The Status of Geological Evidence for Reconstructing Earth-Moon Dynamical Parameters

Linda Hinnov Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences George Mason UniversityFairfax, Virginia, USA

Abstract: The evolution of the Earth-Moon system is characterized by a decelerating Earth and accelerating Moon, signatures of which have been imparted to marine fossils, tidalites and cyclostratigraphy. These three media record quantitative information pertaining to Earth spin rate, lunar orbital period, and Earth precession rate. The recovery of this information from sub-daily-daily accretions in fossils and tidalites has been on the wane in recent decades, but is experiencing a resurgence with new technologies enabling high-resolution precision measurements. Meanwhile, cyclostratigraphy has emerged as an high quality information source offering continuous coverage through geologic time as opposed to the rare chance occurrences of fossils and tidalites. This talk reviews these three lines of geologic evidence, their unique attributes and problems, and their prospects for advancing new knowledge about the dynamical evolution of the Earth-Moon system.