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Patagonian Aridification At The Onset Of The Mid‐Miocene Climatic Optimum, Robin B. Trayler, Matthew J. Kohn, M. Susana Bargo, José I. Cuitiño, Richard F. Kay, Caroline A. E. Strömberg, Sergio F. Vizcaíno Sep 2020

Patagonian Aridification At The Onset Of The Mid‐Miocene Climatic Optimum, Robin B. Trayler, Matthew J. Kohn, M. Susana Bargo, José I. Cuitiño, Richard F. Kay, Caroline A. E. Strömberg, Sergio F. Vizcaíno

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fossil‐rich sediments of the Santa Cruz Formation, Patagonia, Argentina, span the initiation of the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO), the most recent period of warm and wet conditions in the Cenozoic. These conditions drove the expansion of tropical and subtropical ecosystems to much higher latitudes, with the fossiliferous Santa Cruz Formation recording one of the southernmost examples. We collected new carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of herbivore tooth enamel from fossils ~17.4 to 16.4 Ma in age to investigate ecological and climatic changes across the initiation of the MCO. Enamel δ13C values are consistent with a C3‐dominated …


Applications Of Continuous Snowpack Temperature Monitoring, Peter J. Youngblood Aug 2020

Applications Of Continuous Snowpack Temperature Monitoring, Peter J. Youngblood

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Predicting metamorphism within seasonal snowpacks is critical for avalanche forecasting and runoff timing as it relates to water supply management. Snowpack temperature gradients play a key role in snow metamorphism, and their magnitude controls how snow strength changes; therefore, they are of interest to avalanche forecasters. Before major melt, the snowpack must warm to isothermal conditions at 0°C. Measuring this transition from warming to the ripening phase could help improve our current models for runoff timing. Measuring snowpack temperature gradients is currently a non-automated process that requires disturbance of the snow profile, and only gives a snapshot in time of …