Introduction to Long-Term Changes

Abstract

The papers in this section deal with the nature and causes of changes in the global water budget during the late Quaternary, which is defined here as the last 127 000 years. Since this is the most accessible part of the geological record, studies of Quaternary climates form an important link between our understanding of the present-day global circulation and water budget, and of the very different configurations existing in earlier geological eras. The latter are well described in Frakes’ book Climates throuqh Geological Time.