State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

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Photo Essay: Unearthing the Lost World Below a Petrified Forest

In Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, researchers are scouring the fossil-rich surface and drilling deep into ancient rocks to learn more about what happened during the late Triassic, some 201 million to 235 million years ago. It was a time when the world underwent repeated climate shifts and catastrophic mass extinctions, and both early dinosaurs and mammals evolved. What the researchers learn here may not only allow them to write a precise chronology of the period, but shed light on wider questions including how climate swings work, and how they affect ecosystems. READ THE FULL SCIENTIFIC STORY

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
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Marek Meyers
Marek Meyers
2 years ago

I think it’s fantastic that scientists can take a core sample and find out what the levels of carbon dioxide were 200 million years ago. That’s hard to believe.