Devils Hole: Ancient Traces of Climate History
Screenshot Multimedia Story: Ancient Traces of Climate History University of Innsbruck
Diving in the cavern: Beneath the surface of the Amargosa desert, located in southwestern USA, lies a hidden ‘gem’ for climatologists that harbors a complete history of climate evolution spanning a million years: Devils Hole.
Geologists from Innsbruck are studying this climate record which is found both above and below the present day water table.
Apart from ice in the polar regions, caves are one of the most important climate archives in the world. The Earth’s surface is exposed to weathering and erosion and constantly changes.
In caves, however, the footprints of the past are well preserved, sometimes over many hundreds of thousands of years.
In February 2017, a group of researchers from Innsbruck descended into a part of Devils Hole to get a glimpse into the historic climate changes.
They were accompanied by Robbie Shone, one of the most accomplished cave photographers in the world.
In our multimedia-story we take a closer look on their cave adventure both above and below the water table.
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Earth Sciences (also referred to as Geosciences), which deals with basic issues surrounding our planet, plays a vital role in the area of energy and raw materials supply.
Earth Sciences comprises subjects such as geology, geography, geological informatics, paleontology, mineralogy, petrography, crystallography, geophysics, geodesy, glaciology, cartography, photogrammetry, meteorology and seismology, early-warning systems, earthquake research and polar research.
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