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James Croll and geological archives: testing astronomical theories of ice ages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2021

Polychronis C. TZEDAKIS Open the ORCID record for Polychronis C. TZEDAKIS [Opens in a new window]  and
Eric W. WOLFF
Polychronis C. TZEDAKIS*
Affiliation:
Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK.
Eric W. WOLFF
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
*
*Corresponding author. Email: p.c.tzedakis@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

James Croll's Physical Theory of Secular Changes of Climate emerged during an age of revolution in geology that included the rise of the glacial theory and the search for its underlying causes. According to Croll, periods of high eccentricity are associated with the persistence of long glacial epochs, within which glaciations occur in alternate hemispheres when winter is at aphelion every ~11,000 years; however, astronomical forcing is only able to produce glaciation by means of physical agencies (climate feedbacks) that amplify the small effects of varying seasonal irradiation. Croll understood the importance of interglacial deposits because they provided evidence for the occurrence of multiple glaciations within his long glacial epochs. He was aware of the limitations of the terrestrial record and suggested that deep-sea sediments would contain a continuous succession of glacial-interglacial cycles. Contrary to a widespread view, however, Croll was not envisaging the advent of palaeoceanographic exploration avant la lettre, but instead was drawing attention to the inadequacy of the land record as a testbed of his astronomical theory. Yet, the marine record did eventually deliver a test of astronomical theories almost exactly 100 years after the publication of his 1875 book Climate and Time in their Geological Relations. Here, we provide an historical account of the technological and scientific developments that led to this and a summary of insights on astronomically paced climate changes from marine, terrestrial and ice core records. We finally assess Croll's ideas in the context of our current understanding of the theory of ice ages.

Keywords

CrolleccentricityForaminiferaglacialsice sheetsinterglacialsMilankovitchobliquityoxygen isotopesprecession
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Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 112 , Special Issue 3-4: James Croll – from Janitor to Genius , September 2021 , pp. 275 - 286
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

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