Ice Sheets and Late Quaternary Environmental Change


Book Description

Ice Sheets and Late Quaternary Environmental Change provides a detailed account of the temporal and spatial distribution of ice sheets during the last ice age, and how these ice masses interacted with the environment. This is the first book in 20 years to detail the sizes of ice sheets during the last glaciation and the first to discuss their role in past climate change. Arranged in two parts, the first part provides the tools required for evaluating past ice sheets while the second part uses these tools to establish the size, extent and dynamics of late Quaternary ice sheets. Assuming no prior knowledge of Quaternary Science, the discussion progresses from the basic principles of how and why ices ages occur, to the interpretation of proxy records of past climate and ocean change. Instructive accounts of how the geological record can be used as evidence of former ice sheet behaviour and a discussion on the role of numerical models in understanding interaction between ice sheets, oceans and the atmosphere are included in this book. Details of former ice sheets are presented by geographical region along with a number of critical new theories on their size and behaviour. This book would appeal to 2nd/3rd year students of Quaternary Science, most University Geography, Earth Science or Geology departments, as well as researchers and academics in Quaternary Science.




Ice Age Earth


Book Description

Ice Age Earth provides the first detailed review of global environmental change in the Late Quaternary. Significant geological and climatic events are analysed within a review of glacial and periglacial history. The melting history of the last ice sheets reveals that complex, dynamic and catastrophic change occurred, change which affected the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans and the stability of the Earth's crust.




Late Quaternary Environmental Change


Book Description

Late Quaternary Environmental Change addresses the interaction between human agency and other environmental factors in the landscapes, particularly of the temperate zone. Taking an ecological approach, the authors cover the last 20,000 years during which the climate has shifted from arctic severity to the conditions of the present interglacial environment.




Late Quaternary Environmental Change


Book Description

Late Quaternary Environmental Change addresses the interaction between human agency and other environmental factors in the landscapes, particularly of the temperate zone. Taking an ecological approach, the authors cover the last 20,000 years during which the climate has shifted from arctic severity to the conditions of the present interglacial environment.




Ice Sheets and Late Quaternary Environmental Change


Book Description

Ice Sheets and Late Quaternary Environmental Change provides a detailed account of the temporal and spatial distribution of ice sheets during the last ice age, and how these ice masses interacted with the environment. This is the first book in 20 years to detail the sizes of ice sheets during the last glaciation and the first to discuss their role in past climate change. Arranged in two parts, the first part provides the tools required for evaluating past ice sheets while the second part uses these tools to establish the size, extent and dynamics of late Quaternary ice sheets. Assuming no prior knowledge of Quaternary Science, the discussion progresses from the basic principles of how and why ices ages occur, to the interpretation of proxy records of past climate and ocean change. Instructive accounts of how the geological record can be used as evidence of former ice sheet behaviour and a discussion on the role of numerical models in understanding interaction between ice sheets, oceans and the atmosphere are included in this book. Details of former ice sheets are presented by geographical region along with a number of critical new theories on their size and behaviour. This book would appeal to 2nd/3rd year students of Quaternary Science, most University Geography, Earth Science or Geology departments, as well as researchers and academics in Quaternary Science.




Late Quaternary Environmental Change


Book Description

Adopting an ecological approach to archaeology this book discusses the relationships between people and environments against a backdrop of climate change.




Glaciers and Environmental Change


Book Description

This authoritative new text provides a thorough, updated account of glaciers and ice sheets as monitors and indicators of environmental change. It examines the record of environmental change within glaciers and ice sheets, and that of past environments left by retreating glaciers. These themes are examined within the context of environmental change in general and global climate change in particular. Methods of using palaeoenvironmental records are assessed and the implications for future environmental change are discussed. Evidence from glacier ice left in the landscape or within the geological record, provides one of the most important sources of information on environmental change. 'Glaciers and Environmental Change' is a comprehensive account of glaciers andice sheets as monitors and indictaors of environmental change. Based on the latest research, this book consolidates a diverse range of data and explains their applications. it also assesses methods of using palaeoenvironmental records. This authoritative new text examines not only the records of environmental change within glaciers but also that of past environments left by retreating glaciers. These themes are examined within the context of contemporary debates in environmental change and the volume also seeks to draw conclusions concernign past, present and future climatic change in relation to glaciers.




Glacier Science and Environmental Change


Book Description

Glacier Science and Environmental Change is an authoritative and comprehensive reference work on contemporary issues in glaciology. It explores the interface between glacier science and environmental change, in the past, present, and future. Written by the world’s foremost authorities in the subject and researchers at the scientific frontier where conventional wisdom of approach comes face to face with unsolved problems, this book provides: state-of-the-art reviews of the key topics in glaciology and related disciplines in environmental change cutting-edge case studies of the latest research an interdisciplinary synthesis of the issues that draw together the research efforts of glaciologists and scientists from other areas such as geologists, hydrologists, and climatologists color-plate section (with selected extra figures provided in color at www.blackwellpublishing.com/knight). The topics in this book have been carefully chosen to reflect current priorities in research, the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, and the developing relationship between glaciology and studies of environmental change. Glacier Science and Environmental Change is essential reading for advanced undergraduates, postgraduate research students, and professional researchers in glaciology, geology, geography, geophysics, climatology, and related disciplines.




The Cryosphere and Global Environmental Change


Book Description

This is the first textbook to consider all aspects of thecryosphere system in the context of global environmental changedriven by human activity and climate. Considers all six aspects of the cryosphere – ice sheets,glacier ice, permafrost, river and lake ice, sea ice and snow– in the context of global environmental change driven byhuman activity and climate. Describes a new concept of cryosphere transience and landscapetransition which links climate, hydrology, ecology andgeomorphology. Looks at the evidence, process, and patterns of cryospherechange, on local and global scales. Provides a wealth of data to inform the current globalenvironmental change debate. Additional resources for this book can be found at: ahref="http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&bcsId=5064&itemId=140512976X"http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=index&bcsId=5064&itemId=140512976X/a.




Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics


Book Description

The global climate changes that led to the expansion and contraction of high latitude ice sheets during the Quaternary period were associated with equally dramatic changes in tropical environments. These included shifts in vegetation zones, changes in the hydrology and ecology of lakes and rivers, and fluctuations in the size of mountain glaciers and sandy deserts. Until recently it was thought that such changes were triggered by fluctuations in the distribution of polar ice cover. Now there is increasing recognition that the tropics themselves have acted as drivers of global climate change over a range of timescales. The aim of Quaternary Environmental Change in the Tropics is to provide a synthesis of the changes that occurred in tropical terrestrial and marine systems during the Pleistocene and Holocene, complementing data-derived reconstructions with output from state-of-the-art climate models. It is targeted at final-year undergraduate students and research specialists, but will provide an introduction to tropical Quaternary research for a variety of other readers.