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Abstract Icehouse climate systems occur across an abbreviated portion of Earth history, constitutingc.25% of the Phanerozoic record. The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) was the most extreme and longest lasting glaciation of the Phanerozoic and is characterized by periods of acute continental-scale glaciation, separated by periods of ice minima or ice-free conditions on the order of <106years. The late Paleozoic glaciogenic record of the Paraná and Kalahari basins of southern Gondwana form one of the largest, best-preserved and well-calibrated records of this glaciation. In the Carboniferous, the eastern and southern margins of the Paraná Basin and the Kalahari Basin were characterized by subglacial conditions, with evidence for continental and upland glaciers. In the latest Carboniferous, these basins transitioned from subglacial reservoirs to ice-free or ‘ice distal‘ conditions evidenced by the widespread deposition of marine deposits juxtaposed on subglacial bedforms. High-precision U–Pb zircon chemical abrasion thermal ionization mass spectrometry geochronological constraints from volcanic ash deposits in the deglacial marine black shales of the Kalahari Basin and from fluvial and coal successions, which overlie marine deposits in the Paraná Basin, indicate subglacial evidence in these regions is constrained to the Carboniferous. The loss of ice in these regions is congruent with a late Carboniferous peak inpCO2and widespread marine anoxia in the late Carboniferous. The permeant retreat of glaciers in basinal settings, despite an early PermianpCO2nadir, highlights the influence of short-term perturbations on the longer-term CO2record and suggests an ice threshold had been crossed in the latest Carboniferous. A definitive driver for greenhouse gases in the LPIA, such as abundant and sustained volcanic activity or an increased biological pump driven by ocean fertilization, is unresolved for this period. Lastly, the proposed Carboniferous apex for the high-latitude LPIA record is incongruent with observations from the low-latitude tropics where an early Permian peak is proposed.
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Current synthesis of the penultimate icehouse and its imprint on the Upper Devonian through Permian stratigraphic record
Abstract Icehouses are the less common climate state on Earth, and thus it is notable that the longest-lived (c.370 to 260 Ma) and possibly most extensive and intense of icehouse periods spanned the Carboniferous Period. Mid- to high-latitude glaciogenic deposits reveal a dynamic glaciation–deglaciation history with ice waxing and waning from multiple ice centres and possible transcontinental ice sheets during the apex of glaciation. New high-precision U–Pb ages confirm a hypothesized west-to-east progression of glaciation through the icehouse, but reveal that its demise occurred as a series of synchronous and widespread deglaciations. The dynamic glaciation history, along with repeated perturbations to Earth System components, are archived in the low-latitude stratigraphic record, revealing similarities to the Cenozoic icehouse. Further assessing the phasing between climate, oceanographic, and biotic changes during the icehouse requires additional chronostratigraphic constraints. Astrochronology permits the deciphering of time, at high resolution, in the late Paleozoic record as has been demonstrated in deep- and quiet-water deposits. Rigorous testing for astronomical forcing in low-latitude cyclothemic successions, which have a direct link to higher-latitude glaciogenic records through inferred glacioeustasy, however, will require a comprehensive approach that integrates new techniques with further optimization and additional independent age constraints given challenges associated with shallow-marine to terrestrial records.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1729882
- PAR ID:
- 10555814
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1144
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geological Society, London, Special Publications
- Volume:
- 512
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0305-8719
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 213-245
- Size(s):
- p. 213-245
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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