The Role of dust in abrupt climate change: insights from offshore Northwest Africa and Alboran Sea sediments records Authors Miquel Canals i Artigas Ana Moreno Caballud Abstract Marine sediments are one of the best archives of past climate change since they are essentially continuous in character and their age can be determined relatively easily. During the last few decades, many paleoclimatic studies have focused on abrupt climate changes, which could be used as models of future climate changes. One of the key questions to be answered is the role of the atmosphere in triggering and transferring abrupt climate changes. In this respect, investigating the influence of eolian dust particles on climate change deserves special attention. The study of eolian dust accumulation in marine sediments is crucial not only to understand past climate change but also to explain the mechanisms of climate change in general. In this article, interactions among dust in the atmosphere and rapid climate change are discussed after a review of marine sediment records, at the glacial-interglacial and millennial temporal scales, from off the coast of Northwest Africa and the Alboran Sea. Downloads Text complet (Català) PDF Published 2005-06-14 Issue 2-4 Section Research reviews License This work is subject, unless the contrary is indicated in the text, the photographs or in other illustrations, to an Attribution —Non-Commercial— No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.