Upper Permian fluviolacustrine deposits of southern Africa and the late Permian climate southern Gondwana
- Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Geology Bryn Mawr Coll., PA (United States). Dept. of Geology
Upper Permian-age fluviolacustrine deposits are widespread throughout southern Africa. In the southern part of the subcontinent, where deposition took place in foreland basin settings, the sequences are thicker and fluvial-dominated whereas, lacustrine-dominated deposits accumulated in settings of low relief, broad warping and mild faulting at the northern end. The geographic extent and lateral correlatability of these deposits suggest the existence of concurrent, perhaps interconnected, giant lakes within major fluvial frameworks throughout the subcontinent, thousands of miles inland from the sea. This period of major lake development within fluvial depositional settings suggests climatic conditions that sustained a uniquely wet continental environment, deep in the heart of the Gondwanan supercontinent. Simulations based on various general circulation and energy balance climate models predict extreme seasonal temperatures and aridity for Gondwana at the palaeolatitudes of southern Africa during the Late Permian. On the other hand, distribution of climate-sensitive rocks, palynologic and palaeobotanic data and vertebrate fossils, coroborate the temperature climate documented by sedimentologic studies. The erroneous modeling results may have arisen from the fact that the models do not employ palaeogeographies that accommodate the existence of the vast lakes and rivers of Gondwana. The Late Permian palaeogeography of series of giant lakes within major fluvial frameworks would have had considerable influences on the regional climate. This suggests that it is imperative that numerical modeling studies incorporate accurate palaeogeographies, constructed based on available geological data, in order to recreate past climates with acceptable degree of accuracy.
- OSTI ID:
- 5579238
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303211-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:2; Conference: 28. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Northeastern Section meeting, Burlington, VT (United States), 22-24 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Records of Late Permian surface temperatures in continental Gondwana in isotope geochemistry of upper Permian early diagenetic calcite concretions
A paleoclimatic simulation of the Late Permian greenhouse world and its consequences