See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Paleozoic Oceanographic and Climatic Changes: Evidence from Seawater Geochemistry and Sedimentology Records I
Abstract:
The Carboniferous is marked by the transition from the Late Devonian greenhouse to the icehouse of the Permocarboniferous glaciation. The onset of the glaciation is generally dated around the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary. However, the oxygen isotope record of conodont apatite suggests that the initial onset of the glaciation occurred much earlier in the Tournaisian. We observe two positive shifts in δ18Oapatite of 2 and 1.5 in the Tournaisian and Serpukhovian, respectively. Both positive shifts in δ18Oapatite are interpreted to reflect climatic cooling and ice build-up at high latitudes. A first major glaciation event is interpreted to have occurred in the Tournaisian with ice masses persisting during the Visean. The second ice buildup event occurred in the Serpukhovian and early Bashkirian and culminated in the first glacial maximum of the Permocarboniferous glaciation. δ18Oapatite values decrease in the Bashkirian and show cyclic variations during the Pennsylvanian as consequences of the waning and waxing of high latitude ice caps.
See more from this Division: Topical Sessions
See more from this Session: Paleozoic Oceanographic and Climatic Changes: Evidence from Seawater Geochemistry and Sedimentology Records I