Ocean floor sediments explain arid U.S. Southwest
Friday, September 28, 2012 - 09:31
in Earth & Climate
(Phys.org)—Surface-dwelling algae adjust their biochemistry to surface temperatures. As they die and sink to the bottom, they build a sedimentary record of sea-surface temperature across millennia. Brown's work on surface temperatures, coupled with work from Texas A&M on rainfall and weather patterns, has helped chart the wetter, lake-filled geological history of the currently arid American West.