Geos/Anth 462/562 Homework Assignments

1. list of 20 Quaternary-chronology terms ___ (4 pts)
   
2. one sentence from an article using one of these terms ___ (1 pt)
   
3. a formal reference journal from which sentence is copied ___ (4 pts)
   
4. spelling, punctuation, neatness ___ (1 pt)
   
   10 points total

1. Which Bond events are the closest matches in time to the B-S boundaries?
2. What is the inferred climate during the Bond events?
3. How could the climate of the events cause, or be correlated with the Blytt-Syrnander zone boundaries?

1. Why are the Mediterranean and Monsoonal diagrams smoother than the L. Estancia lake-level record?
2. Of those two regions (Mediterranean and Monsoonal), which does the L. Estancia record resemble more closely?
3. Is the modern climate of Albuquerque (near L. Estancia) Mediterranean and Monsoonal?

1. What are the ages of the two floods?
2. What were the apprixomate flood volumes and durations of the two floods?
3. What were the water bodies for the floods (what formed the lake basins)?
4. Where (across a valley?) and made of what (a delta?) were the dams?

• The Altai Floods
• The Bonneville Flood Keenan Lee, 7 March 2004.
• The Missoula floods O'Connor & Benito 03
• The Missoula Floods Keenan Lee, 5 May 2004.
• The Missoula Flood Lyn Topinka, 07/05/02.

• motive and capability
• opportunity (placing the perpetrator at the scene at the right time

1. Could humans have caused the megafaunal extinctions? (3 points)
   • is the population of human hunters necessary to cause megafaunal extinction reasonable?
   • would the duration and rate of hunting necessary to cause extinction be reasonable?
2. Were humans on the scene at the time of the two extinctions? (3 points)
3. Other cases: Name another case that seems to fit this pattern. (2 points)
4. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity (2 points)

(1) Compute the transfer functions between oak pollen percentages and (a) mean annual precipitation and (b) average annual temperature, using the data in the table below.
(2) Use the transfer functions to calculate the implied temperature and precipitation implied by a value of 25% oak pollen in a lake core from the western Sierra Nevada.
(3) Do the same thing for a value of 50% oak pollen and compare the validity of the two (25% vs. 50%) calculations.
(4) Comment on the correlation between the oak pollen percentages and the climate parameters. Is the fit good? Are the temperature and precipitation values you have calculated reliable?

Adam, D.P. 1967. Late Pleistocene and Recent palynology in the central Sierra Nevada, California. In: Cushing, E.J., and Wright, H.E., Jr. (eds.) Quaternary Paleoecology. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, Conn. p. 275-301.

(1) provide a formal citations for the papers ___
(2) two figures ___
(3) label isotope stages 1 - 6 for each curve ___
(4) spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___

(1) provide a formal citations for each article ___
(2) provide a pragraph description for each OR two figures ___
(3) spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___
Send these in an email to me at odavis@email.arizona.edu attach copies of the figures, if you can.

1. calculate transfer functions and past temperatures (see example), and
2. compare the calculated temperatures with the "verification" temperatures, do the calculated values over-estimate these values, under-estimate them, or verify them?
   
   Copy the table, past it into your word-processor, fill it out (four blanks to fill in for each of five rows), copy the completed table into an email to odavis@email.arizona.edu

• Calibrate these two dates
  • 245 ± 55
  • 1980 ± 45
• Copy, in the email, the range of calendar dates for each program, for both dates.
  Indicate which program gave which dates. Then, compare the different program's
  • ease of use
  • features
  • usefullness of results
• send to odavis@email.arizona.edu

HOMEWORK EXERCISE:

Age = amount/rate

Ali, M., Oda, H., Hayashida, A., Takemura, K. and Torii, M. 1999. Holocene palaeomagnetic secular variation at Lake Biwa, central Japan. Geophys. J. Int. 136: 218-288. Viewed online at http://tor9.big.ous.ac.jp/People/torii/PDF/Ali99.pdf September 21, 2003.

(1) What elements of the Earth's magnetic are studied (define each) __/3
(2) To which other paleomagnetic records is the L. Biwa one compared __/3
(3) What are the authors' conclusions regarding Japan's PSV record __/3
(4) spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity __/1

• Semipermanent Feature(s) of Atmospheric Circulation +
• Acronym Weather Patterns

1. provide a formal citation for the paper ___ /2
   Be sure to follow the citation format used in this class in the REFERENCES +
   
2. mention the kind(s) of "proxy data" (treerings, pollen ...) used ___ /2
   
3. list which Semipermanent Feature(s) & acronym pattern(s) are used ___ /2
   
4. append one appropriate figure or table showing the feature and it's change ___ /2
   
   (this is an internet exercise, you should be able to copy a figure or table and paste it directly into the homework)
5. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___ /2

• changes in global paleogeography
• changes in sea-floor spreading rates, and
• tectonism (mountain building).

1. provide a formal citation for the paper ___
   
   
2. mention the kind(s) of geological change ___
   
   
3. discuss the climatic effect (amplitude and sign) of the changes ___
   
   
4. was the effect local, regional, or global? ___
   
   
5. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___
   
   Email this homework assignment to odavis@email.arizona.edu. Include your homework in the body of the message - not as an attachment.

  __ /10


1. What was the source of temperature data for the last 1000 years? in Crowley's vs. Jukes et al.'s papers (what proxy data were combined to make the two records ?) __/2
   
   
2. What climate forcing factors were evaluated in Crowley's paper? __/2
   
   
3. What are Crowley's conclusions, and what predictions does he make? __/4
   
   
4. According to Jukes et al.'s paper, how much warmer have the two warmest years, recently what years are they, and how much warmer (^oC) were they than the overall average? __ /2
   
   
   Email this homework assignment to odavis@email.arizona.edu.
   Attached files or paper copies will not be graded.

1. provide a formal citation for the paper ___
   
   
2. mention the proxy records used to (a)record past solar variability and (b) record the climate effects ___
   
   
3. attach one figure showing the history of solar variability or climate change ___
   
   
4. discuss the climatic effect (amplitude and sign [colder or warmer]) of the solar variability ___
   
   
5. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___
   
   Email this homework assignment to odavis@email.arizona.edu. Include your homework in the body of the message - not as an attachment.

• albedo (reflectance of solar energy: snow, vegetation, sea ice)
• atmospheric circulation (effect of continental glaciers)
• isostatic depression (glacier thinning)
• ocean circulation (thermohaline circulation, land bridges)
• sea surface temperature (aridity and glacier thinning)
• sea surface lowering (exposure of continental shelf)

1. provide a formal citation for the paper ___
   
   
2. mention the environmental feedback(s) investigated ___
   
   
3. mention the proxy record used to record the environmental feedback(s) ___
   
   
4. discuss the climatic effect (amplitude and sign) of the feedbacks ___
   
   
5. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and brevity ___
   
   (6) This assignment must be emailed to odavis@email.arizona.edu. Include your homework in the body of the message - not as an attachment.

1. Which three proxies for climate change were used? ___/3
   
   
2. Which three causes of climate change were compared? ___/3
   
   
3. Of the three causes, which two best explain climate variability before 1900? ___/2
   
   
4. Of the three causes, which one best explains climate change after 1950? ___/2
   
   Email this homework assignment to odavis@email.arizona.edu.

• evolution of the earths atmosphere over the last 4 billion years
  
  
• Phanerozoic (last 700 Ma) evolution of the atmosphere and ice ages
  
  
• rates of sea floor spreading and atmospheric CO₂,
  
  
• lowering of greenhouse gasses leading to the Pleistocene ice age
  
  
• fluctuations of atmospheric greenhouse gasses on glacial / interglacial timescales
  
  
• late Holocene (including historic) changes in atmospheric greenhouse gasses
  
  

1. Location, environment/climate and dating of sediments __/6
2. What is "Brown's Hypothesis" and what evidence from Homestead Cave supports or refutes it __/2
3. spelling, punctuation, neatness, clarity, and conciseness __/1
4. provide a formal citation for the paper in the correct format __/1

1. "Packrat middens" on the web. "Google it" and look up "packrat middens" in Wickipedia.
   __/2 pt. Provide a URL for a packrat midden web page
   __/2 pt. How complete and accurate is the page (compare to readings and lecture notes and other knowledge you may have)
   
   
2. Recent "packrat midden" literature
   Use the UA "electronic journal" search to find TWO recent (2006 or 2007) "packrat midden" articles in two leading "Quaternary" journals.
   • The Holocene
   • Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
   • Quaternary International
   • Quaternary Research
   • Quaternary Science Reviews
   BE CAREFUL! Don't cite shell-midden or human trash-middens articles, (hyrax & stick-rat are OK)
   
   For each article provide a formal citation using the "Geos 462" format
   __/3 pt. article one
   __/3 pt. article two
   
   DO NOT JUST COPY AND PASTE THE REFERENCE FROM THE SCREEN
   (= no credit)
   
   ___/10

1. For each study, what proxy data are used to indicated past fire frequency or intensity (e.g., fire scars, sedimentary charcoal)? ___ (2 pts)
   
   
2. How is each proxy record dated (e.g., tree rings, ²¹⁰Pb, ¹⁴C)? ___ (2 pts)
   
   
3. When (name the year and climatic interval) was fire-frequency greatest, and how extreme was it (e.g., fires/year, area burned, times-modern . . .) ___ (3 pts)
   
   
4. Are the peak frequencies synchronous for the two studies? Why or why not (e.g., climate vs. human-caused)? ___ (3 pts)
   

Methods:


1. What was the purpose of the investigation? __2pt
   
   
2. How many samples were analyzed for phytoliths, and what size of sample? __2pt
   
   Results:
   
   
3. What effect did soils have on phytolith abundance (e.g., calcareous substrates vs. other)? __2pt
   
   
4. What is the relationship between the abundance of grass-type phytoliths in the samples and grass plant abundance where the samples were taken? __2pt
   
   
5. What is the relationship between phytolith types and the abundance of pines and oaks where the samples were taken? __2pt
   
   

1. How many sites were studied, where were they geographically, and what were their ages (six categories)? __ 4pts
   
   
2. How many species were recovered? __ 1pt
   
   
3. What are "TMAX" and "TMIN" and what are the average values of those variables for the species recovered? __ 3pts
   
   
4. What has been the pattern of species diversity in glacial vs. interglacial periods? __ 2pts

(1) list the proxy (historical records of what?) converted to environ. estimates ___/2

(2) what environmental (climatic) parameter was reconstructed in the Ge et al. paper? ___/2

Comment on the (presence/absence) relative amplitudes of


• Historical warming         Ge et al.____ Mann et al.____ Crowley____ ___/2
• Little Ice Age                   Ge et al.____ Mann et al.____ Crowley____ ___/2
• Medieval Warm Period Ge et al.____ Mann et al.____ Crowley____ ___/2

___ / 10 pts      

Hydrosphere (3 pts)
Coastal Geography, Pluvial Lakes, Proglacial Lakes
(example: sea-level was 125 m lower, so Gulf of California was smaller)
Cryosphere (3 pts)
Continental Glaciers, Montane Glaciers
Biosphere (3 pts)
Tundra, Conifer Forest, Broadleaf Forest, Woodland, Steppe, Desert


Colored pencils help!