Course description: This course will entail a weekly seminar-style critical reading of journal articles in paleoclimate (one paper per week). This year, papers may address any time interval and any aspect of Earth's climate system, but with a focus on extreme states from the Cretaceous to present. Expectations and grading: During the semester, each student will be required to lead the discussion of several papers. Each presenter will be selected two weeks ahead of time so that they have one week to choose a paper (in consultation with the instructor) and inform the class. Papers may be presented informally and with or without visual aids, according to the presenter's preference. The presenter should touch on the paper's main Problem, Claim, Evidence, and Uncertainties. Each week, everyone is responsible for reading the paper and participating in the discussions. Readers should also identify and share one part of the paper that they had trouble understanding. Grades will be based on overall participation (50%) and on the effort put into the presentations and discussion-leading (50%). Meets: Wednesdays 9:30-10:20, SEEC S149, but via Zoom for the first two weeks and as necessary thereafter _________________________________________________________________________________
January 19: The long view of CO2 knobs
January 26: Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Events
February 2: No class (snow day)
February 9: Cretaceous warmth
February 16: K-Pg boundary
February 23: Cenozoic evolution
March 2: PETM
March 9: Eocene-Oligocene boundary
March 16: Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum
March 23: No Class: Spring Break
March 30: Last ice age Dansgaard-Oeschger events
April 6: Younger Dryas
April 13: Ice age CO2 cycles
April 20: Deglaciation
April 27: Back to the long viewArchived past offerings:
Seminar in Paleoclimate: Presenter's Choice (Spring 2021)
Rapid Warming, Ocean Acidification, and Anoxia: Lessons from the Past (Spring 2019)
Paleoclimate Landmarks and Heroes (Spring 2017)
Paleoclimate Contributions to the 5th IPCC Report (Fall 2015)
Warm Periods of the Earth's Past (Spring 2007)
Rapid Climate Change: Holocene to Anthropocene (Spring 2005)
Recent Developments in Rapid Climate Change Research (Spring 2003)
Zoom link or use Zoom meeting ID: tmarchitto (see class email for password)
Instructor:
Tom Marchitto, tom.marchitto@colorado.edu
Office Hours: By appointment
Credits: 1
Course schedule (updated weekly)
We will only be discussing the papers with names assigned after them; the others are for background
Note that most of the links below must be accessed from a campus computer or via a CU VPN
Refresh your browser if links are missing or dead
Gernon et al. (2021) Global chemical weathering dominated by continental arcs since the mid-Palaeozoic (Tom)
Lowery et al. (2018) The Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway as a model for oxygenation change in epicontinental restricted basins (Robert)
Burgener et al. (2019) Revisiting the equable climate problem during the Late Cretaceous greenhouse using paleosol carbonate clumped isotope temperatures from the Campanian of the Western Interior Basin, USA (Eva)
Hull et al. (2020) On impact and volcanism across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (Hayley)
Miller et al. (2020) Cenozoic sea-level and cryospheric evolution from deep-sea geochemical and continental margin records (Jessica)
Kender et al. (2021) Paleocene/Eocene carbon feedbacks triggered by volcanic activity (Will)
Sun et al. (2014) Synchronous turnover of flora, fauna, and climate at the Eocene–Oligocene Boundary in Asia (Robert)
Longman et al. (2022) Assessing volcanic controls on Miocene climate change (Eva)
Corrick et al. (2020) Synchronous timing of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period (Hayley)
Gaglioti et al. (2017) Younger-Dryas cooling and sea-ice feedbacks were prominent features of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Arctic Alaska (Jessica)
Ai et al. (2020) Southern Ocean upwelling, Earth’s obliquity, and glacial-interglacial atmospheric CO2 change (Tom)
Knorr et al. (2021) A salty deep ocean as a prerequisite for glacial termination (Will)
Read only section 2 ("Simulation methodology") of Valdes et al. (2021) Deep ocean temperatures through time
Then explore the simulations at Climate Archive. Choose something interesting that you'd like to share with the class (the two figures at the top of this course page may be helpful guides to different past climate states). Think critically about how much we should 'believe' (i.e., what uncertainties are there?).