Carboniferous paleogeographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6000259

Scotese, C R ^[1]; Raymond, A ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States). Dept. of Geology
2. Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. Geology

The Carboniferous was an important transitional period in earth history. The Paleozoic oceans separating the continents of Gondwana, Laurentia, Baltica, Kazakhstan, and Siberia had closed by the late Carboniferous forming the late Paleozoic supercontinent of Pangea. Plate motions which appear to have been rapid during the Early Carboniferous (6--10 cm/yr), slowed to a temperature gradient increased as the Earth's climate changed from hot-house to ice-house conditions. Sea level, which stood high during the Early Carboniferous, fell as a result of continental collision and mountain-building, and then began to rise and fall rhythmically as the South Polar ice-cap waxed and waned. These environmental changes intersected important evolutionary events, namely, the explosive colonization of the emergent land areas by plants and the rise of terrestrial vertebrates. In this paper the authors present paleogeographic reconstructions for 6 intervals during the Carboniferous. These maps illustrate the latitudinal position of the continents deduced from paleomagnetic data and the distribution of climatically restricted lithofacies (coal, bauxite, evaporite, calcrete, and tillite), the inferred location of active plate boundaries, and the changing configuration of mountains, land, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins. For each of these paleogeographic maps a climatic simulation was run using the Parametric Climate Model. These simulations predict the distribution of high and low pressure cells, prevailing wind directions, pole-to-equator temperature gradient, relative wetness/dryness, as well as zones of coastal upwelling.

• OSTI ID: 6000259
• Report Number(s): CONF-921058--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 24:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
ALUMINIUM ORES
BAUXITE
CALCRETES
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
CLIMATE MODELS
COAL
CONGLOMERATES
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
EVAPORITES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOGRAPHY
GEOLOGIC AGES
LEVELS
MAGNETISM
MAPS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ORES
OROGENESIS
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PALEOMAGNETISM
PALEONTOLOGY
PALEOTEMPERATURE
PALEOZOIC ERA
PLATE TECTONICS
ROCKS
SEA LEVEL
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
TECTONICS