The World History of Climate Change

[Trax]

I'm starting this thread to answer a question that Curbie asked but I think it would be a cool place to discuss topics and events about climate change.
All climate change and unusual weather events are welcome but please no radical political debates. Thanks.

The question was "What is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?".

The history of the world is divided into Eras. And each Era is divided into Periods. And Each Period is divided into Epochs. It's like a clock that's divided into hours, minutes, and seconds. For the history of the world it's Eras, Periods, and Epochs.
The last 2 Eras were the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.

The Mesozoic Era is divided into the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. It was all about dinosaurs and lasted from 250-65 million years ago. This Era ended when the dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

The next Era (the one we live in) is called the Cenozoic Era. The Periods of this Era are the Paleogene, the Neogene, and the Quaternary.
The Epochs of the Paleogene period are the Paleocene, the Eocene, and the Oligocene.

56 million years ago, at the end of the Paleocene Epoch (leading into the Eocene Epoch), the Earth started warming up. In 20,000 years the temp rose 11*F and mass extinctions occured - especially in the oceans but on land too. There was also a huge rise in the carbon footprints of things like volcanoes and earthquakes.
The event is called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
There are 8 geologic events in the history of the world that resemble what is happening now but the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum is the one that resembles it the most.

Btw, we are still living in the Cenozoic Era but now we're in the Quaternary Period that started about 2.6 million years ago. The 2 Epochs of the Quaternary Period are the Pleistocene and the Holocene. The Holocene Epoch we live in started about 12,000 years ago.

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Okay! The rest of the thread can be used to ask questions and to discuss the great Dust Bowl, epic earthquakes, droughts, or anything else weather related. Have fun!

 

[rockhound]

Good explanation, trax. It's just by luck that we live in the times we do now. Not really so strange that we think of the present as normal, usual or "the way it should be". It's all we know.

 

[RonsGarden]

Thanks for the summary in a nutshell Josh!

 

[woodstock]

very interesting information.......you learn something everyday and I just did...

 

[lynpenny]

The history of geology is a glance at the future. Climate change has occurred on Earth many times. There have been lots of reasons for this and as it changes so does the inhabitants. Man needs to adjust to the climate and find ways to live where we are not in danger of a catastrophic incident. That said the plate tectonics are a very interesting study. I hope because I took the mid term yesterday that I've learned some of that. I think volcanoes and earthquakes are so cool to study but would have to have to deal with them.

 

[Crabbergirl]

Great job Josh. Boy when you read something like this you realize just how much you have forgotten over the years. The saying "use it or lose it" sure applies in this case.

History repeats itself not only in human behaviors but in the world of climate and change. Predictions of future weather events are based on what has happened in the past as a base for comparison to current conditions. this same theory can be applied to finance and economics, if you are so inclined. Most forward statistics all come from the past

 

[Trax]

Thanks guys! Btw, I'm working on an accurate Geologic timeline chart. I'll post it in the thread when I'm finished.
I know people have different ideas about things and that's cool. I mean, nobody ever really saw a dinosaur and nobody can be totally certain how old anything is anyway. I do respect other peoples ideas cause nobody knows everything.

One thing I wanted to add. It's about the Ice Age we're living in right now...
Okay. When everybody gets off the floor and stops laughing I'll continue...

First about Ice Ages. They don't just start and stop. An Ice Age is a series of glaciations and they last more than a million years. First the ice forms and drifts then it melts. Then it does the same thing again. This happens lots of times during an ice age.

The last Ice Age is called the Quaternary Ice Age and it started 2,588,000 years ago. The next to the last glaciation was 25,000 years ago & the last one was 13,000 years ago. They've been happening every 12,000 years and it's been 13,000 years since the last one so we're 1,000 years overdue.
The scientists know less about what causes the glaciation periods than they do about the weather but we're having climate changes now and that could be part of the start of a glaciation period - It is possible since nobody knows how they start or what starts them.

Anyway, that's def something to think about.

Edit - Ice Ages are a mix of warm periods that last thousands of years and the glaciations.

 

[RonsGarden]

Now if you can work in solar weather there would be a co-relation with peaks and lows with maximum and minimum glaciation! Unfortunetly Solar Weather science is still in its infantcy! It is only 25 years since scientist have made any meaningful understanding on how the changes in the sun's output effects our climate.
Then there's shifts in our orbit around the sun and many other variables that we simply do not know enough about or haven't dicovered yet!
Then there's continental drift and volcanism to factor into what triggers cold periods on a global level!
Human activity is a major factor whether we will see another period of major glaciation any time in our forseeable future, as we are going into a temperature maximum on a global scale! Our increasing carbon release will more then likely speed up this warming trend at a faster pace never seen before!
A good example is the last 12 months and July's major heat increase and drought! We are seeing unprecidented increases in temperature worldwide with more extreme weather events.

 

[klevelyn]

Very good information, I think we are in a changing weather pattern that may be effected by our industrial society. I don't think we are willing to shut our industries down, soo I guess we live with the changes. I think the earth is good at adapting to us.