Climate Variations

This course will examine the geologic record of lake basins on decadal to million-year time-scales. Students will gain hands-on experience with techniques in paleolimnology including sediment core acquisition, sediment description, petrography, sedimentology and environmental analysis, geochemistry, basic core scanning, and age determination, modeling, and time series analysis. The biotic content and interpretation of fossils will be stressed. The course will also cover theoretical aspects of paleolimnology and more specialized techniques according to student interests through student-led discussions and a course project on regional lake sediments. Graduate students only; enrollment limited to 20.