In this lesson, students discover how deep-water corals can be used to determine long-term patterns of climate change. They will learn that these corals inhabit seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska and that oxygen contained in the calcium carbonate of their skeletons can be used to determine water temperature. As they proceed, they will be able to explain the concept of paleoclimatological proxies, learn how oxygen isotope ratios are related to water temperature, and interpret isotope data to make inferences about climate and climate change in the geologic past.
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