Late Paleozoic Earth History

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Chapter 11
Late Paleozoic Earth History
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Appalachians are built North America is
formed Catskill Delta in NY is deposited Coal
formation is widespread Limited transgression
reefs and basins Supercontinent forms Climate
change occurs
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Gondwana Continental Glaciers

• Gondwana continued moving over the South Pole
• Major glacial episodes Late Mississippian to
  Early Permian
• Continental glaciers profoundly affected the
  world's biota
• and global sea level changes

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Continental glaciers or ice Sheets are always
over land masses!
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Continental Collisions

• Collisions between continents
• formation of supercontinent Pangaea by the end of
  the Permian,
• mountain building
• influenced oceanic and atmospheric circulation
  patterns
• By the end of the Paleozoic,
• widespread arid and semiarid conditions had
  prevailed over much of Pangaea

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The Devonian Period

• During the Silurian (early paleozoic),
• Laurentia and Baltica collided
• larger continent of Laurasia
• Northern Iapetus Ocean closed Caledonian
  orogeny
• During the Devonian,
• Southern Iapetus Ocean narrowed
• between Laurasia and Gondwana,
• Acadian orogeny

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Late Devonian Period

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Early Carboniferous Period

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Late Carboniferous Period

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Late Permian Period

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Evidence of Acadian OrogenyOld Red
SandstoneReddish Fluvial Sediments formed
during the Devonian Age

• The erosion of the resulting highlands from the
  Acadian Orogeny
• provided Old Red Sandstone
• covered large areas of northern Europe
• and eastern North America
• Evidence the Catskill Delta, Scotland
• and others

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Catskill Delta red sandstone beds are exposed in
NY/PA
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Old Red Sandstone in Europe

• Scotland

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Catskill Delta Clastic Wedge
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Devonian Rocks of New York

• The Devonian rocks of New York are among the best
  studied on the continent
• A cross section of the Devonian strata
• clearly reflects an eastern source for the
  Catskill facies
• from the Acadian Highlands
• These clastic rocks can be traced
• from eastern Pennsylvania,
• where the coarse clastics are approximately 3 km
  thick,
• to Ohio,
• where the deltaic facies are only about 100 m
  thick
• and consist of cratonic shales and carbonates

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Avalonia microcontinent on the move

• composed of
• coastal parts of New England,
• southern New Brunswick,
• Nova Scotia,
• eastern Newfoundland,
• southeastern Ireland,
• Wales, England,
• --Belgium and Northern France later rifting
  took this land to present locations

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Acadian Orogeny
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Acadian Orogeny
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Acadian Orogeny
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2800 feet of sediment on eastern margin

• Marcellus ShaleDevonian marine facies
• Natural gas reserves

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Before Pangaea.

• Uniform global climate
• reefs,
• evaporites,
• and red beds,
• throughout the world,

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The Carboniferous PeriodMississippian
Pennsylvanian

• The advance and retreat of Gondwanas polar
  glaciers
• produced global changes in sea level
• and affected sedimentation pattern on the cratons
• As Gondwana moved northward
• it first collided with Laurasia
• during the Early Carboniferous
• and continued suturing with it during the rest of
  the Carboniferous

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Closing of the Iapetus Ocean

• The Taconic, Caledonian, and Acadian orogenies
• were all part of the same Paleozoic orogenic
  event
• closing of the Iapetus Ocean
• Laurentia and Baltica became sutured as Laurasia

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Early Carboniferous Period

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Late Carboniferous Period

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Gondwana/Laurasia Collision

• EvidenceOuachita Mountains of Oklahoma
• Late Carboniferous and Early Permian
• By the end of the Carboniferous,
• the various continental landmasses were fairly
  close together
• as Pangaea began taking shape

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Paleogeography of the World

• For the Late Permian Period

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Carboniferous Coal Basins

• The Carboniferous coal basins of
• eastern North America,
• western Europe,
• all lay in the equatorial zone,
• where rainfall was high and temperatures were
  consistently warm
• The absence of strong seasonal growth rings
• in fossil plants from these coal basins
• is indicative of such a climate

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What Are Cyclothems?

• A cyclical pattern of alternating marine and
  nonmarine strata
• Characteristic of Pennsylvanian rocks
• usually in areas of low relief

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U.S. Coal Deposits

• The age of the coals in the midwestern states and
  the

• Appalachian region are mostly Pennsyl-vanian
• whereas those in the west are mostly Cretaceous
  and Cenozoic

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Cyclothem

• Columnar section of a complete cyclothem

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Pennsylvanian Coal Bed

• Pennsylvanian coal bed, West Virginia
• part of a cyclothem

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Coal-Forming Swamp

• Reconstruction of the environment of a
  Pennsylvanian coal-forming swamp

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The Okefenokee Swamp

• in Georgia, is a modern coal-forming environment,

similar to those occurring during the
Pennsylvanian Period
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Pennsylvanian Period

• Paleogeography of North America during the
  Pennsylvanian Period

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Modern coal forming environments

• the Mississippi delta,
• the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia
• the Florida Everglades,
• and the Dutch lowlands
• similar to those that existed during the
  Pennsylvanian Period

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The Permian
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Permian Period

• Paleogeography of North America during the
  Permian Period

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Restricted Absaroka Sea

• west Texas and southern New Mexico,
• lagoonal environments,
• reef environments,
• and open-shelf environments
• Permian Basins form

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Permian Reefs and Basins
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Capitan Limestone Reef Reconstruction

• Reconstruction Middle Permian Capitan Limestone
  reef environment
• brachiopods, corals, bryozoans and large glass
  sponges

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Pangaea Surrounded

• An enormous single ocean,
• Panthalassa,
• surrounded Pangaea and
• spanned Earth from pole to pole
• arid and semiarid conditions were widespread over
  Pangaea
• The mountain ranges produced by
• the Alleghenian, and Ouachita orogenies
• created rain shadows

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The stage is set for Earths greatest mass
extinction