James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages
ABSTRACT James Croll's Physical Theory of Secular Changes of Climate emerged during an age of revolution in geology that included the rise of the glacial theory and the search for its underlying causes. According to Croll, periods of high eccentricity are associated with the persistence of long...
Published in: | Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691021000177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691021000177 |
id |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s1755691021000177 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s1755691021000177 2023-05-15T16:39:18+02:00 James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages TZEDAKIS, Polychronis C. WOLFF, Eric W. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691021000177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691021000177 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh volume 112, issue 3-4, page 275-286 ISSN 1755-6910 1755-6929 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2021 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755691021000177 2022-04-07T09:00:22Z ABSTRACT James Croll's Physical Theory of Secular Changes of Climate emerged during an age of revolution in geology that included the rise of the glacial theory and the search for its underlying causes. According to Croll, periods of high eccentricity are associated with the persistence of long glacial epochs, within which glaciations occur in alternate hemispheres when winter is at aphelion every ~11,000 years; however, astronomical forcing is only able to produce glaciation by means of physical agencies (climate feedbacks) that amplify the small effects of varying seasonal irradiation. Croll understood the importance of interglacial deposits because they provided evidence for the occurrence of multiple glaciations within his long glacial epochs. He was aware of the limitations of the terrestrial record and suggested that deep-sea sediments would contain a continuous succession of glacial-interglacial cycles. Contrary to a widespread view, however, Croll was not envisaging the advent of palaeoceanographic exploration avant la lettre , but instead was drawing attention to the inadequacy of the land record as a testbed of his astronomical theory. Yet, the marine record did eventually deliver a test of astronomical theories almost exactly 100 years after the publication of his 1875 book Climate and Time in their Geological Relations . Here, we provide an historical account of the technological and scientific developments that led to this and a summary of insights on astronomically paced climate changes from marine, terrestrial and ice core records. We finally assess Croll's ideas in the context of our current understanding of the theory of ice ages. Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1 12 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science TZEDAKIS, Polychronis C. WOLFF, Eric W. James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
ABSTRACT James Croll's Physical Theory of Secular Changes of Climate emerged during an age of revolution in geology that included the rise of the glacial theory and the search for its underlying causes. According to Croll, periods of high eccentricity are associated with the persistence of long glacial epochs, within which glaciations occur in alternate hemispheres when winter is at aphelion every ~11,000 years; however, astronomical forcing is only able to produce glaciation by means of physical agencies (climate feedbacks) that amplify the small effects of varying seasonal irradiation. Croll understood the importance of interglacial deposits because they provided evidence for the occurrence of multiple glaciations within his long glacial epochs. He was aware of the limitations of the terrestrial record and suggested that deep-sea sediments would contain a continuous succession of glacial-interglacial cycles. Contrary to a widespread view, however, Croll was not envisaging the advent of palaeoceanographic exploration avant la lettre , but instead was drawing attention to the inadequacy of the land record as a testbed of his astronomical theory. Yet, the marine record did eventually deliver a test of astronomical theories almost exactly 100 years after the publication of his 1875 book Climate and Time in their Geological Relations . Here, we provide an historical account of the technological and scientific developments that led to this and a summary of insights on astronomically paced climate changes from marine, terrestrial and ice core records. We finally assess Croll's ideas in the context of our current understanding of the theory of ice ages. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
TZEDAKIS, Polychronis C. WOLFF, Eric W. |
author_facet |
TZEDAKIS, Polychronis C. WOLFF, Eric W. |
author_sort |
TZEDAKIS, Polychronis C. |
title |
James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
title_short |
James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
title_full |
James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
title_fullStr |
James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
title_full_unstemmed |
James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
title_sort |
james croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691021000177 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691021000177 |
genre |
ice core |
genre_facet |
ice core |
op_source |
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh volume 112, issue 3-4, page 275-286 ISSN 1755-6910 1755-6929 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755691021000177 |
container_title |
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
12 |
_version_ |
1766029640005058560 |