology – 30 year time window
o In geology – longer duration time windows
Global change =
label for all changes owing to human activity, broader than climate effects alone
Climate change =
change in average or variability of the atmospheric conditions
The climate system – controls
- Causes (external forcing)
- Something forces the climate system
→ all parts are connected
- This causes climate variations (internal
responses)
o Some changes may be fast, some may be
slower
o Some you will see on high latitude, some
on lower latitude
o Some are very subtle, some changes really big
o Notably for timescales ‘shorter than Milankovitch’
o Regional variabilities in land, ice and biotic responses
- This course – talk about the right half
o Causes already has been covered, otherwise take it as a given
o Sometime we want to understand, but sometime we want to discover things from
our record
4
Quaternary Climate and
Global Change
Lecture notes
Naam: Sanne Maas
Solis-id: 5133017
Periode 3
Utrecht University
Bachelor Aardwetenschappen
Naam cursus: Quaternary Climate and Global Change
Docent: Dr. K. M. Cohen
,Contents
Lecture 1 - Introduction........................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 2 – Latitude responses Milankovitch Forcings – NH glaciations .............................................. 10
Lecture 3 – NH glaciations conceptual models ..................................................................................... 15
Lecture 4 – Oxygen isotopes, ocean circulation and carbon pump ...................................................... 22
Lecture 5 – Division of Quaternary, Climato-chronostratigraphy ......................................................... 31
Lecture 6 – Radiometric dating methods part 1 (theory and 14C) ......................................................... 36
Lecture 7 – Radiometric dating methods part 2 (Uranium-Thorium and 210Pb-Potassium-Argon) ...... 48
Lecture 8 – Non-radiometric dating methods (luminescence, lichenometry, varvesicecylo) .............. 58
Lecture 9 – Ice cores and their dating ................................................................................................... 65
Lecture 10 – Millennial oscillations, LGM, Last Termination ................................................................ 74
Lecture 11 – Termination Mechanisms, Last Termination, Sea Level Rise, Meltwaterpulses .............. 79
Lecture 12 – Palynology Pollen record .................................................................................................. 85
Lecture 13 – Centennial variations, lateglacial, early Holocene ........................................................... 97
Part 2 of the course ............................................................................................................................. 101
Lecture 15 – Sea Level Rise mechanisms ............................................................................................ 101
Lecture 16 – Holocene and Last Millennium ....................................................................................... 110
Lecture 17 – Anthropocene, some introduction ................................................................................. 123
Lecture 20 – Recent Climate ............................................................................................................... 130
Lecture 21 – Future Climate scenario’s ............................................................................................... 145
Lecture 22 – Future climate changes and impacts .............................................................................. 158
Wrap up lecture................................................................................................................................... 164
Q&A lecture ......................................................................................................................................... 168
2
,Lecture 1 - Introduction
A landscape unseen in over 40.000 years
- Photo with snow and mountains from Canadian Artic
- Unseen – ice has molten and now you can see the
landscape f.a.
- Shadows look like a climate graph
Time scales and global events in this course
- Pleistocene – Holocene – Anthropocene
- Past – present – future
- Young geologic – historic – recent – 21th century
- Ice ages – interglacials – human impact
- Climate change – global change
- Geological course, where we look at what the records
are and at proxies – not an atmospheric course!
o Methods
o Cause = external
→ supernova f.a.
o Mechanism = internal
→ functioning in the system
To use the key ‘the present is the key to the past’, you have to
be really aware of the steps in history
How do we know ages, durations?
- Instrumental records (300y)
- Proxy date
o Not an actual measurement, but of something else
o Something measured, we see it as an instrumental measurement for something else
o Reaching back
▪ Preservation limits to resolution
• Historic sources (103 y)
• Dendro-climatology (104 y)
• Varved lake records (104 y)
• Pollen analysis (106 y)
▪ Dating method limits to resolution
3
, • Isotope analysis cave deposits (105 y)
• Isotope analysis continental ice sheets (105 y)
• Isotope analysis ocean cores (106 y)
• Geologic/geomorphologic research ()
Ruddiman book
- Paleoclimatologic book
- Skip the long term climate & start with the chapters indicated (Pleistocene etc.)
- If we are explaining things in the climate of the past, very often we use things we see today
- After midterm other books
Quaternary=
youngest geological time, including the present
→ last 2,58 Ma
Climate=
atmospheric conditions prevailing over areas
→ how most is the air, how fast does it move etc., so you do have climate in a cave
- Varies over historic and geological time
- Varies over the earth surfaces (zones)
- General conditions defined over a set time window
o In meteorology – 30 year time window
o In geology – longer duration time windows
Global change =
label for all changes owing to human activity, broader than climate effects alone
Climate change =
change in average or variability of the atmospheric conditions
The climate system – controls
- Causes (external forcing)
- Something forces the climate system
→ all parts are connected
- This causes climate variations (internal
responses)
o Some changes may be fast, some may be
slower
o Some you will see on high latitude, some
on lower latitude
o Some are very subtle, some changes really big
o Notably for timescales ‘shorter than Milankovitch’
o Regional variabilities in land, ice and biotic responses
- This course – talk about the right half
o Causes already has been covered, otherwise take it as a given
o Sometime we want to understand, but sometime we want to discover things from
our record
4
