Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science

3. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-0-323-99931-1
Verlag: William Andrew Publishing

Medienkombination, Englisch, Format (B × H): 215 mm x 276 mm

Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Third Edition, Five Volume Set, brings together the multidisciplinary expertise needed to understand the history of humans, life, environmental and climate change, and understand what we may expect over the coming decades. Quaternary Science comprises studies of the physical and biological world during the time of continental glaciations in the last 2.6 million years. This interval is critical to our understanding of the modern world, as the current flora, fauna, and physical environment have been shaped by events in the Quaternary. The Quaternary is the only geological period with one foot in the past and one foot in the present. Since publication of the previous edition, our understanding of many topics has been revolutionized by new discoveries and new techniques. The development of ancient DNA studies, for example, has revolutionized our thinking about the origins, dispersal, and population dynamics of our ancestors. Every new aDNA analysis from ancient human remains causes the story to become more complex. We are the sole survivors of the genus Homo, yet we harbor genetic fragments from other closely related but long-extinct lineages. The Quaternary is uniquely situated as a laboratory in which to study the shaping of the modern world, including biotic responses to large-scale environmental change. This new edition of Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science is the most comprehensive account of state-of-the-art research in the field.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Elias, Scott A.

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geologie Stratigraphie
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Historische Geologie, Geochronologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Historical Overview Quaternary Climate Change Dating Quaternary Events Trapped Electron Dating Methods Paleomagnetic dating Chemical Dating Methods Biological Dating Methods Sediment Dating Methods Glacial Landforms History of Quaternary Glaciations Paleosols and Wind-Blown Sediments Lake Level Studies Quaternary Paleobotany (Palynology) Plant Macrofossils Diatoms Quaternary Vertebrate Records Insect fossils Paleoceanography Ice Core Records Humans in the Quaternary Proglacial Lakes and Megafloods Use of Quaternary Proxies in Forensic Science Tree-ring Studies

Über Autor(innen)

Elias, Scott A.
Scott Elias grew up in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States. He attended the University of Colorado, and got BA degree in Environmental Biology. He continued his academic career at the same university, and received his PhD in Environmental Biology in 1980. His thesis topic concerned paleoecology of Holocene-age peat deposits in arctic Canada, focusing on insect fossil analyses.

Following his PhD, Scott became a post-doctoral fellow under Prof. Alan Morgan in the Earth Science Department of the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He also spent six months as a visiting scientist at the Geobotanical Institute of the University of Berne, Switzerland, in 1981. Scott returned to the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, in 1982, and was a research associate and fellow of the institute during the next 20 years. His research continued to focus on paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on fossil insect assemblages. He has authored six books on paleoecology and natural history of Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, and the arid Southwest. In 2000, Scott accepted a lectureship in the Geography Department of Royal Holloway, University of London. He also has maintained an affiliation with INSTAAR. He is now a Reader in Physical Geography at Royal Holloway.