Next week, we'll talk about (and see) how researchers at UMn use tree-ring and lake-sediment records to make inferences about past environmental changes. For our discussion, I'd like you to read a pair of review papers published in the 2006 Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science.
The first article, written by Brian Luckman (University of Western Ontario), describes the fundamentals of dendroclimatology and some of its recent applications:
Luckman Encyclopedia of Quatenary Science 2006.pdf
The other article is by Brian Shulman (University of Wyoming, formerly UMn) and Bruce Finney (University of Alaska), and outlines how lake records are used to make inferences about fluctuations in lake level:
Shuman Encyclopedia of Quatenary Science 2006.pdf
I'd also like you to explore the data archive operated by NOAA Paleoclimatology. The WDC has pages set up for both tree-ring and lake sediment records. Experiment with a few of the site's visualization tools to see where these types of records are common (or uncommon).
Finally, I wanted to remind you to be ready next week to discuss our plans for the rest of the course. Look over the schedule, and think about (1) which topic that's most interesting to you, (2) which we could leave out and (3) what we might be missing that's important to cover.