Geology 581 - Quaternary Environments
Spring 2006

The Quaternary - the last ~1.6 million years - has been a time of great variety in Earth climates, thus in Earth processes. If the present is the key to the past, and "the present" is defined as the Quaternary, then understanding the variability in space and time in Earth environments of the past 1.6 million years is critical to understanding environments of the rest of geologic history. This course examines, through morphologic, lithologic, and biologic proxy data, the nature of Earth environments. I assume competence with concepts of undergraduate process geomorphology. Do not be alarmed by this, and please talk to me if you are falling behind or losing interest, so that we can modify either your attitude or the course to maintain your momentum.

The course will consist of six parts:

1. Lectures (last ~1 hour on Fridays) will introduce the concepts to be discussed the following week. The lectures will develop the
2. Readings which MUST be read prior to class so that the class will be as well prepared as possible for fruitful
3. Seminar discussion (first two hours). Each week, several participants will research, summarize, and present (complete with formal abstracts!) the results of critical papers in Quaternary stratigraphy. These discussions will involve the class as a whole ("seminar") in discussion of implications, exceptions, etc. The discussions will be evaluatively summarized in a
4. Final Examination which will be cumulative and involve the understanding of process and response, of proxy data, of driving mechanisms, and of modeling as a tool of Quaternary science.  The discussions may complemented by occasional
5. Homework. Analytical tools of the Quaternarist may be introduced and honed through hands-on activities which support the readings. The breadth of the discussions is in counterpoint to the depth of a student
6. Project. Each participant will generate a research project - field research, lab analysis, modeling, library synthesis ... - and present it orally to the class near the end of the semester and in written form by the last day of classes.

In addition, if you are so inclined, we will try to schedule an all-day field trip in the balmy weather of late April!

Grading in this course will be based on the quality of seminar presentations (and homework, if any) (40%), the course project (30%), final exam (20%), and participation in discussion (10%).

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

There are many references available to you, in Renne Library or my office, which will allow you to develop a basic understanding of concepts. This include both fundamental reference works and publications on specific areas, processes, or timespans.

Links of Interest:

• Quaternary Ecology at the University of Arizona
• PAst Global changES - PAGES Website
• Dr. Robert Nelson's (Colby College) Quaternary Links page

BOOKS: (on reserve)

• Cline, R. M. and Hays, J. D., eds., 1976, Investigations of Late Quaternary paleoceanography and paleoclimatology: Geological Society of America Memoir 145, Boulder, CO. The first major compilation of global climate change based on ocean core data - includes the first major CLIMAP paper.
• Wright, H. E., Jr. and D. G. Frey, eds., 1965, The Quaternary of the United States: Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. This "INQUA volume" was the first published summary of the Quaternary evolution of the United States. Quality varies by region.
• Wright, H. E., Jr., ed., 1983, Late-Quaternary environments of the United States: Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. This two-volume remake of the 1965 INQUA volume (v. 1 - late-Pleistocene, v. 2 - Holocene) shows the effect of less than 20 years of research - two volumes, yet only the late Quaternary can be covered! A companion volume (Velichko, A. A., 1984, Late Quaternary environments of the Soviet Union) provides an interesting counterpoint in focus and style.
• Morrison, R. B., ed., 1991, Quaternary nonglacial geology: Conterminous U.S.: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America, v. K-2. Designed to complement Fullerton and Richmond (1986), in Sibrava et al. (below), this GSA DNAG volume includes expanded discussion in a regional context of nonglacial topics from Wright (1983).  [On reserve for ESCI 455 - Physiography of the United States]
• Flint, R. F., 1971, Glacial and Quaternary Geology: New York, John Wiley. Still perhaps the most comprehensive single volume on the Quaternary (but both dated and biased - check out the discussion of the Channeled Scablands!).

OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST:

• Sibrava, V., D. Q. Bowen, and G. M. Richmond, eds., 1986, Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 5; Pergamon Press. The text supports superlative correlation charts of glacial activity throughout the Northern Hemisphere (the Southern Hemisphere requires but a single chart - QSR, v. 9, #2/3, 1990). [Available only from WWL!]
• Alverson, K. D., F. Oldfield and R. S. Bradley, 2000, Past Global Changes and their Significance for the Future: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 19; Pergamon Press.   An uneven summation of the PAGES (PAst Global changES) project, including paleoarchives, pole-equator-pole (PEP) paleoclimate transects, stadial/interstadial transitions, paleoclimate modeling, and a perspective on the Holocene and the human dimension. [Available only from WWL!]
• Other DNAG volumes of interest (see Morrison, above) include K-1 (Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland) and K-3 (North American and adjacent oceans during the last deglaciation), and Special Volume 2 (Geomorphic Systems of North America).
• Wright, H. E., Jr., Kutzbach, J. E., Webb, T., III, Ruddiman, W. F., Street-Perrott, F. A., and Bartlein, P. J., eds., 1993, Global climates since the last glacial maximum: Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. State-of-the-art reconstructions and modeling of climate and climate change in the last 18,000 years.

JOURNALS:

• The dominant journal in the field is, not surprisingly, Quaternary Research (stacks, Dr. Locke, on-line). Volume 35, #3, May, 1991, is a cumulative index to the entire journal run to that date - a quick perusal should generate some provocative ideas for class discussion.
• Quaternary Science Reviews (complete run in Dr. Locke's office, also on-line) publishes review articles on topics of interest. It has published several symposia on thermoluminescence and electron-spin-resonance dating.
• Paleo³ (-geography, -climatology, -ecology) (stacks, also on-line) takes a longer-term view, with frequent articles involving Tertiary or older reconstructions. It also includes more geologically recent reconstructions.
• There are also numerous topical journals in which stratigraphic articles make up a small but significant percentage, like Arctic and Alpine Research and Journal of Glaciology and general journals like Geology, Science, Nature, etc.

SCHEDULE OF TOPIC INTRODUCTIONS (Discussions the following week)