Bärbel Hönisch on Reconstructing Climate in the Distant Past

12/17/20 • 25 min

Bärbel Hönisch uses the skeletal remains of foraminifera as her raw material in reconstructing ocean and atmospheric conditions that prevailed in past geological periods. Trace chemical constituents in these creatures can record the temperature of the ocean and carbon dioxide of the atmosphere. Climate models being applied to the present day are being validated by what she is discovering about the planet’s past evolution.

Go to geologybites.com for illustrations relating to this podcast and to learn more about Geology Bites.

Go to geologybites.com for illustrations relating to this podcast and to learn more about Geology Bites.

Previous Episode

David Rothery on Volcanism in the Solar System

David Rothery investigates volcanism on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System using remote-sensing Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes. Mercury is his present focus, and he is lead co-investigator for geology on the X-ray spectrometer aboard BepiColombo, an ESA mission currently on its way to Mercury. He describes some intriguing puzzles about Mercury that he hopes BepiColombo will resolve, as well as a type of volcanism occurring on some icy bodies in the outer solar system called cryovolcanism.

Go to geologybites.com for illustrations supporting this podcast and to learn more about Geology Bites.

Next Episode

Cathy Constable on Mapping the Earth's Magnetic Field in Time and Space

Cathy Constable reconstructs global maps of the Earth’s magnetic field over timescales from millennia to millions of years using the remnant magnetism “frozen” into human artifacts and rocks. This has revealed surprising patterns of variation that in turn cast light on the processes in the Earth’s core that are responsible for generating the field.

Cathy Constable is a Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Go to geologybites.com to see an animation of the global magnetic field patterns around the time of the last major excursion about 40,000 years ago when the Earth's magnetic field almost vanished entirely.