Thursday, January 9, 2014

Highlights—A Look Back…60 years: Climate Cycles

In December 1953, color television broadcasts were first approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.  Soon thereafter, the first color television sets went on sale for the bargain price of more than US $1,000 (present day: US $7,850).  Journal of Sedimentary Petrology readers found a way to break free and read a paper by Werner Bruckner that examined links between cyclic strata and climate change—a topic still of considerable interest today. Bruckner offered numerous insights, including the now-classic line, “When a detailed study of limestones is made, their interpretation becomes more difficult.”   Overcoming the challenges, he proposed a conceptual model wherein climatic oscillations (changes in temperature) influenced the saturation state of calcium carbonate, which led to cyclicity. He further proposed that the utility could include “correlating formations and climatic events over distances of continental size.”

Cyclic Calcareous Sedimentation as an Index of Climatic Variations in the Past: Werner D. Bruckner, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 23, p. 235-237.


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