Geological Sciences | Science Communication
via Discovering sources of Roman silver coinage from the Iberian Peninsula Boulder, Colo., USA: Despite its prior status as a luxury commodity, silver became widely used for coinage in the Roman world from the 7th century BCE onward and provided a standardized monetary system for ancient Mediterranean civilizations. However, the sources of silver used to… Continue reading Discovering sources of Roman silver coinage from the Iberian Peninsula
Direct measurements for global temperature only date back to about 1850, so how do we figure out what past climates were like? Once we move beyond the limits of direct measurements, we need to use proxies—preserved physical characteristics of past environments. Oxygen isotopes are the most commonly used paleoproxy to reconstruct long records of past… Continue reading Oxygen Isotopes and Paleoclimate
Have you ever wondered, “How do geologists know how old a rock is?” Geochronology is the science of determining how old rocks, sediments and fossils are. Whether they formed 4 billion years ago or within the historic record, geologists can employ geochronologic methods to determine either the relative or absolute ages of these materials. Radiometric dating–which measures… Continue reading Introduction to Geochronology
Emily Zawacki, Ph.D. 