fossil evidence for climate change

Cards (7)

  • In Barbados, coral levels don’t grow above sea level. Preserved coral on land means that sea levels have fell and Barbados is lifting up. 
    • Meaning glaciers advanced and retreated during the quaternary. 
  • Pollen:
    • Uniformitarianism - the same plants have been found throughout the quaternary so the climate must have been similar 
  • There is no pollen found before 12,000 years ago in Scottish lake deposits. This is because Scotland was covered in ice. So evidence for life was restricted to interglacial periods. 
  • Beetles:
    • Preserved better than other insects due to chitin outer wings 
    • Common in Pleistocene - finished with start of recent interglacial 
    • Arctic, alpine, boreal and temperate species found - respond qucikly to climate change 
    • Small so better preserved 
  • vertebrate:
    • Bones found in river sands, lake deposits and caves from interglacial periods
    • During most recent glacial period in Britain, there is fossil evidence of mammoths, woolly rhino and reindeer 
    • As climate warmed grasses are replaced by conifers and then deciduous trees 
    • Also the introduction of badgers, foxes and lions 
  • Woolly mammoths and woolly rhino were adapted to cold climates. They had a large surface area to volume ratio so lost less heat. 
  • Vertebrate limitations:
    • Rare to find in fossil record 
    • Terrestrial so low preservation potential 
    • Large in size so hard to bury quickly. ]