Oysters might top your dinner menu, but beneath their succulent meat lies a powerful environmental record. Like tree rings, oyster shells develop growth bands that encode the climate of their time.
During hot summers, oysters grow quickly, creating wider, lighter bands on their shells. In colder winters, growth slows, leaving behind thinner, darker stripes. By studying these patterns in fossilized shells, scientists piece together a timeline of ancient temperature swings and global warming events.
These shell archives offer a fresh, data-driven window into Earth's climatic past, helping researchers understand how our planet has warmed over centuries and what that means for our future.
Next time you enjoy oysters, remember: their shells are more than just a delicacy: they're chapters in our planet's story of change.
Reference(s):
Oyster fossils offer new insights into history of global warming
cgtn.com
