Tropical and sub-tropical West Africa - Marine and continental changes during the Late Quaternary

Tropical and sub-tropical West Africa - Marine and continental changes during the Late Quaternary PDF Author: P. Giresse
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080556035
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
West Africa and the eastern Atlantic stretching from Mauritania in the north to Namibia in the south offer a large latitudinal stretch incorporating nearly symmetrical climatic gradients from the Equator. On the time scale of Quaternary Glacial and Interglacial cycles, today, we possess well-documented and recently published marine sedimentary records showing changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulations and terrestrial fluxes. Deep-sea sediment records contain a wide range of palaeoenvironmental indicators like oxygen and carbon isotopes, alkenones, foraminiferal and other planktonic assemblages over time periods up to and greater than 125,000 years. These are signals of temperature and circulation shifts and allow Interglacial and Glacial comparisons on a regional and inter-hemispheric scale. However, this effort to synthesize the existing knowledge cannot yet aspire to a global modelling. Linking with terrestrial records, albeit spatially patchy and generally lacking a firm chronology, this book points to shorter time scale chronologies from lakes, marshes and river deposits. Diverse and not very wellknown literature, both French and English, is reported here. Lastly, the book records recent knowledge of the first steps of human occupation of frequently hostile environments and considers the environmental impact of ancient and modern societies.* Covers the recent studies about marine Quaternary environments off West Africa, as well as continental Quaternary environments of tropical and sub-tropical West Africa (over 10,000 to 100,000 years)* Compares the parallel between palae-oenvironmental trends according to latitudinal gradients

Tropical and sub-tropical West Africa - Marine and continental changes during the Late Quaternary

Tropical and sub-tropical West Africa - Marine and continental changes during the Late Quaternary PDF Author: P. Giresse
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080556035
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
West Africa and the eastern Atlantic stretching from Mauritania in the north to Namibia in the south offer a large latitudinal stretch incorporating nearly symmetrical climatic gradients from the Equator. On the time scale of Quaternary Glacial and Interglacial cycles, today, we possess well-documented and recently published marine sedimentary records showing changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulations and terrestrial fluxes. Deep-sea sediment records contain a wide range of palaeoenvironmental indicators like oxygen and carbon isotopes, alkenones, foraminiferal and other planktonic assemblages over time periods up to and greater than 125,000 years. These are signals of temperature and circulation shifts and allow Interglacial and Glacial comparisons on a regional and inter-hemispheric scale. However, this effort to synthesize the existing knowledge cannot yet aspire to a global modelling. Linking with terrestrial records, albeit spatially patchy and generally lacking a firm chronology, this book points to shorter time scale chronologies from lakes, marshes and river deposits. Diverse and not very wellknown literature, both French and English, is reported here. Lastly, the book records recent knowledge of the first steps of human occupation of frequently hostile environments and considers the environmental impact of ancient and modern societies.* Covers the recent studies about marine Quaternary environments off West Africa, as well as continental Quaternary environments of tropical and sub-tropical West Africa (over 10,000 to 100,000 years)* Compares the parallel between palae-oenvironmental trends according to latitudinal gradients

The Quaternary in the Tropics

The Quaternary in the Tropics PDF Author: Klaus Heine
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031319214
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 685

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Book Description


Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change

Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change PDF Author:
Publisher: Newnes
ISBN: 044453637X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Ostracod crustaceans, common microfossils in marine and freshwater sedimentary records, supply evidence of past climatic conditions via indicator species, transfer function and mutual climatic range approaches as well as the trace element and stable isotope geochemistry of their shells. As methods of using ostracods as Quaternary palaeoclimate proxies have developed, so too has a critical awareness of their complexities, potential and limitations. This book combines up-to-date reviews (covering previous work and summarising the state of the art) with presentations of new, cutting-edge science (data and interpretations as well as methodological developments) to form a major reference work that will constitute a durable bench-mark in the science of Ostracoda and Quaternary climate change. - In-depth and focused treatment of palaeoclimate applications - Provides durable benchmark and guide for all future work on ostracods - Presents new, cutting-edge science

Advances in Quaternary Entomology

Advances in Quaternary Entomology PDF Author: Scott A. Elias
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080958494
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Advances in Quaternary Entomology addresses the science of fossil insects by demonstrating their immense contribution to our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental and climatological record of the past 2.6 million years. In this comprehensive survey of the field, Scott A. Elias recounts development of scholarship, reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world, and points to rewarding areas for future research. The study of Quaternary entomology is becoming an important tool in understanding past environmental changes. Most insects are quite specific as to habitat requirements, and those in non-island environments have undergone almost no evolutionary change in the Quaternary period. We therefore can use their modern ecological requirements as a basis for interpreting what past environments must have been like. - Describes and identifies principal characteristics of fossil insect groups of the Quaternary period - Ties Quaternary insect studies to the larger field of paleoecology - Offers global coverage of the subject with specific regional examples - Illustrates specific methods and procedures for conducting research in Quaternary Entomology - Offers unique insight into overlying trends and broader implications of Quaternary climate change based on insect life of the period

The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego PDF Author: J. Rabassa
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080558895
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
Written by highly qualified Argentine scientists and scholars, this book focuses on the uninterrupted geological and paleontological record of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego since the Miocene-Pliocene boundary to the arrival of man and modern times. This region is an outstanding area for research, with significant interest at the international level. It provides an updated overview of the scientific work in all related fields with a strong paleoclimatic approach. Patagonia has also been a sort of a "paleoclimatic bridge" between the Antarctic Peninsula and the more northerly land masses, since the final opening of the Drake Passage in the middle Miocene. Timely and comprehensive, The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego is the only monograph book written in English.* One-stop resource for paleontological information of the Late Cenozoic of Patagonia* Covers 5 million years in the uninterrupted history of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego* Comprehensive coverage of the region written by highly qualified Argentine scientists and scholars

Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology

Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology PDF Author: J. Ehlers
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444535373
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1127

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Book Description
The book presents an up-to-date, detailed overview of the Quaternary glaciations all over the world, not only with regard to stratigraphy but also with regard to major glacial landforms and the extent of the respective ice sheets. The locations of key sites are included. The information is presented in digital, uniformly prepared maps which can be used in a Geographical Information System (GIS) such as ArcView or ArcGIS. The accompanying text supplies the information on how the data were obtained (geomorphology, geological mapping, air photograph evaluation, satellite imagery), how the features were dated (14C, TL, relative stratigraphy) and how reliable they are supposed to be. All references to the underlying basic publications are included. Where controversial interpretations are possible e.g. in Siberia or Tibet, this is pointed out. As a result, the information on Quaternary glaciations worldwide will be much improved and supplied in a uniform digital format. The information on the glacial limits is compiled in digital form by the coordinators of the project, and is available for download at: http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780444534477/ - Completely updated detailed coverage of worldwide Quaternary glaciations - Information in digital, uniformly prepared maps which can be used in a GIS such as ArcView or ArcGis - Step-by-step guideline how to open and use ArcGis files - Possibility to convert the shapefiles into GoogleEarth kmz-files - Availability of chronological controls

Origins of Human Innovation and Creativity

Origins of Human Innovation and Creativity PDF Author: Scott A. Elias
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444538216
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Innovation and creativity are two of the key characteristics that distinguish cultural transmission from biological transmission. This book explores a number of questions concerning the nature and timing of the origins of human creativity. What were the driving factors in the development of new technologies? What caused the stasis in stone tool technological innovation in the Early Pleistocene? Were there specific regions and episodes of enhanced technological development, or did it occur at a steady pace where ancestral humans lived? The authors are archaeologists who address these questions, armed with data from ancient artefacts such as shell beads used as jewelry, primitive musical instruments, and sophisticated techniques required to fashion certain kinds of stone into tools. Providing 'state of art' discussions that step back from the usual archaeological publications that focus mainly on individual site discoveries, this book presents the full picture on how and why creativity in Middle to Late Pleistocene archeology/anthropology evolved. Gives a full, original and multidisciplinary perspective on how and why creativity evolved in the Middle to Late Pleistocene Enhances our understanding of the big leaps forward in creativity at certain times Assesses the intellectual creativity of Homo erectus, H. neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens via their artefacts

The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain

The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain PDF Author: Nick Ashton
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444535985
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project (AHOB) funded by the Leverhulme Trust began in 2001 and brought together researchers from a range of disciplines with the aim of investigating the record of human presence in Britain from the earliest occupation until the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. Study of changes in climate, landscape and biota over the last million years provides the environmental backdrop to understanding human presence and absence together with the development of new technologies. This book brings together the multidisciplinary work of the project. The chapters present the results of new fieldwork and research on old sites from museum collections using an array of new analytical techniques. - Features an up-to-date treatment of the record of human presence in the British Isles during the Palaeolithic period (700,000 - 10,000 years before present) - Takes multidisciplinary approach that includes archaeology, geochemistry, geochronology, stratigraphy and sedimentology - Coincides with the culmination of the AHOB project in 2010, providing a benchmark statement on the record of human occupation in Britain that can be utilized and tested by future research

The Myrdalsjokull Ice Cap, Iceland

The Myrdalsjokull Ice Cap, Iceland PDF Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080932002
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Lowland glaciers are usually considered the best analogs for formerly glaciated areas and as such, many Icelandic glaciers have been intensively investigated with regard to process-orientated sediment-landform interrelationships. The Mýrdalsjökull ice cap has, thus, served as an excellent "ice-age laboratory." Furthermore, a substantial effort has been directed toward understanding the interaction between volcanic activity and glacier response, such as meltwater outbursts (jökulhlaups) and sudden events of rapidly flowing glacier ice. The book reviews the following themes related to Mýrdalsjökull: glaciology, glacial and quaternary geology, sedimentology, tephrochronology and eruption history of Katla, and crustal movements. All authors are involved in research about the subglacial Katla volcano and Mýrdalsjökull. - Book covers all aspects of the ice cap and volcano dynamics - Comprehensive reviews with updated results - Editors and authors are well established scientists with research experience from Myrdalsjokull - Standard reference work for Myrdalsjokull

Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics

Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics PDF Author: Jürgen Runge
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000431150
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
This book celebrates the relaunch of the African Pollen Database, presents state-of-the-art of modern and ancient pollen data from sub-Saharan Africa, and promotes Open Access science. Pollen grains are powerful tools for the study of past vegetation dynamics because they preserve well within sedimentary deposits and have a huge diversity in ornamentation that allows different taxa to be determined. The reconstruction of past vegetation from the examination of ancient pollen records thus can be used to characterize the nature of past landscapes (e.g. abundance of forests vs. grasslands), provide insights into changes in biodiversity, and gain empirical evidence of vegetation response to climatic change and human activity. In this, the 35th Volume of "Palaeoecology of Africa", we bring together new data and extensive synthetic reviews to provide novel insights into the relationships between human evolution, human activity, climate change and vegetation dynamics during the Quaternary, the last 2.6 million years. Current and ongoing climate and land-use change is exerting pressure on modern vegetation formations and threatening the livelihoods and wellbeing of many peoples in Africa. In this book the focus is on the Quaternary because it is during this geological period that the modern vegetation formations developed into their current configurations against a backdrop of high magnitude global climate change (glacial-interglacial cycles), human evolution, and a growing human land-use footprint. In this book the latest information is presented and collated from around the African continent to parameterize past vegetation states, identify the drivers of vegetation change, and assess the vegetation resilience to change. To achieve this research from two broad themes are covered: (i) the present is the key to the past (i.e. studies which improve our understanding of modern environments so that we can better interpret evidence from the past), and (ii) the past is the key to the future (i.e. studies which unlock information on how and why vegetation changed in the past so one can better anticipate trajectories of future change). This Open Access book will provide a strong foundation for future research exploring past ecological, environmental and climatic change within Africa and the surrounding islands. The book is organized regionally (covering western, eastern, central, and southern Africa) and it contains specialized articles focused on particular topics (such as modern pollen-vegetation relationships and fire as a driver of vegetation change), as well as regional and pan-African syntheses drawing together decades of research to assess key scientific questions (including the role of climate in driving vegetation change and the role of vegetation change in human evolution). These articles will be useful to students and teachers from high school to the highest level of university who are interested in the origins and dynamics of vegetation in Africa. Furthermore, it is also meant to provide societally relevant information that can act as an inspiration for the development of sustainable management practices for the future.