Climate Change Paper Assignment from 2009
Geology 306
Your term paper assignment is to write a 6-8 page (text, no more, no less) paper on a chosen “hot” topic in paleoclimatology or climate change. Your paper should focus on a minimum of 3-5 primary sources- preferably including an article in either Nature and Science (may not be possible with all topics). You should rely on published peer-reviewed literature – (from geological or other scientific journals). Limited use of textbooks is permissible, especially to educate yourself about background information. For help with library research, see Mike VanHouten at reference desk. I suggest Web of Science as a search engine.
Topic Suggestions:
- Implications of Patagonia Glacier Records for global climate change
- Was the Younger Dryas really global?
- The 8,200 yr BP cold interval – a mini Younger Dryas?
- Recent ice sheet changes West Antarctica.. The state of West Antarctica
- Recent ice sheet changes Greenland.. The state of Greenland
- The bipolar seesaw- time of northern and southern hemisphere ice ages
- 14C dating of Midwestern moraines- how well is chronology known
- Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth
- Modern Sea Level Rise- contributions from different glacial sources
- Records and causes of sea level change
- Cultural response to late Holocene climate change
- Massive deglaciations triggered by ice shelf collapse
- Millennial Scale climate changes
- The new (2007) Vostok Ice Core record
- Interhemispheric comparison of climate proxies (choose moraines, ice cores, pollen etc.)
- The last 1000 or 2000 years of climate history- is the Hockey Stick real?
- Origin of the 100,000 year glacial cycle?
- Peopling of the Americas- what is role of ice ages in human migration to new world
- Evidence and significance of glacial megafloods – outside of Scablands
- History and Significance of ancient El Ninos
- History and Climatic Significance of Lake Agassiz
Schedule:
11/2 Introduction to assignment
11/6 Choose topic and one key article
- 11/11 Hand in List of Key Articles, as well as any supplementary articles
- 11/16 Annotated Bibliography of Key Articles
- 12/2 Presentations in Lab
- 12/7 Final Paper Due by 10 am (same as final take home exam)