Using Microfossils to Understand Paleo-Climate

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1 Using Microfossils to Understand Paleo-Climate Hilary Clement Olson Institute for Geophysics Jackson School of Geosciences The University of Texas at Austin

2 What are fossils? Fossils (from Latin fossus, literally "having been dug up") are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. (10/14/2010)

3 What do you know about sand dollars? Where do they like to live? Where have you seen them in nature living? (10/14/2010)

4 Here s what we know about living sand dollars (echinoderms) Sand Dollars are widespread in ocean waters of the Northern Hemisphere, from the intertidal zone to deeper water depths. They can be found in temperate and tropical zones. So, what if we found fossil echinoderms from Cretaceous age rocks in Texas? What would we interpret about the environment? Dana-ManGeol/README.htm (10/14/2010)

5 So these fossils would indicate some kind of shallow seaway through Central Texas Fossils can tell us about: Age (=time) Environment Climate

6 Woolly Mammoth what is the significance? The stuffed Beresovka mammoth, in The Museum of Zoology, St. Petersburg (10/14/2010)

7 Example: Spain City of Malaga (10/14/2010) Average Temperatures o F o C (10/14/2010)

8 Sp-map.png (10/14/2010) Iberian sites with Mammuthus primigenius remains (from Álvarez Lao (2007). Padul is represented with a black star. Sites contemporaneous with Padul are represented with black triangles. The Padul mammoth finds On the southernmost record of Mammuthus primigenius in Europe and its southern spread during the Late Pleistocene (Álvarez-Lao et al., 2009) Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

9 Sketch of global maximum distribution of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) during the Late Pleistocene. The Padul mammoth finds On the southernmost record of Mammuthus primigenius in Europe and its southern spread during the Late Pleistocene (Álvarez-Lao et al., 2009) Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

10 Columbian mammoth Mammuthus columbi Skeleton of Columbian mammoth, Mammuthus columbi, in the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, California (

11 F O R A M I N I F E R A What is it? files/paleoceanography.html (10/14/2010) a.php (10/14/2010)

12 CLIMATE ANALYSIS USING PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERA Neogloboquadrina pachyderma a.php (10/14/2010) Left-coiling (cold) less than 8 C Proxy for marine surface waters temperatures (10/14/2010) Right-coiling (warm) greater than 8 C

13 Complete the chart to normalize the data Work in pairs

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15 Answer Key

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17 Gulf Intraslope Basin Project Study Area

18 Globorotalia menardii Prefers warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico interglacial

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21 CORES - STRATIGRAPHY SEISMIC DATA

22 PISTON Core IG 41-11

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24 Foraminifera and Paleo-Climate Examples: Neogloboquadrina pachyderma coiling direction Globorotalia menardii migration