Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each proxy by what it directly records.
Groups: Records year-by-year growing conditions · Records atmosphere and volcanism · Records vegetation and biome
- Volcanic ash layers in an ice sheet
- Tree rings
- Shifting species ratios in a lake sediment
- Pollen cores
- Trapped air bubbles in ice cores
- Ring width in a drought-stressed oak
Hints
- Each proxy records something different at a different resolution.
- Only one of them is annual and exactly datable.
Show the answer
Records year-by-year growing conditions: Tree rings, Ring width in a drought-stressed oak
Records atmosphere and volcanism: Trapped air bubbles in ice cores, Volcanic ash layers in an ice sheet
Records vegetation and biome: Pollen cores, Shifting species ratios in a lake sediment
Why
Each proxy answers a different question at a different resolution, tree rings are annual and exactly dated, ice cores reach the atmosphere itself, pollen gives you the biome century by century.
Practise Climate and Biomes
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
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