Laminated sediments as palaeo-indicators

As society at large becomes increasingly concerned with the issues surrounding global climate change, so the pressure on the scientific community to produce models and predictions of climate variability increases. In many respects, however, that branch of science concerned with climate change is in its infancy. While recent meteorological and oceanographic studies have shed light on the processes and mechanisms of atmospheric and oceanic circulation, this has produced only a 'snapshot' perspective of global change, limited by the range of instrumental or historical records. On the other hand, palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic studies have been mainly on coarser (millennial) timescales that have a more academic and less immediate appeal. The palaeorecords which have the required temporal (interannual/decadal) resolution are limited to tree rings, ice cores, coral records and laminated marine or lacustrine sediments. This volume is concerned with the wide-ranging application of lacustrine and marine laminated sediments as palaeo-indicators.