the late paleozoic el imperial formation western argentina glacial to post glacial transition and stratigraphic correlations with arc related basins in southwestern gondwana abstract the el imperial formation of the san rafael basin records a succession of depositional environments during the latest mississippian to earliest permian that span before during and after the glaciation of west central argentina at the base of the formation a restricted marine environment is recorded in mudstone containing marl and rippled and deformed sandstone beds this unit or sequence 1 is incised by a deltaic facies association composed of cross bedded sandstone and conglomerate that form at least 5 stacked gilbert deltas the deltaic facies association grades upward into the glacially influenced facies association made up of stratified diamictite mudstone with dropstones and massive deformed sandstone indicating deposition by wet based tidewater glaciers that calved icebergs into the basin with contributions from mass movement processes the glacially influenced facies association is overlain by mudstone and horizontally laminated and cross bedded sandstone of the post glacial open marine facies association recording post glacial transgression followed by relative sea level fall the deltaic glacially influenced and post glacial open marine facies associations comprise sequence 2 sequence 2 is incised by conglomerate of the upper fluvial member or sequence 3 the strata of the el imperial formation are correlated to those of the other arc related basins of western argentina rio blanco calingasta uspallata and tepuel a bashkirian transgression and fluvial incision in the el imperial formation correlate with events in the rio blanco and calingasta uspallata basins to the north whereas glaciation continues to the south in the tepuel basin through the early permian the deviating stratigraphic record of the tepuel basin may be the result of its higher latitudinal position during the pennsylvanian early permian and higher altitude due to either tectonic convergence of the patagonian microplate or convergence along the panthalassan margin of southwestern gondwana

on the origin of the itarare group basal nonconformity and its implications for the late paleozoic glaciation in the parana basin brazil abstract outcrop studies of the itarare group in the alfredo wagner area along the eastern margin of the parana basin in brazil reveal a partially exhumed nnw sse oriented glacial paleovalley the carboniferous rio do sul formation represents the basal interval of the glacially influenced itarare group and rests directly on precambrian basement rocks this nonconformity is thought to represent an areal scouring surface as indicated by the series of glacially carved linear depressions that were incised into the glaciated bedrock during glacial advances these large scale erosional landforms differ in their extent by orders of magnitude and include wide deep troughs as well as narrower shallower gouges glacial troughs and gouges usually display smaller scale subglacial erosion landforms such as polished and grooved striations on their walls and floors these indicate the nnw motion of a warm based grounded glacier in addition large scale erosional features represent local topographic lows within the major glacial paleovalley these local lows are large enough to contain part of the succeeding deglacial deposits which thin toward and onlap the wall of these depressions we grouped these deglacial deposits into six genetic facies associations fa 1 to 6 within three fining upward glacial cycles fa 1 is composed of black shale and represents an initial marine flooding event it can be correlated with the regionally widespread lontras shale fa 2 is composed of sandstones and mudstones associated with flood derived hyperpycnal flows and occasionally with surge type turbidites fa 3 is represented by plastered or injected matrix supported conglomerates emplaced as lodgment tills fa 4 comprises matrix and clast supported conglomerates sandstones and mudstones attributed to ice rafting and concentrated flows in grounding line fan facies this unit also contains ice keel dragging features carved into soft substrate fa 5 is composed of dropstone bearing black shale related to a second major marine flooding event within the paleovalley fa 6 comprises sandstones associated with channelized surge type turbidites forming the second turbidite system in the succession as these deposits are confined to a paleovalley we infer that sedimentation was influenced by topographically controlled ice streams instead of non confined widespread ice lobes as previously suggested reconstructing south america and southern africa in their positions during the lpia suggests that the glacial valleys then present in the namibia area may have extended further into the eastern margin of the parana basin in this scenario confined outlet glaciers would have flowed out from the namibian windhoek ice cap and terminated along the eastern margin of the parana basin

sedimentation associated with antarctic peninsula ice shelves implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of glacimarine sediments abstract recent disintegration of a number of antarctic peninsula ice shelves has given us a unique opportunity to investigate sub ice shelf sediments we characterize three sediment facies associations of two antarctic peninsula ice shelves larsen a and larsen inlet subglacial facies consist mainly of basal till diamicton with high shear strengths deposited under a grounded ice sheet progressive upward decrease in shear strength reflects a gradual decrease in the confining vertical effective pressure of grounded ice during till deposition proximal ice shelf glacimarine facies diamicton gravel rich and sand rich facies gravelly mud dropstone mud and sandy muds were deposited by sub ice shelf rain out bottom current activity and sediment gravity flows following decoupling of grounded ice from the sea floor distal ice shelf glacimarine and or open marine facies comprise terrigenous and diatom bearing bioturbated muds and gravelly muds that contain limited ice rafted debris these accumulated after recession of the grounding line to the coast with coarse grained surface sediments possibly documenting most recent ice shelf break up antarctic peninsula ice shelf sediments are more heterogeneous than ice shelf facies deposited elsewhere in antarctica cold polar antarctic ice shelves can be differentiated from temperate and sub polar marine terminated glacial sedimentary systems by the dominance of coarse grained proximal ice shelf glacimarine facies and an absence of subaqueous outwash meltwater sediment facies

the late carboniferous glacial to postglacial transition facies and sequence stratigraphy western paganzo basin argentina abstract namurian early westphalian glacial postglacial deposits have been documented in the paganzo basin argentina but integrated sequence stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses of the glacial postglacial transition are rare in the cuesta de huaco section the glacial postglacial transition encompasses the lower sequence of the existing schemes glacioeustatic changes in sea level controlled the architecture and vertical arrangement of facies the basal sequence boundary is coeval with the onset of glaciation when sea level fell contemporaneous with glacial erosion and bypass of sediment the upper sequence boundary is a high frequency sequence boundary the basal deposits are interpreted as an early transgressive systems tract etst initiated during glacial retreat the interval fines upward contains current reworked diamictites conglomerates and sandstones deposited in a subglacial to proglacial environment facies i ii and ice rafted glaciomarine rhythmites facies iii postglacial brackish marine black shales facies iv represent the late transgressive systems tract ltst micritic limestone beds were deposited during a period of sediment starvation coeval with the maximum marine inundation in the basin mfz it marks a turnaround in the stacking pattern that became coarsening and thickening upward during the overlying highstand systems tract hst it consists of fine grained turbidites facies v and classical turbidites with wave reworked beds at the top facies vi deposited in a shallow deltaic systems intervening postglacial brackish deposits contain an ichnofauna dominated by trackways of arthropods and minor grazing traces preserved in bedding planes that resemble nonmarine ichnocoenoses and differ from the archetypal brackish ichnofaunas even when palynological data support the saline depleted environment

the pangean ice age studies with a coupled climate ice sheet model application of an ice sheet model developed for the pleistocene to the extensive carboniferous glaciation on gondwana yields an ice sheet which has several features consistent with observations while complete deglaciation is not achieved without co2 changes the milankovich induced fluctuations in ice sheet volume are comparable to pleistocene glacial interglacial signals this result is shown to hold for a large fraction of physically reasonable parameter space the model also exhibits multiple equilibria and sharp bifurcations as infinitesimal changes in the solar constant or precipitation can lead to a qualitatively different climate the success of the model in predicting ice location in an environment quite different from the pleistocene provides additional support for the robustness of the basic model physics and suggests that the model can be applied with some confidence to other pre pleistocene glaciations

immigration and extirpation selectivity patterns of brachiopods and bivalves across a carboniferous glacial to non glacial transition pennsylvanian central western argentina and their influence in building the biotic bathymetric gradient abstract the growth and demise of glaciers during the late paleozoic ice age had profound consequences on the marine biota in central western argentina the transition from glacial to non glacial interval during the pennsylvanian caused a major regional turnover which remodeled the bathymetric diversity gradient in order to understand the nature of the environmental changes related to such turnover event we compared selectivity patterns in extirpation and immigration of bivalves and brachiopods using logistic regression we tested for a wide range of potential drivers of extirpation and immigration namely body size geographic range size environmental breadth preferred depth metabolic rates infaunalism and taxonomic identity while extirpation preferentially hit brachiopods and genera having smaller geographic ranges and smaller body sizes immigration was related to genera with preference for deeper environment and small geographic ranges extirpation selectivity was not uniform along the bathymetric gradient both geographic range and body size selectivity are stronger towards deeper environments each clade on the other hand showed idiosyncratic responses to climate change while brachiopods show extirpation selectivity for smaller geographic ranges small sized bivalves were preferentially extirpated these contrasting selectivity regimes however could be reflecting different faunal responses to the same environmental changing factor namely higher thermal amplitude immigration in both brachiopods and bivalves was related to preference to deep environments confirming previous results however brachiopods also showed preferential immigration of small geographic range genera which is puzzling given the extinction selectivity related to the glacial non glacial transition possible explanations point to a brief time span in which an increase in thermal amplitude occurred the rapid climate changes particularly related to a rise in maximum temperatures lead the ecological response of the benthic faunas differences in extinction and immigration selectivity along the bathymetric gradient suggest that the turnover event also remodeled the bathymetric gradient in body size and biogeographic structure and brachiopod bivalve proportions such changes were driven by extirpation contrasting with the remodeling of the bathymetric diversity gradient that was driven by immigration our results therefore highlight that immigration and extirpation can shape different aspects of the bathymetric biotic gradient

depositional settings and evolution of a fjord system during the carboniferous glaciation in northwest argentina abstract fjord systems represented by glacial diamictites and postglacial transgressive shales formed in the basins of western argentina during the late carboniferous gondwana glaciation well exposed fjord deposits of the guandacol formation were studied in the loma de los piojos region protoprecordillera where they fill a 2 9 km wide paleovalley with steep side walls and a relatively flat floor the valley cross cuts lower devonian sandstones and mississippian mudstones and sandstones and provides evidence of glacial abrasion including striated pavements and glacial microtopography grooves ridges and striae based on the analysis of seven sedimentary logs eight sedimentary facies in the valley fill were recognized a massive diamictites b laminated mudstones with dropstones c stratified diamictites d clast supported conglomerates and sandstones e deformed diamictites conglomerates and sandstones f folded diamictites g mudstones interbedded with sandstones and h stacked and amalgamated sandstones these sedimentary facies are grouped into two principal facies assemblages that represent different stages of the paleovalley fill assemblage 1 is composed of diamictites facies a c and f laminated mudstones with dropstones facies b and conglomerates facies d and e which represent glacially influenced sedimentation in the paleovalley assemblage 2 represents the paleovalley fill when glacial influence ceased and comprises laminated mudstones interbedded with sandstones facies g and stacked sandstone beds facies h that mostly record deltaic sedimentation stratigraphic relationships plant fossils found in the paleovalley walls and palynological assemblages recovered in mudstones of facies d help to establish an early pennsylvanian age for both the incision and the filling of the paleovalley the studied paleovalley records an exceptional example of the western gondwanan glacial to postglacial transition due to the continuous stratigraphic succession within the paleovalley as well as palynological megafloristic and radiometric data this example provides a complete framework of the late carboniferous postglacial evolution in western gondwana

lithofacies and seismic reflection interpretation of temperate glacimarine sedimentation in tarr inlet glacier bay alaska abstract high resolution seismic reflection profiles of sediment fill within tarr inlet of glacier bay alaska show seismic facies changes with increasing distance from the glacial termini five types of seismic facies are recognized from analysis of huntec and minisparker records and seven lithofacies are determined from detailed sedimentologic study of gravity vibro and box cores and bottom grab samples lithofacies and seismic facies associations and fjordfloor morphology allow us to divide the fjord into three sedimentary environments ice proximal iceberg zone and ice distal the ice proximal environment characterized by a morainal bank depositional system can be subdivided into bank back bank core and bank front subenvironments each of which is characterized by a different depositional subsystem a bank back subsystem shows chaotic seismic facies with a mounded surface which we infer consists mainly of unsorted diamicton and poorly sorted coarse grained sediments a bank core depositional subsystem is a mixture of diamicton rubble gravel sand and mud seismic reflection records of this subsystem are characterized by chaotic seismic facies with abundant hyperbolic diffractions and a hummocky surface a bank front depositional subsystem consists of mainly stratified and massive sand and is characterized by internal hummocky facies on seismic reflection records with significant surface relief and sediment gravity flow channels the depositional system formed in the iceberg zone environment consists of rhythmically laminated mud interbedded with thin beds of weakly stratified diamicton and stratified or massive sand and silt on seismic reflection profiles this depositional system is characterized by discontinuously stratified facies with multiple channels on the surface in the proximal zone and a single channel on the largely flat sediment surface in the distal zone the depositional system formed in the ice distal environment consists of interbedded homogeneous or laminated mud and massive or stratified sand and coarse silt this depositional system shows continuously stratified seismic facies with smooth and flat surfaces on minisparker records and continuously stratified seismic facies which are interlayered with thin weakly stratified facies on huntec records

impact ionization mass spectra of anorthite cosmic dust analogue particles 1 anorthite the ca rich end member of plagioclase feldspar is a dominant mineral component of the lunar highlands plagioclase feldspar is also found in comets meteorites and stony asteroids it is therefore expected to contribute to the population of interplanetary and circumplanetary dust grains within the solar system after coating micron and submicron sized grains of anorthite with a conductive layer of platinum the mineral was successfully accelerated to hypervelocity speeds in the max planck institut fur kernphysik s van de graaff accelerator we present impact ionization mass spectra generated following the impacts of anorthite grains with a prototype mass spectrometer the large area mass analyser lama designed for use in space and discuss the behavior of the spectra with increasing impact energy correlation analysis is used to identify the compositions and sources of cations present in the spectra enabling the identification of several molecular cations e g caalo2 casio2 ca2alo3 caalsi2o2 which identify anorthite as the progenitor bulk grain material

reevaluation of the timing and extent of late paleozoic glaciation in gondwana role of the transantarctic mountains evidence from antarctica indicates that a 2000 km long section of the transantarctic mountains including victoria land the darwin glacier region and the central transantarctic mountains was not located near the center of an enormous car boniferous to early permian ice sheet as depicted in many paleo geographic reconstructions weathering profiles and soft sediment deformation immediately below the preglacial pre permian un conformity suggest an absence of ice cover during the carbonif erous otherwise multiple glacial cycles would have destroyed these features the occurrence of glaciotectonite massive and strat ified diamictite thrust sheets sandstones containing dewatering structures and lonestone bearing shales in southern victoria land and the darwin glacier region indicate that permian sedimenta tion occurred in ice marginal periglacial and or glaciomarine set tings no evidence was found that indicates the transantarctic mountains were near a glacial spreading center during the late paleozoic although these findings do not negate carboniferous glaciation in antarctica they do indicate that gondwanan glacia tion was less widespread and therefore that glacially driven changes to other earth systems i e glacioeustatic fluctuations cli mate were much smaller than previously hypothesized

evidence of glacial abrasion in the calingasta uspallata and western paganzo basins mid carboniferous of western argentina abstract evidence of glacial abrasion is present in the basal part of the carboniferous section of the calingasta uspallata and paganzo western argentina where subglacial and proximal glacial marine diamictites with pebbly dropstone shales constitute the dominant facies association intraformational striated pavements are exposed in the hoyada verde and leoncito formations of the calingasta uspallata basin marine invertebrate fossils levispustula zone in associated shales indicate a mid carboniferous age for both units a single layer striated boulder pavement is superbly exposed in the hoyada verde formation local a axis clast imbrication in the underlying bouldery diamictite and strong parallel striae on the flattened upper surfaces of boulders indicate a subglacial origin for the pavement paleo ice flow directions have an nne ssw strike the leoncito intraformational pavement is shaped on bioturbated fine grained sandstones with plant remains glacial striations are straight and parallel with subcircular cross sections dome like features are present in the surface which is covered in turn by a sandy bouldery diamictite four striated surfaces are present in the western paganzo basin three of them pavements at the san juan river valley loma de los piojos and agua hedionda are developed on basement rocks they contain parallel to subparallel striations nailhead striations crescentic gouges impact marks and furrows the pavements are overlain by thin up to 1 5 m laterally discontinuous diamictite beds with striated clasts some of them bullet shaped paleo ice flow directions are n ne directed an intraformational pavement is also present at the san juan river valley section it is carved on the top of the basal diamictite and exhibits furrows probably caused by subglacial soft sediment grooving the dispersion of paleo ice flow directions in the calingasta uspallata and paganzo basins indicates i regional slopes toward the north into a brackish water embayment and northwest into the open marine conditions ii glacial erosion by ice grounded below sea level and confined to the margins of the basins

pebble fabric in an ice rafted diamicton pebble fabric studies on ice rafted diamictons have been limited to general observations with authors noting preferences toward vertical random or horizontal orientations to clarify such observations pebble fabric data were collected from a fossiliferous diamicton of late pleistocene age located on whidbey island washington the ice rafted origin of this unit is supported by several independent characteristics including in situ macrofauna and microfauna conformity with subaqueous lithofacies containing dropstones lower bulk densities and higher void ratios than associated tills soft sediment deformation structures suggestive of iceberg dumping textural gradations and facies relationships analysis using the eigenvalue method indicates that ice rafted fabrics are nearly random with little consistency of vector orientations between sites and without any relationship to the probable direction of glacial flow the weak fabric is mainly the product of settling through the water column and impact wit

classification of poorly sorted sedimentary rocks abstract the classification and nomenclature of sandstones has evolved over the years into a system which is now generally accepted as standard however no equivalent system exists for the poorly sorted sedimentary rocks which include grain sizes from clay to gravel a descriptive classification is proposed based on an earlier system but using updated nomenclature and lithological fields such a scheme is needed to clearly define lithological terms currently used in the description of sedimentary sequences

iceberg drop dump and grounding structures from pleistocene glacio lacustrine sediments scotland abstract dropstone dump and grounding structures resulting from the melt out of debris contained in floating and grounded icebergs are described from a pleistocene ice marginal glacio lacustrine sequence in scotland dropstones display bending penetration rucking and complete rupture of stratum occurring beneath them and onlap above them with the degree of deformation varying as a function of the size shape and axial disposition of the clast and of the sediment type into which they fell dump structures are conical mounds of gravel or diamict formed by the break up and overturning of dirt laden icebergs and the consequent release of large quantities of debris to the lake floor grounding structures are caused by the grounding of icebergs the down warping of underlying lake floor se iment and the subsequent in situ melt out of contained debris to form isolated troughs of diamict

thin bedded diamictites in the glaciomarine hoyada verde formation carboniferous calingasta uspallata basin western argentina a discussion on the emplacement condition of subaqueous cohesive debris flows abstract thin bedded 0 5 20 cm diamictites are present in the glaciomarine sequence of the hoyoda verde formation carboniferous of the calingasta uspallata basin the sharp non erosive contacts the high mud content and the wide range in clast size suggest that the thin bedded diamictites have been deposited as subaqueous debris flows bed thickness bth versus maximum clast size mcs plots show a strong positive correlation 0 95 proving that the flows had a close balance between capacity and competence and were laminar the cohesive factor also deduced from the bth mcs plots indicates that the flows can be interpreted as cohesive debris flows the widespread presence of inversely graded or massive beds and low bth mcs values mean bth mcs 2 71 standard deviation 0 33 suggest relatively concentrated competent debris flows with minor water intake in contrast to other more frequent examples of more dilute water rich subaqueous debris flows with lower competence relative to flow thickness

glacimarine processes at grounding line fans and their growth to ice contact deltas abstract grounding line fans originate from subglacial and basal stream tunnels at grounding lines of glaciers terminating in a marine environment during melt seasons discharge forms a turbulent jet beyond the efflux over the initial zone of flow establishment in the jet it may remain in contact with the sea floor for up to 13 4 d d tunnel diameter along a runout distance if velocity is constant plug flow in this zone deposits marine outwash sediment commonly having chaotic texture and graded and welded contacts texture may vary rapidly because of discharge pulses and the jet may move laterally to produce sheet or cut and fill geometries imbricate gravel is deposited near the efflux then farther out are sheet or weakly channelized finer grained gravels and sands in some instances a migrating barchanoid bar forms at the detachment zone and forms large scale trough cross beds beyond the detachment zone the turbulent jet becomes vertical and sediment cascades from it in a veil this sediment is added to by flows from continuous failures of bed load sediment in the detachment zone resulting deposits are interstratified sediment gravity flows and thick coarse end members of cyclopsams the jet changes to a plume when inertial forces become less than buoyancy forces turbulent vorticies within the jet can re entrain particles into a buoyant plume the plume remains vertical although continuously spreading until reaching neutral buoyancy fan depocentres have been observed to accumulate at over 10 6 m 3 a 1 in temperate glacial areas eventually at quasi stable grounding lines fans may aggrade to sea level to form ice contact deltas at incipient deltas when the delta plain is intertidal coarse sediment is redistributed to the prodelta with each tidal cycle intense prodelta rhythmites mark the transition of a fan into a delta

comparison of geochemical and distinctive mineralogical features associated with the kinzers and burgess shale formations and their associated units article i nfo article history accepted 12 august 2007 this paper compares two north american occurrences of fossils that exhibit burgess shale type preservation bst the middle cambrian burgess shale formation of southeastern british columbia and the lower to middle cambrian kinzers fm of southeastern pennsylvania redox sensitive trace elements mo ni co v sc indicate that palaeo oxygenation conditions varied with respect to faunal assemblage and location ogygopsis bearing fauna in both the burgess shale and kinzers formations are associated with a dysoxic metal signature burgess shale type preservation in the kinzers fm was deposited in a fluctuating oxycline whereas the bst fossil beds of fossil ridge and mt stephen burgess shale fm yield a geochemical signature that consistently indicates oxic conditions thus sustained low oxygen conditions do not correlate with higher quality of fossil preservation at these sites ogygopsis is associated with dysoxic conditions in both localities and may therefore be a faunal indicator of such environments in middle cambrian strata carbonate units associated with both the burgess shale and kinzers formations contain large generally concordant near surface cavities that contain herringbone calcite cements that show no significant enrichment in the potential calcite inhibitor ions such as reduced fe sr s pb and zn the abundance of micro inclusions of dolomite suggests that mg may have been the calcite inhibitor ion responsible for herringbone cement in these cambrian occurrences another distinctive mineralogical feature is the presence of doubly terminated euhedral zoned authigenic quartz as a conspicuous part of a carbonate host rock replacement assemblage the association of both herringbone calcite and zoned quartz crystals in units associated with the burgess shale and kinzers formations suggest a common feature in the depositional and diagenetic environment of these two regions in which burgess shale type fossil preservation occur syn depositional brine flow is the likely cause of these distinct mineralogical features brine seeps in the depositional environment may have provided nutrients for stable high abundance faunal communities in a slope setting thereby accounting for the abundance of fossil material furthermore high salinity brine in the pore waters of carcass bearing cambrian muds may have further limited shallow burrowing scavenging and decomposition rates accounting for the exceptional preservation in these two localities

co2 forced climate and vegetation instability during late paleozoic deglaciation the late paleozoic deglaciation is the vegetated earth9s only recorded icehouse to greenhouse transition yet the climate dynamics remain enigmatic by using the stable isotopic compositions of soil formed minerals fossil plant matter and shallow water brachiopods we estimated atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide pco2 and tropical marine surface temperatures during this climate transition comparison to southern gondwanan glacial records documents covariance between inferred shifts in pco2 temperature and ice volume consistent with greenhouse gas forcing of climate major restructuring of paleotropical flora in western euramerica occurred in step with climate and pco2 shifts illustrating the biotic impact associated with past co2 forced turnover to a permanent ice free world

depressed rates of origination and extinction during the late paleozoic ice age a new state for the global marine ecosystem rates of origination and extinction for marine animal genera dropped to low levels in latest mississippian time immediately after massive glaciers formed in the southern hemisphere and a second order mass extinction occurred evolutionary turnover and diversity remained low for 50 m y shifting markedly upward precisely when extensive glaciation ended in early permian time all diverse taxa with good fossil records experienced low rates of origination and extinction during this major ice age such sluggish rates would be predicted for faunas of shallow seas on or adjacent to a heavily glaciated supercontinent such as pangea where cool and highly seasonal thermal regimes should dictate that species have broad ecological niches widespread geographic distributions and large and relatively stable populations

the origin of massive diamicton facies by iceberg rafting and scouring scoresby sund east greenland almost 90 of 39 m of core material recovered from scoresby sund and the adjacent east greenland shelf is massive diamicton interpreted to be formed predominantly by the release of iceberg rafted debris and reworking by iceberg scouring there is also likely to be a contribution from suspension settling of fines derived from glaciofluvial sources model calculations suggest that the 14c derived holocene sedimentation rate of 0 1 0 3 m 1000 yr 1 in scoresby sund can be accounted for mainly by iceberg rafting of debris a further 4 of core material is of gravel or coarse sand lenses interpreted to reflect iceberg dumping of debris intensive iceberg scouring which reworks sea floor sediments is observed on acoustic records from over 30 000 km2 of the scoresby sund fiord system and the adjacent east greenland shelf 69 72 n and 75 n the rate of iceberg production from greenland ice sheet outlet glaciers and iceberg drift tracks on the shelf suggests that iceberg rafting and scouring may be important over a significant proportion of the 500 000 km2 area above the shelf break the relatively extensive modern occurrence of massive diamicton formed by iceberg rafting and scouring together with suspension settling of fines suggests that it may also be a significant facies in the glacier influenced geological record the recognition in the geological record of the massive diamicton facies described above may also indicate the former presence of fast flowing ice sheet outlet glaciers

models of glaciomarine sedimentation and their application to the interpretation of ancient glacial sequences abstract this paper argues that glaciomarine environments can be regarded as special glacially influenced types of continental margin environments e g continental shelf slope rise and basin plain knowledge of the stratigraphic architecture and typical sedimentary sequences of non glacial margins is becoming well known but remains limited for those that have been glacially modified the principal influences on sedimentation in these environments relate to the glacial sediment input controlled by relief of basin margin glacier thermal regime and ice flow dynamics and depositional environments influence of traction currents substrate relief and proximity to nearby ice margins typical ranges of sedimentation rates can be established for glacially influenced continental margin environments and these may provide a framework for ancient sequences starvation of sediment supply to glacially influenced continental margins is common the nature of sub ice shelf sedimentation a model that has been applied to many ancient glacial sequences is critically reviewed the significance of such sedimentation in the rock record has probably been exaggerated because of oversimplistic interpretations of diamictite sequences existing process models of glaciomarine sedimentation derived from study of modern environments are sometimes difficult to employ in investigation of ancient sedimentary sequences because simple lithofacies criteria and typical vertical profiles are not available to aid in interpretation in addition compositional data emphasized by many workers for distinguishing glaciomarine from continental glacial diamict ite s frequently fingerprint sediment source and not mode of deposition the importance of facies analysis methods for isolating depositional environments is illustrated by three examples of ancient glaciomarine sequences these are the early proterozoic gowganda formation 2 3 ga of northern ontario canada the late proterozoic port askaig formation 670 ma of scotland and ireland and the late cenozoic yakataga formation 20 ma to recent of the gulf of alaska these examples illustrate the significance of detailed genetic studies of ancient glacial rocks in the interpretation of palaeogeographic and tectonic settings diamictite units in ancient glaciomarine sequences cannot be easily interpreted in terms of climatic or ice advance retreat cycles because of the varied controls on diamict accumulation and diamictite preservation in marine basins

sediment characteristics in iceberg dominated fjords kangerlussuaq region east greenland abstract sediment cores from three east greenland fjords contain sediment lithofacies and depositional processes in an iceberg dominated glacial marine setting three major lithofacies diamicton fine grained mud and sand are deposited by two processes sediment rain out and sediment gravity flows the sediments in kangerlussuaq fjord are predominately fine grained muds deposited by rain out from icebergs and glacier meltwater with sediment gravity flows acting as secondary agents of deposition miki fjord records rain out of fine grained muds from a river plume emanating from a proglacial delta at the fjord head alternating units of diamicton and fine grained mud in nansen fjord are deposited by sediment rain out from icebergs particle size is governed by the oceanographic conditions in the fjord at the time of deposition despite their proximity to each other each fjord is distinguished by a distinct sedimentological signature kangerlussuaq fjord has low total organic carbon contact miki fjord has high mass magnetic susceptibility and nansen fjord has high amounts of ice rafted debris comparison of the east greenland iceberg dominated and alaska glacial meltwater dominated environments indicates few major differences between sediments deposited in these two settings this similarity raises doubt as to how well glacial marine sedimentary sequences can be used to interpret and reconstruct differences between glacial marine environments in the past without knowledge of sediment accumulation rates environmental conditions at the time of sediment deposition and comparable sedimentological data between studies

analysis of late palaeozoic glacial to postglacial sedimentary successions in south africa by geochemical proxies response to climate evolution and sedimentary environment abstract records of incisive climate changes during the late palaeozoic era are best documented in sedimentary basins of south africa glacial upper carboniferous early permian dwyka group and equivalents and postglacial deposits early to middle permian ecca and beaufort groups are known from the main karoo basin in south africa from the kalahari basin namibia and botswana and other late palaeozoic basins of south gondwana glacial deposits comprise diamictites and tillites followed by postglacial shales with variable organic matter contents and intercalated carbonate horizons this study covers the final glaciation phase upper pennsylvanian asselian sakmarian and the transition into the postglacial stage of the middle to late permian for sedimentary successions from the karoo and eastern kalahari basin element geochemical proxies chemical index of alteration zr ti rb k v cr and organic carbon content supported by mineralogical data record pronounced variation in sedimentary conditions these took place in the course of glacier retreat at the dwyka ecca boundary where climate and weathering processes are known to have changed the proxy signals indicate an increase in sea level and salinity and a shift in redox conditions from oxygenated to temporary anoxic euxinic conditions due to the synchronicity of these events distant sampling localities in the karoo basin can be correlated despite facies differences between the eastern kalahari and karoo basin the geochemical proxies point to a comparable climatic evolution during the postglacial phase for the early permian proxy signals indicate warm humid conditions in the karoo and kalahari basin during the middle permian increased aridity hampered chemical weathering processes as indicated by decreasing cia values results show that i proxies reflect provenance synsedimentary redox regime and late diagenetic alteration ii by combination of different independent geochemical proxies primary conditions of sedimentation and climate can be deduced iii the geochemical proxies applied are independent of local environments and iv the data reveal supra regional or even hemispherical changes in climate and sedimentary conditions thus geochemical proxies can be used as reliable markers for basin wide correlations knowledge about synchronicity on basin scale contributes to an improved understanding of sw gondwana s interaction with and influence on global climatic evolution

paradox of late paleozoic glacioeustasy models of euramerican cyclothem deposition invoke orbitally driven glacioeustasy to explain widespread cyclic marine and nonmarine late paleozoic sedimentary sequences base level fluctuations of 100 m have been estimated for the deposition of mid continent north american subpycnoclinal black shales subaerial exposure relief of algal bioherms in the sacramento mountains and russian platform carbonates similar to the pleistocene these glacioeustatic fluctuations are thought to be driven by variations in orbital parameters to evaluate this hypothesis a coupled general circulation model ice sheet model was used to simulate the effects of both transient orbital changes and variable atmospheric p co 2 concentrations on late paleozoic continental ice sheets in our model large continental ice sheet inception is simulated at and below p co 2 levels of 280 ppm model results predict that while changing orbital parameters results in dynamic ice sheet behavior the maximum orbitally induced sea level fluctuation is 25 m the model also demonstrates that the complete ablation of ice sheets formed at 280 ppm 7 9 10 7 km 3 sea level change 135 m requires an increase in atmospheric p co 2 to levels 2240 ppm these results present a potential paradox while our model is able to simulate widespread gondwanan glaciation it is unable to reproduce significant orbitally driven glacioeustatic fluctuations without very large magnitude carbon cycle perturbations we discuss possible solutions to this paradox

deglaciation sequences in the permo carboniferous karoo and kalahari basins of southern africa a tool in the analysis of cyclic glaciomarine basin fills the late westphalian to artinskian glaciomarine deposits of the karoo and kalahari basins of southern africa consist of massive and stratified diamictite mudrock with ice rafted material sandstone silty rhythmite shale and subordinate conglomerate forming a cyclic succession recognizable across both basins a complete cycle comprises a resistant basal unit of apparently massive diamictite overlain by softer bedded stratified diamictite sandstone and mudrock with a total thickness of as much as 350 m four major cycles are observed each separated by bounding surfaces lateral facies changes are present in some cycles the massive diamictites formed as aprons and fans in front of the ice grounding line whereas the stratified diamictites represent more distal debris flow fans the sandstones originated in different environments as turbidite sands small subaqueous outwash channel sands and delta front sands the rhythmites and mudrock represent blanket deposits derived from turbid meltwater plumes cycles represent deglaciation sequences which formed during ice retreat phases caused by eustatic changes in the karoo and kalahari basins evidence for shorter term fluctuation of the ice margin is present within the major advance retreat cycles hardly any sediment was deposited during lowstand ice sheet expansion whereas a deglaciation sequence was laid down during a sea level rise and ice margin retreat with the volume of meltwater and sediment input depending on temporary stillstands of the ice margin during the retreat phase the duration of the cycles is between 9 and 11 ma suggesting major global tectono eustatic events smaller cycles probably linked to orbital forcing were superimposed on the longer term events a sequence stratigraphic approach using the stacking of deglaciation sequences with the ice margin advance phases forming bounding surfaces can be a tool in the framework analysis of ancient glaciomarine basin fills

modelling a cohesive frictional debris flow an experimental theoretical and field based study the rheology of debris flows is difficult to characterize owing to the varied composition and to the uneven distribution of the components that may range from clay to large boulders in addition to water few studies have addressed debris flow rheology from observational experimental and theoretical viewpoints in conjunction we present a coupled rheological numerical model to characterize the debris flows in which cohesive and frictional materials are both present as a first step we consider small scale artificial debris flows in a flume with variable percentages of clay versus sand and measure separately the rheological properties of sand clay mixtures a comparison with the predictions of a modified version of the numerical model bing shows a reasonable agreement between measurements and simulations as application to a field case we analyse a recent debris flow that occurred in fjaerland western norway for which much information is now available the event was caused by a glacial lake outburst flood glof originating from the failure of a moraine ridge in a previous contribution breien et al landslides 2008 5 271 280 we focused on the hydrological and geomorphological aspects in particular we documented the marked erosion and reported the change in sediment transport during the event in contrast to the laboratory debris flows the presence of large boulders and the higher normal pressure inside the natural debris flow requires the introduction of a novel rheological model that distinguishes between mud to clast supported material we present simulations with a modified bing model with the new cohesive frictional rheology to account for the severe erosion operated by the debris flow on the colluvial deposits of fjaerland we also suggest a simple model for erosion and bulking along the slope path numerical simulations suggest that a self sustaining mechanism could partly explain the extreme growth of debris flows running on a soft terrain

extreme freshwater release during the late paleozoic gondwana deglaciation and its impact on coastal ecosystems abstractstrata in the paganzo tarija and parana basins of argentina and brazil provideevidence for reconstructing the effects of late paleozoic glacial retreat the depositionalenvironment of the transgressive and early highstand ne grained deposits has been con troversial with interpretations ranging from normal marine shelves to estuaries to lakes whereas their counterparts from shallow marine settings not in uenced by glaciation hostdiverse fully marine ichnofaunas these ne grained postglacial deposits are dominatedby nonspecialized grazing trails simple feeding traces arthropod trackways and shtrails they are typical of freshwater environments and represent examples of the mermia and scoyenia ichnofacies however the local presence of acritarchs indicates sporadicmarine in uence these observations suggest a new interpretation that freshwater con ditions in fjordlike settings across south america were widespread because gondwananbasins were overwhelmed by strong meltwater discharge issuing from melting of the con tinental ice masses keywords

facies characteristics of middle pleistocene saalian ice margin subaqueous fan and delta deposits glacial lake leine nw germany abstract the blocking of major river valleys in the leinebergland area by the early saalian scandinavian ice sheet led to the formation of a large glacial lake referred to as glacial lake leine where most of the sediment was deposited by meltwater at the initial stage the level of glacial lake leine was approx 110 m a s l the lake level then rose by as much as 100 m to a highstand of approx 200 m a s l two genetically distinct ice margin depositional systems are described that formed on the northern margin of glacial lake leine in front of the retreating scandinavian ice sheet the bornhausen delta is up to 15 m thick and characterized by a large scale tangential geometry with dip angles from 10 28 reflecting high angle foreset deposition on a steep delta slope foreset beds consist of massive clast supported gravel and pebbly sand alternating with planar parallel stratified pebbly sand deposited from cohesionless debris flows sandy debris flows and high density turbidity flows the finer grained sandy material moved further downslope where it was deposited from low density turbidity currents to form massive or ripple cross laminated sand in the toeset area the freden ice margin depositional system shows a more complex architecture characterized by two laterally stacked sediment bodies the lower part of the section records deposition on a subaqueous ice contact fan the upper part of the freden section is interpreted to represent delta slope deposits beds display low to high angle bedding 3 30 and consist of planar and trough cross stratified pebbly sand and climbing ripple cross laminated sand the supply of meltwater transported sediment to the delta slope was from steady seasonal flows during higher energy conditions 2 d and 3 d dunes formed migrating downslope and passing into ripples during lower energy flow conditions thick climbing ripple cross laminated sand beds accumulated also on higher parts of the delta slope

a model for sedimentation by tidewater glaciers sampling of sediment from the fjord floor in front of tidewater glaciers in glacier bay alaska has provided information about processes in this restricted glacimarine dreimanis 1979 setting sediment sampling in conjunction with oceanographic and glacial dynamics data has also enabled the discrimination of sediment types and their facies associations deposits are strongly controlled by sea water characteristics position and sediment discharge of melt water streams iceberg calving and rate of glacierfront retreat five distinct facies associations have been found to reflect glacier fjord regimes the facies associations and ice fjord conditions responsible for them form the basis for constructing a preliminary model for glacimarine sedimentation by tidewater glaciers the model can be used to predict i rapid retreat of an actively calving ice front ii slow retreat or stabilization of a calving ice front at a channel constriction iii stabilization of a melting very rarely calving ice front when the glacier base is near tidewater elevation and iv large outwash delta progradation into a fjord when the ice front retreats onto land this model can be used to interpret facies associations found in a stratigraphic record

mid carboniferous deglaciation of the protoprecordillera argentina recorded in the agua de jaguel palaeovalley abstract the agua de jaguel formation near uspallata mendoza province argentina was deposited within a palaeovalley along the southeastern margin of the calingasta uspallata basin adjacent to the protoprecordillera the basal glacigenic sequence of the formation was deposited in the serpukhovian early bashkirian near the beginning of the late palaeozoic ice age the sequence is composed of diamictite conglomerate sandstone and mudrock and records four depositional stages within a palaeofjord 1 morainal bank deposition by a wet based tidewater glacier 2 glacial retreat succession where ice retreated up the fjord out of the immediate area allowing iceberg deposition of dropstones and dump deposits 3 continued glacial retreat with ice receding onto land allowing a shoreface to develop within the palaeovalley and 4 transgression across the shoreface and resumption of iceberg deposition the thickness and facies of this succession are similar to deposits within modern alaskan fjords housing temperate tidewater glaciers comparison of the agua de jaguel formation with alaskan fjords indicates that sequence stratigraphy used for low latitude deposits must be applied with caution as glacimarine ice retreat within a fjord produces strata surfaces that are easily misidentified as flooding surfaces resulting from changes in water depth likewise the transgression during stage 4 is significant as it indicates a rise in sea level that occurred during glaciation of the protoprecordillera thus suggesting that the transgression between stages 3 and 4 was not driven by input of glacial meltwater additionally the sediment geochemistry suggests that the bottom waters of the palaeovalley were anoxic which may help explain the absence of bioturbation in the sequence as well as in other ancient glacimarine palaeovalleys the deglaciation succession and transgression are also recorded in the nearby hoyada verde and tramojo formations so it is proposed that all three formations record one glacial event in the protoprecordillera overlying fluvial and shallow marine strata in the agua de jaguel hoyada verde and tramojo formations show no indication of continued glaciation in the protoprecordillera following stage 4 and equivalent strata the deglaciation succession of the agua de jaguel formation affirms the emerging concept that the late palaeozoic ice age was characterized by alpine glaciers ice caps and small ice sheets that were not massive enough to have driven eustatic fluctuations of 100 m as previously understood and that ice never covered westernmost gondwana during later lpia events

early carboniferous onset of gondwanian glaciation and neo tethyan rifting in south tibet at least four diamictite bearing intervals of early carboniferous age containing faceted pebbles trapezoidal cobbles and boulders up to 1000 m3 in volume have been recognized and traced for over 200 km along the tethys himalayan zone of south tibet from east of everest to west of shishapangma these largely glacio marine sediments intercalated within the rakyang formation which overlies lower tournaisian limestones and underlies lower bashkirian black shales were deposited during the visean to serpukhovian shore ice thus began to form in this region of northern gondwana several tens of million years earlier than previously thought this glacial event occurred at middle southern latitudes and was triggered by basin inversion and tectonic uplift in the first stages of neo tethyan rifting as documented by the close association of diamictites with olistoliths and olistostromes in lower carboniferous units after a transgressive interglacial episode in the bashkirian a much more widespread glaciation occurred in the latest carboniferous and was shortly followed by continental break up and opening of neo tethys in the late early permian

stratigraphy and palynology of a late paleozoic glacial paleovalley in the andean precordillera argentina fil limarino carlos oscar consejo nacional de investigaciones cientificas y tecnicas oficina de coordinacion administrativa ciudad universitaria instituto de geociencias basicas aplicadas y ambientales de buenos aires universidad de buenos aires facultad de ciencias exactas y naturales instituto de geociencias basicas aplicadas y ambientales de buenos aires argentina

late palaeozoic global changes affecting high latitude environments and biotas an introduction abstract the late palaeozoic ice age lpia spanning approximately from 320 ma serpukhovian late mississippian to 290 ma mid sakmarian early permian represents the vegetated earth s largest and most long lasting regime of severe and multiple glaciations involving processes and patterns probably comparable to those of the last ice age accompanying the lpia occurred a number of broadly synchronous global environmental and biotic changes these global changes as briefly reviewed and summarized in this introductory paper comprised but are not limited to the following massive continental reorganization in the lead up to the final assembly of pangea resulting in profound changes in global palaeogeography palaeoceanography and palaeobiogeogarphy substantially lowered global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations p co 2 coupled with an unprecedented increase in atmospheric oxygen concentrations reaching earth s all time high in its last 600 million year history sharp global temperature and sea level drops albeit with considerable spatial and temporal variability throughout the ice age and apparently a prolonged period of global sluggish macro evolution with both low extinction and origination rates compared to other times in the aftermath of the lpia the world s climate entered into a transitional climate phase through the late early to middle permian before its transformation into a greenhouse state towards the end permian in recent years considerable amount of data and interpretations have been published concerning the physical evidence in support of the lpia its broad timeframe and eustatic and ecosystem responses from the lower latitudes but relatively less attention has been drawn to the impact of the ice age on late palaeozoic high latitude environments and biotas it is with this mission in mind that we have organized this special issue with the central focus on late palaeozoic high latitude regions of both hemispheres that is gondwana and northern eurasia our aim is to gather a set of papers that not only document the physical environmental changes that had occurred in the polar regions of gondwana and northern eurasia during the lpia but also review on the biotic responses at different taxonomic ecological and spatial scales to these physical changes in a refined chronological timeframe this introductory paper is designed to provide a global context for the special issue with a brief review of key late palaeozoic global environmental changes including changes in global land sea configurations atmospheric chemistry global climate regimes global ocean circulation patterns and sea levels and large scale biotic biogeographic and evolutionary responses followed by a summary of what we see as unresolved scientific issues and various working hypotheses concerning late palaeozoic global changes and in particular the lpia as a possible reference to future research

palaeoecology and sedimentology of carboniferous glacial and post glacial successions in the paganzo and rio blanco basins of northwestern argentina

lateral and vertical facies relationships of bedforms deposited by aggrading supercritical flows from cyclic steps to humpback dunes abstract the preservation of bedforms related to supercritical flows and hydraulic jumps is commonly considered to be rare in the geologic record although these bedforms are known from a variety of depositional environments this field based study presents a detailed analysis of the sedimentary facies and stacking pattern of deposits of cyclic steps chutes and pools antidunes and humpback dunes from three dimensional outcrops the well exposed middle pleistocene successions from northern germany comprise glacilacustrine ice contact subaqueous fan and glacial lake outburst flood deposits the studied successions give new insights into the depositional architecture of bedforms related to supercritical flows and may serve as an analogue for other high energy depositional environments such as fluvial settings coarse grained deltas or turbidite systems deposits of cyclic steps occur within the glacial lake outburst flood succession and are characterised by lenticular scours infilled by gently to steeply dipping backsets cyclic steps formed due to acceleration and flow thinning when the glacial lake outburst flood spilled over a push moraine ridge these bedforms are commonly laterally and vertically truncated and alternate with deposits of chutes and pools and antidunes the subaqueous fan successions are dominated by laterally extensive sinusoidal waveforms which are interpreted as deposits of aggrading stationary antidunes which require quasi steady flows at the lower limit of the supercritical flow stage and high rates of sedimentation humpback dunes are characterised by downflow divergent cross stratification displaying differentiation into topsets foresets and bottomsets and are interpreted as deposited at the transition from subcritical to supercritical flow conditions or vice versa gradual lateral and vertical transitions between humpback dunes and antidune deposits are very common the absence of planar parallel stratification in all studied successions suggests that the formation of these bedforms is suppressed in flows characterised by hydraulic jumps under highly aggradational conditions the large scale lateral and vertical successions of bedforms are interpreted as representing the temporal and spatial evolution of the initial supercritical flows which was strongly affected by the occurrence of hydraulic jumps small scale facies changes and the formation of individual bedforms are interpreted as controlled by fluctuating discharge bed topography and pulsating unstable flows

experimental study of the grain flow fluid mud transition in debris flows abstract we have performed a series of laboratory experiments that clarify the nature of the transition between fluid mud and grain flow behavior the surface velocity structure and the speed of the nose of debris flows in channels with semicircular cross sections were measured with several cameras and visual tracers while the mass flow rate was recorded using a load cell at the exit chamber other rheological tests were used to calculate independently the yield strength and matrix viscosity of the debris flow mixture shear rates were varied by nearly an order of magnitude for each mixture by changing the channel radius and slope shear rates were significantly higher than expected 6 55 s 1 given the modest slopes examined 10 7 15 2 the large values were primarily a result of the concentration of shear into narrow bands between a central nondeforming plug and the sidewall as a result the shear rate of interest was calculated by using the width of the shear band and the plug velocity as oppose

high precision u pb calibration of carboniferous glaciation and climate history paganzo group nw argentina the duration and geographic extent of carboniferous glacial events in southern gondwana remain poorly constrained despite recent evidence for a more dynamic glacial history than previously considered we report 10 high precision 2 0 1 u pb ages for the permian carboniferous paganzo group nw argentina that redefi ne the chronostratigraphy of the late paleozoic paganzo and rio blanco basins and signifi cantly refi ne the timing of glacial events and climate shifts in the western region of southern gondwana radiometric calibration of the paganzo group indicates three pulses of carboniferous glaciation in the mid visean the late serpukhovian to earliest bashkirian and between the latest bashkirian to early moscovian an abrupt shift in depositional style from high sinuosity single storied fl uvial deposits and clay rich paleosols to low sinuosity multi storied feldspathic fluvial deposits inter calated with eolianites and calcic paleosols is constrained to the latest moscovian and earliest kasimovian these constraints indicate a relatively abrupt climate shift from humid subhumid to nonseasonal semiarid regional climate conditions that occurred signifi cantly earlier than previously inferred early permian this period of high latitude aridity was contemporaneous with a shift to dryland depositional environments and a major vegetation regime shift documented throughout the pangean paleotropics in the pennsylvanian

cyclic sedimentation produced by fluctuations in meltwater discharge tides and marine productivity in an alaskan fjord glacimarine sediment deposited in the fjord adjacent to muir glacier in south eastern alaska consists of rhythmically laminated muds stratified sandy mud sand and gravelly mud facies cyclicity is recorded by gravelly mud facies deposited during winter by ice rafting black mud laminae formed by spring plankton blooms and variations in tidal rhythmite thickness and texture produced by the interaction of meltwater discharges and tidal currents in the macrotidal fjord regular cyclicity in laminae thickness is tested statistically by fourier transform and can be attributed to a lunar tidal cycle control in the five cores collected up to 6 km from the sediment source cores close to the source can have additional laminae as a result of discharge fluctuations and distal cores may lack full cycles because of variability in the plume path and attenuation with distance cyclic variations in sediment texture are recorded in magnetic susceptibility ms profiles of the cores high ms values are produced by turbidite sand beds or by stratified sandy mud deposited by overflow plumes during peak summer meltwater discharge low values reflect muddy intervals deposited during periods of low meltwater discharge such as during autumn and winter sediment accumulation rates measured by 210pb dating range from 82 cm year 1 2 km from the sediment source at the head of the fjord to 16 cm year 1 6 km away these rates are within the same range as average sediment accumulation rates determined from cyclic seasonal markers within the cores these data show that with careful documentation annual cycles of glacimarine sediment accumulation can be detected within marine cores cores collected from the distal portion of the basin were deposited during the transition of muir glacier from a tidewater terminus ending in deep water to a terrestrial glacier with an ice contact delta deposited in front of the terminus this transition is recorded by a coarsening upward sedimentary sequence formed by turbidite sands originating from the prograding delta above fine grained laminated basin fill deposited by turbid overflow plumes

stratigraphic imprint of the late palaeozoic ice age in eastern australia a record of alternating glacial and nonglacial climate regime stratigraphic and sedimentological data from new south wales and queensland eastern australia indicate that the late palaeozoic ice age comprised at least eight discrete glacial intervals each 1 8 ma in duration here termed glaciations separated by nonglacial intervals of comparable duration these events spanned an interval from mid carboniferous c 327 ma to the early late permian c 260 ma and illustrate a pattern of increasing climatic austerity and increasingly widespread glacial ice from initial onset until an acme in the late early permian followed by an opposite trend towards the final demise of glaciation in the late permian the alternating glacial nonglacial motif suggests that the late palaeozoic ice age was considerably more dynamic than previously thought these patterns are remarkably consistent with recent interpretations of palaeofloral change eustatic sea level fluctuations and co 2 climate glaciation relationships for this interval of time the detailed record of alternating glacial and nonglacial climate mode disclosed herein may facilitate more closely resolved evaluations of stratigraphic records elsewhere notably in far field ice distal northern hemisphere successions

the magnitude of late paleozoic glacioeustatic fluctuations a synthesis a comprehensive literature review shows that the magnitude of eustatic fluctuations varied throughout the carboniferous and permian and that at least eight distinct phases can be recognized facies juxtapositions in carbonate successions and erosional relief in clastic successions indicate that glacioeustatic fluctuations of 20 25 m and occasionally as much as 60 m took place throughout the early mississippian tournaisian a widely recognized glacial period middle mississippian mid chadian through holkerian shallow marine carbonate and clastic successions indicate that eustatic fluctuations were 10 25 m a decrease that matches well with the paucity of coeval glacial deposits late visean asbian through mid brigantian glacioeustatic fluctuations of 10 50 m record the initial phases of ice accumulation in advance of the widespread mid carboniferous glacial event the latest mississippian earliest pennsylvanian mid brigantian through langsettian was a time of widespread glaciation and strata of this age commonly exhibit evidence of glacioeustatic fluctuations of as much as 40 100 m although middle pennsylvanian duckmantian through asturian glacial deposits are present in eastern australia paleovalley depths suggest that coeval glacioeustatic fluctuations were less than 40 m glacioeustatic fluctuations of as much as 100 120 m have been widely reported from late pennsylvanian earliest permian stephanian through mid sakmarian successions in north america an increase that corresponds to the growth of large ice sheets across much of gondwana and the accumulation of ice in the northern hemisphere incision and facies juxtaposition in early middle permian mid sakmarian through kungurian successions in eastern australia indicate that glacioeustatic fluctuations of 30 70 m occurred during the waning stages of major glaciation erosional relief in paleoequatorial carbonates and the presence of coeval glacial deposits in australia suggests that eustatic fluctuations of 10 60 m occurred during the final stages of glaciation in the middle to late permian roadian through capitanian but the modest size of most of these fluctuations makes it difficult to isolate the glacioeustatic signature this review demonstrates that far field cyclic successions record changing glacial conditions in gondwana that the magnitude of glacioeustatic fluctuations was directly related to the volume of glacial ice that carboniferous permian glacioeustasy was more variable than previously recognized and that generalizations from short temporal intervals are probably not representative of the late paleozoic ice age as a whole although any attempt to quantify the magnitude of ancient eustatic changes is based on caveats and assumptions this review incorporates the results of over 100 published papers on the topic in an attempt to minimize the errors inherent in any one study

global changes during carboniferous permian glaciation of gondwana linking polar and equatorial climate evolution by geochemical proxies the most prevalent phanerozoic glaciation occurred during the carboniferous permian on the southern hemisphere gondwana supercontinent sediments from the pennsylvanian dwyka group deposited in the karoo basin of south africa provide a complete record of glaciation and deglaciation phases the direct correlation of glaciation events in southern gondwana basins with the well studied climate evolution of equatorial regions was previously hampered by lack of precise radiometric dating as dating has now become available for the karoo basin the gondwana glaciation can be viewed in a global paleoclimatic framework with high temporal resolution element geochemical proxies cia chemical index of alteration zr ti rb k v cr record three confined shifts in climate and paleoenvironment of the karoo basin these shifts were induced by changes in sea level weathering rate provenance and redox conditions because of the low availability and diagenetic overprint of carbonates ocean and atmosphere pco 2 variations had to be reconstructed from 1 3 c o r g values of marine organic matter the 1 3 c o r g signatures are affected by variable proportions of marine versus terrestrially derived organic matter and its state of preservation organic geochemical investigations toc total organic carbon c n lipid biomarkers indicate the organic matter in the central karoo basin was primarily of algal origin in agreement with element proxies the varying 1 3 c o r g values mirror shifts in pco 2 rather than variations of organic matter type a covariation trend between carbon isotope signatures of equatorial carbonates and 1 3 c o r g values from the karoo basin argues against local forcing factors and instead implies a global climate control mechanism the 5 7 m y duration of a complete glacial cycle is not in tune with any known orbital frequency processes such as changes in equator pole temperature gradients or newly developing atmosphere ocean circulation pathways can be regarded as controlling factors