Università Roma Tre

Historical definition of Quaternary: paleontological and climatic criteria. (1h).
Historic excursus on the Plio-Quaternary chronostratigraphy. The Plio-Quaternary boundary. Ages and Stages of the marine Quaternary. GSSP and the most relevant Quaternary marine Italian successions. (8h).
The climate system: atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere (3 h)
The cryosphere: glaciers, permafrost, ice sheet, sea ice (3 h)
The climate system and its natural and anthropogenic perturbations: Variation of the relative position of the continents, astronomical, greenhouse gases, aerosols, volcanic eruptions, solar activity, land use variations, meteorite impacts, (3h)
Climate variability, climate change, anthropocene (3h)
The paleoclimate: main data for the reconstruction of climate change in the past (ice cores, speleothems, marine cores, etc.). (3 hours)
History of climatology, international organisations, Global warming: reality and negation (3 h)
Climate change simulations for the 21st century (3 h)
Impacts of Climate Change: cryosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere. (3h).
The economic costs of climate change (3 h)
Quaternary isotopic stratigraphy. Quaternary magnetostratigraphy. Quaternary dating methods (2h). Sea-level oscillations during Quaternary: geomorphological and palaeobiological sea-level indicators. The eustatic curves (1h).
Plio-Quaternary marine biostratigraphy: planktonic and benthonic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils, marine molluscs and ostracods (concept of “northern” and “senegalese” guests) (8h).
History of the continental Plio-Quaternary stratigraphy (2h).
Plio-Quaternary biochronology based on large and small mammals, freshwater molluscs and non-marine ostracods. Pollen stratigraphy and climatic stratigraphy (6h).

Pdf and copies of recent specialistic scientific publications given by the teacher

The climate system: atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere (3 h)
The cryosphere: glaciers, permafrost, ice sheet, sea ice (3 h)
The climate system and its natural and anthropogenic perturbations: Variation of the relative position of the continents, astronomical, greenhouse gases, aerosols, volcanic eruptions, solar activity, land use variations, meteorite impacts, (3h)
Climate variability, climate change, anthropocene (3h)
The paleoclimate: main data for the reconstruction of climate change in the past (ice cores, speleothems, marine cores, etc.). (3 hours)
History of climatology, international organisations, Global warming: reality and negation (3 h)
Climate change simulations for the 21st century (3 h)
Impacts of Climate Change: cryosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere. (3h).
The economic costs of climate change (3 h)

Pdf and copies of recent specialistic scientific publications given by the teacher

Anderson, D.E., Goudie, A.S. & Parker, A.G., 2007. Global environments through the Quaternary. Oxford University Press, pp. 392.
Williams, M., Dunkerly, D., De Deckker, P., Kershaw, P. & Chappell, J., 1998. Quaternary environments. Arnold eds.
Andersen B. G. & Borns, H. W. jr, 1994The Ice Age world. Scandinavian University Press.
Malatesta A., 1985. Paleobiologia dell’era glaciale. NIS, Roma.
Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports (AR4 e AR5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) https://www.ipcc.ch
Ruddiman, Earth's climate: past and future. New York: Freeman, 2008.