paleoclimatology
Prehistoric weather research
Paleoclimatology is the study of Earth's climate in prehistoric and geologic time periods.
Scientists reconstruct ancient climates using evidence from ice cores, tree rings, sediment layers, and fossils: Paleoclimatology tells us that current warming is unprecedented in the past ten thousand years.
The field provides crucial context for understanding modern climate change.
Study of rock layers
- carbon-datingIsotope-based age measurement
- dendrochronologyDating via growth rings
- geochronologyStudy of geological ages
- sedimentologyStudy of geological deposits
Annual wood layers
- coralsColonial marine invertebrates
- pollenFloral reproductive grains
- oxygen-18Heavier oxygen isotope
- deuteriumHydrogen isotope with neutron
carbon-13 · loess · stalagmites · diatoms · bivalves
Study of ice masses
- paleoecologyStudy of prehistoric ecosystems
- paleobotanyStudy of ancient flora
- paleogeographyStudy of ancient Earth surfaces
- geomorphologyStudy of terrain formation
Current geological epoch
- PleistoceneAncient glacial geological period
- PlioceneLate Neogene epoch
- MiocenePre-Pliocene geological epoch
- QuaternaryLast 2.6 million years
Cenozoic · Mesozoic · Paleozoic · Cretaceous · Jurassic · Carboniferous · Permian · Devonian
Ice sheet spreading process
- deglaciationRetreat of glaciers
- thermohalineDensity-driven ocean movement
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
stratigraphy
Study of rock layers
- carbon-datingIsotope-based age measurement
- dendrochronologyDating via growth rings
- geochronologyStudy of geological ages
sedimentology · spectroscopy · geochemistry · calibration · modeling
tree-rings
Annual wood layers
deuterium · carbon-13 · loess · stalagmites · diatoms · bivalves
glaciology
Study of ice masses
- paleoecologyStudy of prehistoric ecosystems
- paleobotanyStudy of ancient flora
- paleogeographyStudy of ancient Earth surfaces
Holocene
Current geological epoch
- PleistoceneAncient glacial geological period
- PlioceneLate Neogene epoch
- MiocenePre-Pliocene geological epoch
Quaternary · Cenozoic · Mesozoic · Paleozoic · Cretaceous · Jurassic · Carboniferous · Permian · Devonian · Anthropocene
glaciation
Ice sheet spreading process
- deglaciationRetreat of glaciers
- thermohalineDensity-driven ocean movement
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
- geologic historyCambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous
- paleosciencespaleobiology, paleobotany, paleoecology, paleogeography, paleoanthropology
- cavescave, cavern, caves, caverns, grotto
- geologybedrock, fault lines, faults, rock, basalt
- Ice Ageice age, mammoths, saber-tooth cat, mammoth, woolly mammoth
- Physical Sciencesphysics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, meteorology
climate, paleontology, microclimate, climatology, climatologist, paleography, climatize, climatologists, climatological