PALEOCEANOGRAPHY

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: GEOSCI 100 , 110 , ATM OCN/GEOSCI 105 , ENVIR ST/GEOSCI 106 , or graduate/professional standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Natural Science & Wellness Level - Advanced L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2025 Learning Outcomes: 1. Explain the major climatic and oceanographic events and trends during the Cretaceous through the Cenozoic, spanning timescales from the last 150,000,000 years to the last 1,000 years. For this class emphasis is placed on the global climate and oceanographic systems, with some attention to regional changes. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Explain the physical processes controlling the behavior of the earth system and its related components (atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, biosphere, etc.), and to articulate how oceanic/climatic variability results from a combination of external forcings and internal dynamics within the earth system. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Understand how paleoceanographers collect, date, and analyze a staggering variety of deep-sea records, as well as other paleoclimate archives as they pertain to oceanic and climate processes including ocean and lake sediment cores, ice cores, and speleothems. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Develop skills in critical thinking and technical writing, with particular attention to critically reading the scientific literature and critically evaluating the climate proxies and model simulations used by paleoceanographers. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Both explain and critically evaluate the data on which the majority of our ocean/climate knowledge of the last 150,000,000 years is based. Audience: Graduate 6. Both explain and assess the external forcings and internal dynamics within the earth system and across the different earth spheres. Audience: Graduate 7. Critically evaluate the scientific literature and provide your own perspective on the literature discussion and conclusions. Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Explain the major climatic and oceanographic events and trends during the Cretaceous through the Cenozoic, spanning timescales from the last 150,000,000 years to the last 1,000 years. For this class emphasis is placed on the global climate and oceanographic systems, with some attention to regional changes. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Explain the physical processes controlling the behavior of the earth system and its related components (atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, biosphere, etc.), and to articulate how oceanic/climatic variability results from a combination of external forcings and internal dynamics within the earth system. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Understand how paleoceanographers collect, date, and analyze a staggering variety of deep-sea records, as well as other paleoclimate archives as they pertain to oceanic and climate processes including ocean and lake sediment cores, ice cores, and speleothems. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Develop skills in critical thinking and technical writing, with particular attention to critically reading the scientific literature and critically evaluating the climate proxies and model simulations used by paleoceanographers. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Both explain and critically evaluate the data on which the majority of our ocean/climate knowledge of the last 150,000,000 years is based. Audience: Graduate 6. Both explain and assess the external forcings and internal dynamics within the earth system and across the different earth spheres. Audience: Graduate 7. Critically evaluate the scientific literature and provide your own perspective on the literature discussion and conclusions. Audience: Graduate