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B016201 - QUATERNARY PALEONTOLOGY AND GEOLOGY
Main information
Teaching Language
Course Content
Suggested readings
Learning Objectives
Prerequisites
Teaching Methods
Course program
Academic Year 2014-15
Course year
First year - First Semester
Belonging Department
Earth Sciences (DST)
Course Type
Single education field course
Scientific Area
GEO/01 - PALEONTOLOGY AND PALEOECOLOGY
Credits
6
Teaching Hours
48
Teaching Term
22/09/2014 ⇒ 23/12/2014
Attendance required
No
Type of Evaluation
Final Grade
Course Content
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Course program
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Lectureship
Teaching Language
Italian
Course Content
The geologic age dating. Milankovitch. The role of the Sun and of the Cosmic Rays. Glacial and periglacial morphologies, sea-level excursions, terraces. Glacial and periglacial sediments, paleosols, lacustrine, eolic,cave sediments. Stable isotope and ice core stratigraphy. Palynologicial record (outline of paleoclimatology), vertebrates. Insular faunas. Pleistocene-Holocene extinctions. Evolution of human sustenance strategies.
Suggested readings (Search our library's catalogue)
Allison P. A. & Briggs D. E. G. eds. 1991.Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record. Topics in Geobiology. Plenum.
Barone R. 1980. Anatomia comparata dei mammiferi domestici. Vol. 1 - Edagricole
Chaplin, R. E. 1971. The study of animal bones from archaeological sites. Seminar Press; London.
Clutton-Brock J. 1999. Storia naturale della domesticazione dei mammiferi. Bollati Boringhieri
Davis S.J.M. 1987. The archaeology of animals. Batsford, London.
Lowe, J. J. and Walker, M. J. C. (1997). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments
(2nd edition). Prentice Hall., pp. 472.
Lyman, R. L. 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press.
Martin R.E. 1999. Taphonomy, a process approach. Cambridge University Press
Reitz E.J. & Wing E.S. 1999. Zooarchaeology. Cambridge University Press
Weigelt J 1989. Recent Vertebrate Carcasses and Their Paleobiological Implications. University of Chicago Press
Barone R. 1980. Anatomia comparata dei mammiferi domestici. Vol. 1 - Edagricole
Chaplin, R. E. 1971. The study of animal bones from archaeological sites. Seminar Press; London.
Clutton-Brock J. 1999. Storia naturale della domesticazione dei mammiferi. Bollati Boringhieri
Davis S.J.M. 1987. The archaeology of animals. Batsford, London.
Lowe, J. J. and Walker, M. J. C. (1997). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments
(2nd edition). Prentice Hall., pp. 472.
Lyman, R. L. 1994. Vertebrate Taphonomy. Cambridge University Press.
Martin R.E. 1999. Taphonomy, a process approach. Cambridge University Press
Reitz E.J. & Wing E.S. 1999. Zooarchaeology. Cambridge University Press
Weigelt J 1989. Recent Vertebrate Carcasses and Their Paleobiological Implications. University of Chicago Press
Learning Objectives
Overall analysis of habitat changes and of the ensuing ecological dynamics over the last 2.6 million years aimed at understanding and learning the mechanisms of Earth’s climate, of its influence on the biosphere and on how it is recorded in the sediments.
Prerequisites
Background in geology and paleontology
Teaching Methods
Powerpoint-aided lectures and field experience on Quaternary stratigraphical successions
Course program
Time in Geology – linear and cyclic time. Relative and absolute time.
Geologic age dating – radiometric dating techniques used in Quaternary analysis; incremental dating; tephrochronology; chronology based on chemical alteration.
Astrochronology - dating of sediments with reference to astronomically tuned units; cyclic variations in stratigraphic recording. Milankovitch’s cycles: periodic variations in Earth’s orbital features (tilt of Earth’s rotation axis relative to the orbital plane – Equinox precession; tilt of Earth’s rotation axis relative to the ecliptic plane; orbital eccentricity). Solar and cosmic ray cycles: influence on Earth’s climate.
Glacial Quaternary – geomorphological evidence: glacial and periglacial morphologies, sea-level excursions, alluvial terrances, Quaternary morphologies at low latitudes. Lithological evidence: glacial and periglacial sediments, paleosols, lacustrine, eolic,cave sediments, ice-core stratigraphy. Heinrich events. Oxygen and carbon stable isotope stratigraphy.
Quaternary paleontology – outline of palynology, analysis of diatoms, plant macrofossils, insects, forams, ostracods, molluscs. Biochronology and characters of Quaternary vertebrates. Outline of human evolution and of human sustenance strategies (from necrophagy to hunting to domestication). The Younger Dryas and its possible causes. Overkill theory.
Insular colonization – ways of immigration, insular ecological dynamics, MacArthur and Wilson’s modles and Foster’s Island Rule.
Geologic age dating – radiometric dating techniques used in Quaternary analysis; incremental dating; tephrochronology; chronology based on chemical alteration.
Astrochronology - dating of sediments with reference to astronomically tuned units; cyclic variations in stratigraphic recording. Milankovitch’s cycles: periodic variations in Earth’s orbital features (tilt of Earth’s rotation axis relative to the orbital plane – Equinox precession; tilt of Earth’s rotation axis relative to the ecliptic plane; orbital eccentricity). Solar and cosmic ray cycles: influence on Earth’s climate.
Glacial Quaternary – geomorphological evidence: glacial and periglacial morphologies, sea-level excursions, alluvial terrances, Quaternary morphologies at low latitudes. Lithological evidence: glacial and periglacial sediments, paleosols, lacustrine, eolic,cave sediments, ice-core stratigraphy. Heinrich events. Oxygen and carbon stable isotope stratigraphy.
Quaternary paleontology – outline of palynology, analysis of diatoms, plant macrofossils, insects, forams, ostracods, molluscs. Biochronology and characters of Quaternary vertebrates. Outline of human evolution and of human sustenance strategies (from necrophagy to hunting to domestication). The Younger Dryas and its possible causes. Overkill theory.
Insular colonization – ways of immigration, insular ecological dynamics, MacArthur and Wilson’s modles and Foster’s Island Rule.