The evolution of the Earth's climate throughout the past 600 million years is examined by assessing the most up-to-date information on the warm and cold states of the Earth's past climates. These studies help determine the major mechanisms of climate change on a geological time scale.

This book views the Earth's climate as a global system, by describing the evolution of climate throughout the past 600 million years, from the Cambrian to the Quaternary. Palaeoclimates are examined in terms of Cold and Warm modes--phases during which the Earth's climates were either relatively cool with ice forming in high latitudes or when high levels of CO2 led to "greenhouse" warmings and temperate floras and faunas inhabited polar regions. Evidence for climate changes, such as biological indicators, geochemical parameters, and the presence of ice, are compared between these modes. These...