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Paleoclimatology (thesaurus)

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Concept information

natural environment > paleoenvironment

Preferred term

paleoenvironment  

Definition

  • Paleoenvironments are ancient environments, belonging to time scales ranging from history to the stages, periods and eras covered by paleontology. Like any environment, a paleoenvironment is made up of an environment (biotope) and the living beings that evolve within it (biocenosis). However, each component of a paleoenvironment often needs to be studied separately, using different elements of the "fossil record", and then reconstructed. Some species fossilize poorly. Fossilized remains of spores and pollens, plankton, plants or bones of "indicator" species are therefore used. Animal bones and teeth, for example, are widely used, from mammals (rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish that can be grouped into herbivore guilds, predators, etc.) to mammals (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish that can be grouped into herbivore guilds, predators, etc.). Temperature and hygrometry are determining factors in climates, both past and present. Temperature can be estimated from isotopic readings of ancient ice samples, or ancient sediments (from radiocarbon 13 (carbon 13), carbon 14, and certain isotopes of oxygen or nitrogen), or deduced by other methods. Other factors, such as aridity, can be deduced by other methods, notably by using plants, sedentary organisms strongly influenced by climate. The study of fossil pollen (palynology), or of tree growth based on tree rings (dendrochronology), makes it possible to estimate the climatic conditions of a vanished environment based on the flora that lived there, according to the principle of actualism. (Adapted and translated from: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A9oenvironnement)

Broader concept

Synonym(s)

  • environment of the past
  • palaeo environment
  • palaeo-environment
  • palaeoenvironment
  • paleo environment
  • paleo-environment
  • past environment

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/QX8-TLHWDN0G-V

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