The course is organized in two modules (Module 1 of 6 CFU and Module 2 of 3 CFU) deals with the following topics:
Module 1
Climate proxies (16 h):
Climate archives; climate forcing; Plate Tectonics; how sedimentary rocks are formed; basic principles of stratigraphy;
Sea level changes (8 h):
eustatism and relative variations of sea level; climate changes to the tectonic scale;
The Carbon cycle and isotopic stratigraphy (8 h):
the greenhouse climate regime in the geological past; from the greenhouse regime to the icehouse regime;
Milankovic’s cycles (16 h):
climate changes to the orbital scale; insolation control of ice sheets;
Module 2
Late Quaternary climatic oscillations (12 h):
the climate during the Quaternary period and focus on last 120,000 years climate variability.
The Holocene (12 h):
The climate during the Holocene. The ongoing climate change.