Climate Trek
Exploring the Forces that Shape Planetary Change
By Mike Tidwell

Climate Trek takes a whole-earth, system-wide perspective to show the forces that shape climate. This Table of Contents represents a concentrated version of scientific data from numerous disciplines. Taken altogether, it reveals the complex, mysterious realms of our planet, from mere atoms to vast oceanic plates, and how they form a powerfully interrelated, interdependent whole.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Forces that Shape Planetary Change

SECTION I: FIRST, BACK TO SCHOOL

CHAPTER 1: ATOMS AND PHOTONS

Matter
Cooking Up the Matter
The Magic of Matter
Electrical Forces Are Bigger Than You Think
Electrons and Photons
Atoms and Chemical Reactions
Electrons and Bonding Atoms
Nuclei and Radioactivity
Isotopes and Isotope Ratios
Ions
Energy

CHAPTER 2: ATOMS ON THE MOVE

Photons and Moving Atoms
Electrical Forces and Moving Atoms
Gravitational Sorting and Moving Atoms
Radioactive Heating and Moving Atoms
Magnetic Fields and Moving Atoms

CHAPTER 3: IMPORTANT CONCEPTS ABOUT CHANGE

Linear and Nonlinear
Isotope Ratios
Buffers
Temperature and Pressure
Equilibrium
Pressure, Temperature, and Henry’s Law
Supersaturated Solutions
Heat Capacity
The Albedo Effect
Measuring Earth’s Surface Temperature

CHAPTER 4: TELLING TEMPERATURE

Alkenone Paleothermometers
Magnesium Calcium Thermometers
Ocean Water, Oxygen Isotope Ratios and Temperature
Ice, Oxygen Isotope Ratios and Temperature

CHAPTER 5: TELLING TIME

Radioactive Clocks
Genetic Clocks
Magnetic Clocks

CHAPTER 6: ANALYZING ATOMS: CRUCIAL CLUES ON THE CLIMATE TREK

Stratigraphy: Layers, Data and Dates
Palynomorphs: Tiny But Tough
Biomarkers: Molecular Fossils with a Tale to Tell
Messages in Marine Mud
Core Truths
Records in the Rings
Holey Leaves
Pollen Tracks
Messages in the Middens

SECTION II: THE SUN SIDE OF THE SANDWICH

Who Are the Climate Players?
The Climate Playground Is Smaller Than You Think

CHAPTER 7: THE SUN AND SOLAR PHOTONS

Photons from the Sun
Variations in Solar Intensity
Sunspots
The Solar Cycles or Milankovitch Theory

SECTION III: THE EARTH SIDE OF THE SANDWICH

CHAPTER 8: THE EARTH AND MOVING ATOMS

Journey to the Center of the Earth
Earth and Sun
Journey to the Center of the Earth
At the Core of the Matter
The Oldest Rocks
Convective Cooling and Moving Plates
Plate Tectonics
Mid-Oceanic Ridges
Oceanic Crust
Subduction Zones
Arc Volcanoes and Continents
Arc Volcanoes and Atmosphere
Large Igneous Provinces or Superplumes

CHAPTER 9: LIFE

Archaea
Cyanobacteria
Stromatolites
Cellular Evolution
Stress and Mutation
A Note on Human Bias

CHAPTER 10: METALS

Chelates: Nature’s Metal Claws
Metals and Carbon in Soils
Marine Iron and Carbon
Iron, Oxygen and Sulfur
Iron Carbonate
Zinc
Cobalt
Manganese
Sodium
Potassium
Nickel

CHAPTER 11: WATER

The Wonder of Water
Moving Water in the Atmosphere and Ocean
Sometimes It’s One Planet and Two Climates
Climate, Carbon and Ice in the North Atlantic
Glaciation
Antarctica
Finding Sea Level

NON-METALS: Hydrogen • Sulfur • Carbon • Oxygen

CHAPTER 12: HYDROGEN

Hydrogen Bonding
Acid and Base
Carbonic Acid
Chemical Erosion
Silicon, Carbon, and Chemical Erosion
The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau

CHAPTER 13: SULFUR

Sulfur, Marine Aerosols, and Cloud Formation
Sulfur, Terrestrial Aerosols, and Cloud Formation
Soil Aerosol
Organic Carbon Aerosol
Carbonaceous Aerosols
Sulfate Aerosols
Cloud Formation

CHAPTER 14: CARBON

The Carbon Cycle: Old School Versus New School
Carbon Surface Reservoirs
Unoxidized Carbon and the Deep Earth
Reading Moving Carbon

CHAPTER 15: OXYGEN

Rising Oxygen and Banded Iron Formations
Sulfur, Molybdenum, and Anoxic Oceans

CHAPTER 16: METHANE

Deep-earth Methane
Bogs, Methane and Carbon Dioxide
Methane, Sulfur, and the Hot Vent Community
Aerobic Oxidation of Methane
The Strange Stability of Oxygen in Earth’s Atmosphere
The Loaded Gun of Methane Hydrates
Anoxic Conditions
An Important Marine Rock Sequence
Black Shale

CHAPTER 17: EXTINCTION AND MOVING ATOMS

The 65 MYA Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Extinction Event and Iridium
The 251.4 MYA Permian-Triassic Extinction Event and Lead
The 55.5 MYA Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum Extinction Event
The 200 MYA Triassic-Jurassic Extinction Event and CAMP Eruption
The 90.4 MYA Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Extinction Event
The 364 MYA Devonian Mass Extinction
The 440 MYA Ordovician Mass Extinction
Extinction and Recovery

SECTION IV: THE THIN-FILM INSIDE THE EARTH-SUN SANDWICH

CHAPTER 18: GREENHOUSE GASES AND POLAR SWAMPS

Greenhouse Gases and Photons
Acidic Oceans and Carbon Dioxide
Warm Water Corals – The Canary in the Coalmine
When Atmospheric Carbon Is Stable
Boron and Deep-time Carbon Dioxide
Carbon and Ice: Dome C, Antarctica
What Mauna Loa Tells Us About Carbon Dioxide
Dawn Redwood’s Story
Polar Swamps

SECTION V: PAYING THE PRICE

CHAPTER 19: CHANGES IN THE SEA

Present and Future Impacts
The Gulf of Mexico
The Aleutian Islands
The North Sea
The Eastern Edge of the Ocean

CHAPTER 20: CHANGES ON LAND

Temperature and Precipitation Trends in North America
Northern Boreal Forest
Heat Waves

CHAPTER 21: CHANGES IN ICE

Permafrost
The Arctic Ocean
Greenland Glaciers
Antarctic Ice Shelves
The Antarctic Peninsula
The West Antarctica Ice Sheet

CHAPTER 22: PREDICTING TEMPERATURE

The Hydrocarbon Lifestyle and Georg Steller
An Elegant Bottleneck
Closing Thoughts

APPENDIX A: ELEMENTS and COMPOUNDS CITED
APPENDIX B: CHARTS and FIGURES
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX