Las Vegas holds key to abrupt climate change
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 06:10
in Earth & Climate
According to new U.S. Geological Survey research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, springs and marshes in the desert outside Las Vegas expanded and contracted dramatically in response to past episodes of abrupt climate change, even disappearing altogether for centuries at a time when conditions became too warm. This new record, gleaned from dirt and rocks exposed in the desert just outside the city limits, provides an unprecedented look into how climate change can affect fragile desert ecosystems in the American Southwest.