Past Climate

The course is composed of theory and case-studies. The theory part comprises an introduction to selected climate archives, marine and terrestrial system processes, and additional proxies. Important sedimentary and geochemical proxies, including isotopes, are covered and students are trained in critical reading of scientific key literature. Cases may deal with past climate change, long term carbon cycle and/or seawater geochemical changes, on time scales ranging from thousands to multi-millions of years. Focus will be on pre-Quaternary systems, but items treated may change from year to year. Data collected during laboratory and/or field work are analysed and critically evaluated. 

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of past climate and sea-level changes focused on how these changes are observed in the sedimentary records, and what processes, interactions and feedbacks between the components of the climate system may have led to the signal in the sedimentary archives. The course is composed of theory and case-studies. The theory part comprises an introduction to climate archives and marine and terrestrial system processes. Important sedimentary and geochemical proxies, including isotopes, are explained and students are trained in the evaluation of such data. Examples may deal with past climate changes, long-term carbon cycle perturbations and/or modifications of seawater geochemistry on time scales ranging from thousands to multi-millions of years. In the last weeks of the course, students read key papers and produce a review report or write a report about field/laboratory work/data. The students have the necessary background for understanding the importance of observations and hypothesis testing. They should have developed skills in analysing multiple datasets and in interpretation of which process feedbacks lead to the observations; and they should be able to evaluate the validity of geological data archives and to model results through comparative studies.

A series of lectures and practicals consist in signal analysis (data preparation, Fast fourier transforms or FFT, evolutive FFT, Filter design) of sedimentary climatic signals with the aim of extracting orbital components to better understand the influence of insolation on climate through time.