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"CLAMP" Down On Fossil Plants
Learn all about CLAMP over at
http://tabitha.open.ac.uk/spicer/CLAMP/Clampset1.html , a web site put together by Jack Wolfe and Bob Spicer. CLAMP is a scientific technique used to approximate the paleoclimate of a specific fossil plant locality through a sophisticated analysis of leaf physiognomy (size, shape, venation, for example). Here's a quote from the "Background" section of the web page: "What is CLAMP? Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Programe (CLAMP) (Wolfe, 1990, 1993; Kovack and Spicer, 1995; Wolfe and Spicer, 1999; Spicer, 1999) is a multivariate statistical technique that decodes the climatic signal inherent in the physiognomy of leaves of woody dicotyledonous plants. It was developed as an evolutionarily robust, accurate, and precise tool for direct atmospheric palaeoclimate determinations over land, and as such complements marine-based climate proxies such as oxygen isotopes. CLAMP calibrates the numerical relations between leaf physiognomy of the woody dicotyledons and meteorological parameters in modern terrestrial environments. Using this calibration, past climatic data are potentially determinable from leaf fossil assemblages provided that the calibration is robust over time and that the sampling of the fossil assemblage represents well the characteristics of the living source vegetation. CLAMP has been applied effectively to fossil floras up to 100 million years old (Herman and Spicer, 1996), but is an even more powerful and reliable tool for late Tertiary (Wolfe, 1995; Spicer, 1999) and Quaternary assemblages." Paleobotanical Field Trip To The Sailor Flat Hydraulic Gold Mine, California http://esmeralda.topcities.com/sf/sailorflat.html |
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