Geology professors study samples to help analyze global warming

By: Dan Thalkar

Posted: 9/7/06

Global warming has become a controversial subject throughout the past few years, but information about climate changes in the past is still being discovered, and Syracuse University is helping with the research.

According to researchers, during a period of global warming 12 to 14 million years ago, subglacial lakes -- bodies of water permanently covered by ice -- flooded through part of Antarctica and carved out a 30-mile maze through sheer bedrock. The origins of this maze, known as the Labyrinth, puzzled geographers until recently.

A sample of volcanic ash taken from the Labyrinth was sent to SU where it was dated using Argon 40/34, a technique based on radioactive decay, said Laura Webb, professor of geology.

Once the sample was dated, researchers could examine the larger picture.

"Age constraints on flood events allowed the ability to link flooding events to the global climate record," Webb said. "It shows that the flooding occurred on the heels of this period of warming."

Geology professor Suzanne Baldwin, who also participated in the dating, said we are in another period of global warming, though it is not yet as extreme as 14 million years ago.

"Our planet is warming," Baldwin said. "It has a fever."

Baldwin said, as an example of what global warming can do, that the Labyrinth has changed drastically from what it once was.

"It's a very dry area," Baldwin said. "There has been a climate change."

Though the Labyrinth, which crosses the Transantarctic Mountains, is now dry, Webb estimated that there are about 120 subglacial lakes in existence today. Many of them may be interconnected, she said.

A study documenting the full potential of the findings was published in the academic journal "Geology."

Allison Burnett, a graduate student studying climate change, said the interconnectivity of the subglacial lakes is a reason the findings are important.

"It could definitely happen in the future," Burnett said. "When talking about the amount of water, it could effect ocean regulation."

Baldwin listed several other repercussions, including the potential collapse of large ice sheets and a larger change in the ecosystems.

Both Burnett and Baldwin, however, were cautious to make any hasty predictions.

"I don't think we're in danger of it happening tomorrow," Burnett said.

Baldwin also said there is no reason to fear flooding anytime soon, but added that this does not mean another potential catastrophe caused by global-warming is not important in today's climate.

"This current warming period we are in is human-induced," Baldwin said. "The problem is now educating politicians and the public."